Meeting the Challenge: Career Exploration to Illuminate Future Pathways for Students
“Why did you decide to become a teacher?” This question has been posed to me numerous times during my career. If I answer honestly, it was because I was unaware of another viable option. None of my K-12 education experiences helped me to recognize the possibilities that existed for my future. I had no interest in business, and the thought of blood or anything to do with medicine makes me weak in the knees. That left education.
While decades have passed since I graduated, many students are still going through the motions when it comes to finishing high school. Rather than seeing K-12 education as a journey culminating in new beginnings, it becomes an act of compliance with the goal of finishing. In the summer of 2020, I interviewed two recent high school graduates, trying to learn how their experiences helped them discover potential pathways for their lives after high school. Both students were from well-resourced families and both had parents working within the local schools. However, neither student was able to identify a single school-based learning experience that helped them discover what they might want to pursue after graduating. Where I worked in the schools, I was quite familiar with the multitudes of opportunities that existed. Their high school offered over ten different career and technical education programs, a plethora of advanced classes, arts programs, athletics, and internship opportunities. I realized that an opportunity existing was not the same as recognizing it.
As we emerge from education during the pandemic, we are at a crossroads. The pandemic had seismic effects on education, with students furthest from opportunities suffering the most significant impacts (Sparks, 2022). At the same time, the needs of our workforce continue to evolve, requiring students to possess a different set of skills to achieve postsecondary success. Reverting to the traditional systems and structures is likely to produce the same inequitable results of the past. We can choose to maintain the status quo. Or, we can embrace the challenges before us.
Career Exploration as a Strategy for Meeting the Challenge
While schools recognize the challenges, they are often puzzled about how to effectively respond. Demands for higher test scores historically led to increased test preparation and a focus on basic skills (Davis & Martin, 2018; Darling-Hammond, et al., 2014). These strategies narrowed curriculum and restricted access to enriching learning experiences, magnifying rather than eliminating achievement gaps (Davis & Martin, 2018; Watanabe, 2008). As an alternative, what if we approached educational transformation from the perspective of intended outcomes? When stakeholders share thoughts about the skills students need upon high school graduation, communication, collaboration, and problem solving are common themes. High standardized test scores do not frequently make the list. This is not to say that basic academic skills lack importance. Rather, it is a commentary on how they are insufficient. Research suggests that experience with early career development programming is positively correlated with both academic achievement and the ability to successfully navigate career development obstacles (Lapan et al., 2016). Integrating career pathway exploration throughout the education system is a potential strategy for meeting the needs of students and addressing the changing demands associated with high value careers.
Career Exploration in Practice
Career exploration can, and should, begin with our youngest learners. This is not to imply that children need to figure out what they want to “be when they grow up” before they finish third grade. Rather, the focus is on students exploring what types of problems they find interesting. Elementary aged students can develop understanding of their strengths and passions, while concurrently building academic and future-ready learning skills. Project-based learning, career fairs, and field trips are experiences that can spark interests and open new doors for students. These opportunities may occur during the school day, vacation periods or in after-school programs. While such activities are common in many schools, the element that can be overlooked is the explicit connection to career exploration. Without reflection on how those experiences align with future career opportunities, those connections can be easily missed. The activities stop at just that - being activities. Reflection can take the form of journal writing, goal setting, and portfolio development. Student-led conferences, when carefully structured, can also help students reflect on their growth and how learning may lead to future pathways. Purposefully connecting diverse career exploration experiences with academic learning will help students reengage with school while building skills critical for their future success.
As students mature, so should career exploration. Career surveys help older students recognize how their strengths and interests align with potential career areas. Extended learning opportunities (ELOs), where students earn academic credit through activities such as internships with community partners and individualized projects, provide another avenue for exploring post-secondary pathways. Students might discover passions through internships. Or, they may use a known interest to develop core academic skills. Extended learning opportunities also allow students to uncover their dislikes at the same time. Such learning can save valuable time and money as students navigate life after high school. Reflection on learning is a critical component of ELOs, allowing students to synthesize learning and make explicit connections between their experiences and future possibilities. Implementing a system of portfolio defense, where students share evidence of how they have developed future-ready learning skills and their readiness for graduation, is another strategy that allows students to focus attention on how their learning has prepared them to navigate a course for life beyond high school.
Opportunity is Not Access
While providing career exploration opportunities may be an effective strategy for addressing the challenges students are facing, it is insufficient in the absence of structures to ensure all students have access. Too many students are unaware of opportunities that exist or do not realize that opportunities are truly meant for them. This reality became clear while engaged in work with our Out of School Time Career Pathways (OSTCP) grant project. Part of our work included analyzing data regarding the demographics of students accessing ELOs in our local schools. We discovered that participating students were not reflective of our overall demographics. Students from economically under-resourced households or who experienced learning differences were not proportionally represented. This led to focus group conversations where students identified opportunities for improving communication and redesigning the high school Program of Studies. It also highlighted the need for transportation, which we met by using grant funds to provide buses and to purchase a smaller vehicle for school staff to drive students to and from ELOs. Understanding barriers from the perspective of students and families will go a long way towards creating learning opportunities that align with the needs of our students. School leaders must go a step beyond developing programs, and examine organizational structures to ensure equity of access.
The challenge is significant, but transforming educational structures to ensure students possess the skills necessary for post-secondary success is possible. Implementing explicit opportunities for career exploration within all levels of our educational system has the potential to introduce all students to a wide array of possibilities for their futures. Why did I become a teacher? Because I could not see another option. Why did I REMAIN a teacher? Because I see the power of education to help students discover who they are, what they love, and pathways for solving the challenging problems facing our communities.
