As a K-12 educator, you have a unique opportunity to help your students discover their passions, strengths, and goals for the future. You can empower them to take charge of their career choices by providing them with guidance, resources, and opportunities that align with their interests and aspirations. Here are some tips on how to do that effectively.
One of the first steps to empower your students to take charge of their career choices is to expose them to a variety of career options that match their skills, values, and personalities. You can do this by inviting guest speakers, organizing field trips, creating career fairs, or using online tools that offer career exploration and assessment. Encourage your students to ask questions, do research, and reflect on what they learn about different careers.
It's no surprise that students in high school cannot make informed decisions regarding their careers because of the unawareness of the plethora of options that are possible today. We are still stuck to the cliched careers such as Engineering, medicine, law, aviation, and so on. You'll seldom hear students talk about travelling, hospitality, research, digital media, and more. Empowering the students will automatically happen once we can educate them about the 100 other paths they can pursue, rather than stay confined to the handful few.
Here are the things I have found helpful: (1) Starting early career exploration from PK-12 is significant to help students with career options, pathways, and empowerment. (2) Exposing students to apprenticeships (i.e., ApprenticeshipUSA) and Career and Technical Education pathways (e.g., skilled trades, industry credentials of value) could hold the promise to economic mobility and self-efficacy. (3) Work-based learning (e.g., virtual or in-person internships/labs) could help students with career options. (4) Postsecondary option like enrolling in a Community/Technical College to learn trade or employable skills could help with financial breakthrough for students from less privileged backgrounds with mid-to-high paying career options.
When I speak at a Career Day workshop at elementary schools, I'm often the unique professional attending as I have had 16 very different careers in various parts of the world in my life. So I tell students if you have basic character building traits and values you can do whatever you want in life. You might decide you want to be a doctor, but in ten years you may decide engineering interests you more. Opportunties arise that can make a person pivot into a completely different career and one should be open to that and embrace that moment with gratitude and confidence.
K-12 Educators can actively engage students in understanding their career choices by building their professional knowledge of both local and more global employment opportunities and the pathways that lead to their pursuit for their students. This can be a missed opportunity for educators to grow connections for students with curricular options and real world experiences.
Embedding career experiences into K-12 classrooms ensures equity and accessibility to career development for all students. With the current emphasis on high-level career experiences during high school, embedding age-appropriate career development activities through a planned continuum ensures students enter pre-apprenticeships, internships, certificate programs, apprenticeships, and/or postsecondary options best suited for individual interests and aptitudes.
Another way to empower your students to take charge of their career choices is to help them develop the skills they need to succeed in any career path they choose. These skills include communication, collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, and digital literacy. You can integrate these skills into your curriculum, projects, and activities, and provide feedback and recognition for your students' achievements. You can also connect your students with mentors, coaches, or tutors who can offer them guidance and support.
Instilling the importance of social emotional learning to students is essential in the line of education in the 21st century. As you encourage your students to work on their work, including project-based learning or other student-centered activities, students learn that collaboration and cooperation exist in all domains of life.
Have you tried moving a firmly rooted tree? It’s not impossible, but definitely difficult and full of challenges. It’s never too late for students or adult learners (BTW - we’re all learners) to change paths or habits, but in order to begin to change there has to be a willingness or “want” from the student. Otherwise it makes it that much more difficult for someone externally to have influence internally. Passions, dreams and ambitions are formed at a very early age. As educators we must find them and nurture them through mentorships, advice and exposure. Show me an A.I. system that can do that and I’ll show you a teacher that can do it 100X better.
Mentoring and handling students both college and high school is definitely challenging. To empower students is one of our major objectives to be successful with their careers. Foremost we have to check the "interest" of one student. As I have witnessed that if they really want the chosen career path most of them become the best professionals. Looking at as point of discussion with them is to determine the strength and weaknesses in order to get and meet their goals. Consider too their personality since their choices depends on it.
A third way to empower your students to take charge of their career choices is to assist them in setting and pursuing their career goals. You can do this by helping them create a personal portfolio, resume, or online profile that showcases their talents, experiences, and accomplishments. You can also help them identify and apply for scholarships, internships, or other opportunities that can advance their education and career. You can also monitor their progress, celebrate their successes, and help them overcome any challenges or setbacks.
As an art educator, I work with students and families to provide insight into the college application portfolio process, as well as connect them to resources - nationally and locally, to develop their portfolio and gain alternate perspectives. But what I think is most impactful, is my work with families to let them know their choices and walk them through these big decisions. To discuss different programs, types of schools, financial resources, and help them plan the best option for their individual family. Going beyond the work of the classroom to really give each family what they need to maximize opportunity and potential of their student.
A fourth way to empower your students to take charge of their career choices is to foster their confidence and self-efficacy. You can do this by creating a positive and supportive learning environment, where your students feel valued, respected, and empowered. You can also encourage your students to express their opinions, make decisions, and take risks. You can also model and teach your students how to cope with stress, uncertainty, and failure, and how to learn from feedback and mistakes.
Agreed making them understand that feeling of regret is more than loss from failure can indeed make them confident enough to pursue career of their choice.
The easiest way is gain confidence is to be experiment and document. If one document his/her journey and make a portfolio out of it. It's a great way to build confidence. Once they look back to where they started from, they will see the progress. Also they can showcase their skills easily when they look for work.
All this goes out the window when the rent is due. Young people don't have career confidence because they struggle to pay the bills on a full time job. Nothing else matters to young careers until you pass this obstacle
A fifth way to empower your students to take charge of their career choices is to inspire them to find and follow their passion. You can do this by sharing your own career story, challenges, and achievements, and how you discovered and pursued your passion. You can also highlight the stories of other people who have made a positive impact in their careers and communities. You can also motivate your students to explore their passions, hobbies, and interests, and how they can turn them into careers.
We can follow IKIGAI Principle here. If you have any hobby, passion, skill that makes you happy, anything that you love doing. See if that things meets up with the market demand. If you find some people who value your skill. Be it art, photography, gardening, reading, writing, coding, shooting videos, editing them. Options are unlimited. If someone is ready to pay for what you love doing. You have hit a sweet spot!
A sixth way to empower your students to take charge of their career choices is to engage with other partners who can support your students' career development. These partners can include parents, families, peers, counselors, administrators, employers, or community organizations. You can communicate and collaborate with these partners to share information, resources, and opportunities for your students. You can also involve these partners in your students' career activities, such as presentations, projects, or events.
Pairing students with a field mentor in their area of interest can provide excellent real-world perspective and pre-career networking opportunities. Seasoned professionals with a passion for investing in the future and/or giving back to their alma mater make for great field mentors.
There has always been something really annoying when your child, or your pupils listen and respond to other adults who are saying exactly the same as you were ????. But it is a reality. Familiarity...as the old adage goes. Involving other adults to advise is vital. It may be a specualist careers advisor, or a guest speaker who can be the one to present them with open doors, or to ignite a spark of passion and create a pathway. I have read about schools offering lunchtime lectures run by guest speakers. These have an academic slant, but it could easily be adapted to be more career orientated. Opportunities are there.
Inviting former pupils to present their learning journey and about their careers proves to be very inspiring amd encouraging! At my previous school, we organised this during science assemblies for STEM careers and many pupils were amazed by their achievements and reflection. Having a display of former pupils destination and career route was something our pupils looked upto and wanted their names on the board.
The key to empowering students is helping them learn to use their tools. Too much of education is focused on giving them the tools instead of teaching students the use of them. By connecting students with working professionals in areas which students want to pursue, we can help foster our students' growth by coaching them in using their tools while interacting with (or shadowing) industry professionals.
School Purpose and Their Purpose https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/school-purpose-stuart-mcwilliams-fcct-npqh-xq7ge?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android&utm_campaign=share_via I wrote an article about supporting pupils in finding their purpose with careers in mind.
Students will make appropriate decisions about employment if they're given the right information at the appropriate time. Perhaps a quarter's time in class examining jobs, location, salaries, level of work required to achieve it, etc.