prof. jim bright professor of career education and development, acu national

© Bright and Associates 2006

K - 4 Early Years of Schooling Engage, Connect, Create

12 & 13 July 2006, Telstra Stadium, Olympic Park.

Prof. Jim BrightProfessor of Career Education and Development, ACU

NationalPartner, Bright and Associates


Outline• What do we mean by career

development?

• The C21st career challenge

• When do children develop career thoughts?

• What should we be doing in schools to engage, connect and create?


Definitions of Career• Career development starts in the womb

and continues until one dies

• “I really must decide what to do with my life”

• On the occasion of his 75th birthday Peter Ustinov (Actor)


Life choices

Social

OccupationalSpiritual

Physical Intellectual

Emotional

The modern notion of Career subsumes all life choices

“A career is the sum total of paid and unpaid work, learning and life roles you undertake throughout your life.”

“People will have a portfolio..will also have to cultivate more transferable skills..and be constantly re-training.” NSW DET 2005


Traditional Career Education

• Focussed on Yrs 10 – 12• Focussed on “Product” of vocational

choice / destination/pathway• McGowan (1996) “delivered in bursts of

of disjointed activity at major crisis points rather than developmentally”

• Focus needs to move from Product to Process and from crisis management to developmental approach


C21st Career Challenge: Change, Chance, Uncertainty

TraineeConsolidation

Senior

Master

The “Traditional Career”


C21st Career Challenge: Change

Signatures


From Chocolate to ChangePaternalism to Portfolio


Unplanned Events


THE WORST HOMING PIGEON• This historic bird was released in

Pembrokeshire in June 1953 • Was expected to reach its base that

evening. • It was returned by post, dead, in a

cardboard box eleven years later from Brazil.

• An unplanned event in both the career of the pigeon and its owner


THE WORST ANIMAL RESCUE• During the firemen's strike of 1978, the British

Army had taken over emergency fire fighting • On 14 January they were called out by an

elderly lady in South London to retrieve her cat which had become trapped up a tree.

• They arrived with impressive haste and soon discharged their duty.

• So grateful was the lady that she invited them all in for tea.

• Driving off later, with fond farewells completed, they ran over the cat and killed it.


THE WORST HIJACKING• A man who in 1976 made the most

unsuccessful hijack attempt ever. • On a flight across America, he rose from

his seat, drew a gun and took the stewardess hostage. "Take me to Detroit," he demanded.

• "We're already going to Detroit," she replied.

• "Oh... good," he said, and sat down again.


THE WORST BANK ROBBERY

• In August 1975 three men were on their way in to rob the Royal Bank of Scotland at Rothesay,

• They got stuck in the revolving doors. • They had to be helped free by the staff and, • After thanking everyone, sheepishly left the building.• A few minutes later they returned and announced their

intention of robbing the bank, but none of the staff believed them.

• When they demanded 5,000 pounds in cash, the head cashier laughed at them, convinced that it was a practical joke.

• Then one of the men jumped over the counter, but fell to the floor clutching his ankle.

• The other two tried to make their getaway, but got trapped in the revolving doors again.


Chance events happen to us all• In our research (Bright, Pryor and Harpham, 2005,

JVB)

• Between 70% – 80% of people had experienced a career changing unplanned event

• Many of the events were career enhancing

• Plan on the unplanned happening


Bright, Pryor and Chan• High Impact, Low Control Chance

events are the best recalled

• Means most adults have developed a view that unplanned events are negative and to be avoided

• Needs addressing through encouragement of positive aspects of curiosity and surprise early


When do children develop career thoughts? Work and Play

• Hunting and Fishing Societies – e.g. Inuits

• Boys given bow and arrow toys at 2 years

• At 4 years expected to shoot birds

• At six years a rabbit and so on to caribou and seals and ultimately to work.


Work and Play• By sixth grade

children have learned:

• Source: Csikszentmihalyi (1998)

Work Play

•is very important •requires high concentration •makes them less happy

•low importance •requires little concentration •makes them happy


Trice 1995Participants• 949 students - 478 boys and 471 girls (168

kindergarten children, 239 second graders, 272 fourth graders, and 270 sixth graders).

• interviews 10 minutes for kindergarten children and 10 to 15 minutes for older children.

• Asked children's first choice for an occupation and the reason for that choice.

• The second part of the interview asked children about 13 occupations (physician, police officer, scientist, carpenter, accountant, secretary, nurse, teacher, salesperson, truck driver, artist, farmer, and soldier).


Trice 1995• Top three vocational

choices of children Girls Boys

Lawyer Policeman

Teacher Pilot

Vet Athlete


% of children choosing different career areas

Girls Boys

Manual/Physical Work

19 23

Scientific and Analytic

19 18

Artistic 12 11

Helping and Teaching

28 28

Enterprising 10 11

Organising and Office

12 9


These choices are not random• Percentage of times

children’s first choices were in the same occupational classification as their second choice

%

K 44

2 40

4 51

6 59


Effect of family structure• Percentage of times

that “no choice” was response to occupational choice question

Girls Boys

2-parent 5 7

1-parent 13 18

relatives 21 43

foster 30 59


% of occupations rejected by age and gender

Girls Boys

K 41 40

2 46 59

4 50 67

6 55 71


What should we do? Some suggestions from the Australian Blueprint for Career Development

(ABCD, Miles Morgan, 2006)

• Phase I career competency for grade/year three students

• CAREER COMPETENCY 4.1: Discover life-long learning and its contributions to life and work.

• PERFORMANCE INDICATOR: 4.1.7: Explore the relationship between ability, effort and achievement.

• LOCAL STANDARD—Given a celebrity of their choice (e.g., football player, pop star), Grade/year 3 students will develop and deliver a brief verbal report explaining what might happen if the celebrity stopped putting effort into his or her work. The report must include references to at least two achievements that would be lost, and two abilities that might sustain the celebrity in his or her work.


ABCD example2• Phase I career competency for grade/year five

students• CAREER COMPETENCY 1.1: Build a positive self

image while discovering its influence on self and• others.• PERFORMANCE INDICATOR 1.1.5: Identify positive

characteristics (skills, interests, personal• qualities and strengths) about self as seen by self and

others.• LOCAL STANDARD—Grade/year five students will

write a paragraph in which they describe at least four positive characteristics about themselves that they had not perceived at least one month earlier.


Niles & Harris Bowlesby (2005)

• From age six:• Counter gender-stereotyped occupational role

models • Encourage curiosity with site visits to places of

work children express interest in• Children need to develop accurate self-

knowledge, accurate occupational information, and take some responsibility for their future career decision making


National Occupational Information Coordinating Committee (NOICC) Guidelines 1992

• Self Knowledge– Importance of self-concept– Skills to interact with others

• Educational and Occupational Exploration– Awareness of benefits of educational achievement– Relationship between work and learning– Skills to understand and use career information– Awareness of importance of good work habits and personal

responsibility– Awareness of work and its relation to society

• Career Planning– Understanding how to make decisions– Awareness of relation to other life roles– Awareness of different occupations and changing gender roles– Awareness of career planning process


3 messages1. Engage children to develop ideas

about careers from K onwards

2. Connect with a more structured/conscious approach to stimulating these nascent interests - benefits children

3. Create Careers education that is about facilitating a lifelong learning approach from K onwards


ContactProf Jim Bright

Bright and AssociatesLevel 5, 44 Miller St

North Sydney

NSW 2060

Tel 02 9929 4766

Fax 02 9929 4768

www.brightandassociates.com.au

prof. jim bright professor of career education and development, acu national

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