20.5 – Design and Implement Career Program(s)

Purpose & Context

Educators, as career development professionals (CDPs), may design and implement comprehensive career programs to provide opportunities for students to set and achieve age- and grade-appropriate goals pertaining to living, learning, and working. As CDPs, educators recognize the importance of creating and delivering inclusive career development programming using a wide range of styles, media, and format. CDPs work with all students in an equitable career program.

Effective Performance

Competent career development professionals must be able to:

P1. Locate and review provincially mandated curriculum, where available
P2. Engage career influencers and other stakeholders either formally, e.g. Advisory Committee, or informally indiscussion
P3. Assess needs
- Identify where career content in current curricular and extracurricular program is lacking in depth/scope ormissing entirely
- Determine the level of career awareness of key stakeholders
- Identify the level of community and partnership engagement in career service delivery
- Research labour market trends
P4. Establish priority areas, for example:
- Develop recommendations to Improve staffing, e.g. student/guidance counsellor or career education teacher ratio,
  grade- or industry-specific career specialists, training of guidance counsellors and career educators
- Develop age- and grade-appropriate career interventions, activities, or resources, e.g. cross-curriculum career
  integration, experiential learning
- Build engagement of parents/guardians
- Create partnerships with external parties, e.g. industry/community partners, businesses, trade officials, alumni
- Develop or provide access to resources that support educators’ implementation of career programs, e.g. career
  exploration sites such as CHOICES/Xello, comprehensive career planning sites such as Blueprint
- Develop a career resource centre, e.g. self-help services, labour market information, occupational profiles
- Establish youth internship programs
- Develop school-to-work transition programs
P5. Identify priority activities to reach goals, for example:
- Curricular and extracurricular programs
- One-on-one guidance services
- Career resource centre
- Individual personalized career plans
- Work-integrated learning programs
- Experiential learning
- Community involvement
- Volunteering
- Part-time employment
- Career workshops
- Career fairs
- Mentoring program
- Human library
P6. Develop key performance indicators, for example:
- Number of partnerships with community stakeholders
- Number of completed individualized career plans
- Number of students who achieve an experiential learning credit or credential
- Number of grade 10 students who completed at least 2 career exploration activities
- Number of grade 11 students who can identify three key people in their support network, and how these people can
  provide support
- Number of grade 12 students who can identify 3 facts they’ve learned about financial planning and how these
  relate to their career pathway planning
- Learning maps, that document student plans
- Portfolio presentations, to provide evidence of breadth and depth of career planning
P7. Formulate operating requirements, e.g. budget, facilities, services, supplies, equipment, technology, staff support
P8. Develop program services, e.g. individual services, group activities, career fairs, volunteer fairs, career centre
P9. Implement program:
- Develop an action plan
- Allocate resources, e.g. people, equipment, materials, financial resources
- Establish a schedule for progress reviews
- Prepare reports, e.g. progress reports, quarterly results, final report
P10. Monitor implementation, for example:
- Track participation in experiential learning opportunities
- Assess level of involvement of career influencers, e.g. families, teachers, students, community/industry
  partners
P11. Measure program effectiveness using developed indicators, for example:
- Program’s impact on career decisions
- Student participation in career exploration and planning process
- Surveys of graduates
P12. Revise program based on feedback from developed indicators

Knowledge & Understanding

Competent career development professionals must know and understand:

K1. School counselling theory and techniques
K2. Community resources
K3. Characteristics of students, e.g. exceptional needs, special needs
K4. Education system, e.g. educational supports and resources available for students

Contextual Variables

Competent career development professionals must be able to perform this competency in the following range of contexts:

Level of support required, and offered, by stakeholders may vary, e.g. school administrator, staff members, parents, students, community, business stakeholders

Glossary & Key References

Terms

Industry-specific terms contained in the standard defined here, where applicable.

Career guidance: career services included in educational program.

Human Library: A metaphor for a local network of community members, including family members, representing diverse roles and occupations; these contacts are like resources in a library. Students can “check-out” several resources to find out more about community members’ roles, work, and local employment opportunities.

Information Sources and Resources for Consideration

Comprehensive Guidance and Counselling Program: Supporting Student Success. 2007. Revised updated 2010. Nova Scotia. Department of Education. Student Services. ISBN: 1-55457-078-6

Standards of Practice for Guidance Counsellors, 2014 Department of Education Newfoundland and Labrador

Reddy, L., Rauschenberger, J., Hurt, P. and Bray, J. Transforming Career Counselling: Bridging School to Career in the Workforce of the Future. Manufacturing Skills Standards Council (MSSC). April 2015. sme.org, MSSCUSA.org

Ministry of Education Ontario. Creating pathways to success: an education and career/life planning program for Ontario schools: Policy and Program requirements, kindergarten to Grade 12. 2013 http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/policy/cps/CreatingPathwaysSuccess.pdf

Context Rating Scales

Criticality

Q: What is the consequence of a professional being unable to perform this skill according to the standard?

Minimal risk: SOMEWHAT CRITICAL

Frequency

Q: How frequent and under what conditions is this skill performed?

Circumstantially, e.g. per project, when a specific event arises

Level of Difficulty

Q: Under routine circumstances, how would you rate the level of difficulty in performing this skill?

Moderate difficulty or complexity

Time Required to Gain Proficiency

Q: What is the average length of time or number of repeated events that are minimally necessary for an individual to become proficient in performing the skill to the standard?

A career development professional requires a minimum of one year experience as a career guidance counsellor.

Autonomy

Practitioners typically perform this competency without supervision, and alone and/or as part of a team.

Automation

It is unlikely that this competency will automate.

Requisite Work Aids, Tools, Equipment or Materials

None