Super’s Stage 1: A Perspective

By Dan Dopko

The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker…, just one of the familiar playground rhymes that children incorporate into Donald Super’s ‘Growth’ stage (years 0-14) of their personal career development.

In 1999, the Ontario Ministry of Education introduced The Guidance and Career Education Policy for Ontario Elementary and Secondary Schools, Choices Into Action. If still alive today, Donald Super would have seen his conceptual framework of Career Development Stages clearly reflected throughout this document in the areas of learning and stated competencies for students. Choices Into Action validates the importance and necessity of knowledge of self, interpersonal skills and career development throughout a student’s school life and career.

The goals of the guidance and career education program are that students:

• understand the concepts of lifelong learning, interpersonal relationships and career planning
• develop learning skills, social skills, a sense of social responsibility and career planning
• apply this learning to their lives and work in the school and the community.

More specifically, students are expected to acquire knowledge and skills in the following areas:

• learning skills, preferences and strategies
• setting goals and monitoring progress
• adapting to change
• lifelong learning
• self-management
• getting along with others
• social responsibility
• self-assessment
• exploring and obtaining information about education, training and careers work, society and the economy
• awareness of opportunities
• education and career decisions

These are great goals and learning expectations, reflecting the best thinking around career development. Super would have been happy to see such an approach beginning with students in Grade 1 and continuing right through to graduation.

At the same time as the introduction of Choices Into Action, elementary school teachers have also been challenged by the innumerable learning expectations for students in the provincial Curriculum. Literacy, numeracy, science and technology have been at the forefront of educational and curriculum reform demanding unprecedented attention and commitment. How then can elementary schools incorporate career development into the daily task of teaching to the curriculum? How can we ensure that all students are able to try multiple experiences, form a positive self-concept and develop an understanding of the meaning and purpose of work?

In the more recent past, trained guidance teacher-counsellors, at the elementary level, were assigned responsibility for supporting students and teachers in the area of career development. Guidance teacher-counsellors were given classroom time to provide instruction and activities designed to help students better understand who they are, their interests, their strengths and how they fit into society and the world of work.

Unfortunately, the elementary school counsellor in Ontario has been put on the endangered list due to provincial funding and local decisions. Many school boards have no elementary guidance counsellors, although, some school jurisdictions provide staff according to the funding provided at a ratio of one counsellor for every 5000 elementary students. This is definitely inadequate and leaves the classroom teacher in many cases fully responsible for career development learning expectations.

As in the past, teachers and counsellors (where they exist) continue to open up a child’s world through incorporation of such activities as community visits, guest speakers, career days, job exhibits and fairs, job shadowing, work experience and simulations. External career-related interest groups frequently offer programs such as Teen Esteem (Public Health), Skills Competitions (Skills Canada), Project Business (Junior Achievement), and Words on Work (Women’s Speakers Bureau). The opportunity for a variety of experiences and the resultant learning during the elementary school years continue to be available, particularly in larger urban centers and where staff and time are available to support career development.

Many publishers of educational materials have recognized and responded to the need for materials to support career development with resources such as, the Real Game series, Career Cruising, Paws in Jobland, Values Influences Peers, Lions-Quest: Skills for Growing; Skills for Adolescence, Career Futures, and Career Explorer. This is a short list, in a long line-up of excellent print, audio-video and computer-related resources available to teachers today.

“So, how well are we doing?” Super might ask.

Individually, teachers are doing what they can to incorporate the career development learning expectations into the curriculum. However, a holistic developmental approach is often left to the discretion of individuals who have limited knowledge or resources at their disposal.

Producing career resources is not enough. Teachers need training in career development concepts and its application in educational settings. However, this has not been a standard expectation for the classroom teacher in the pre-service learning and staff development funds for in-service teachers is limited for career development education.

Here is the challenge. We need to move from squeezing existing policy expectations into an already overcrowded curriculum to the creation and implementation of career development curriculum policy for all students. This needs to be accompanied with excellent curriculum resources and staff training as well as time to implement the curriculum throughout all of a student’s educational experiences. No small task but doable.

Dan has 30 years in education – 17 years as an elementary school teacher and counselor. He is an active OSCA member, and Program & Instruction Consultant, Guidance and Career Education, Grade 1 to 12/OAC, Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB).