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Flexibility, advocacy key to providing career support for incarcerated clients

Ron Elsdon

“Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul” – Emily Dickinson

Canada geese walked freely in this women’s prison grounds; inmates and volunteers did not. It looked foreboding at first. Large circles of barbed wire ringed the facility. An escort took us through security, guards carried lots of keys. The women were dressed in identical, khaki prison clothes. There was a 10-minute window each hour to move locations – from work or a housing unit to our classroom in the chapel complex. Hard to keep hope alive in this setting, you might think. And yet, that is what the prison staff tried to do, and that is what the career class series I taught in a California prison was all about. What keeps hope alive if you are involved in the criminal justice system? In this article, we explore how those of us in the career field can address this question.

The big picture

First, for context, let us look at how many people are incarcerated in North America and their demographics. From an advocacy perspective, it is helpful to understand how the scope of incarceration differs in Canada and the United States.

• There are nearly 40,000 people in prison in Canada, and more than two million in the United States. Female prisoners comprise about 5.6% of the Canadian prison population and about 10% in the United States. The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, whereas Canada is 141st (World Prison Brief).
• More than 30% of those in Canadian prisons are Indigenous people, but they make up only 5% of the general population (Office of the Correctional Investigator, 2020). This proportion has been rising steadily (The John Howard Society of Canada, 2020).
• In Canada, 79% of people entering prison do not have their high school diploma. More than 86% of women in prison report having been physically abused at some point in their lives, and many prisoners have mental health issues and/or substance use disorders (Prison Free Press).

Developing career programming for incarcerated women

I delivered career support classes in a U.S. federal women’s prison for about five years starting in 2014 (Elsdon, 2016), with the support of other volunteers. The program included five classes on conventional employment, building on a resource from Minnesota Career and Technical Education (2019); material from the ex-offenders section of the Careeronestop website; and my own content. There were four classes on non-traditional career paths/self-employment, expanded in scope at the request of participants, which built on the book How to Build a Nontraditional Career Path: Embracing Economic Disruption (Elsdon, 2014).

It might seem naive to think that career development approaches, often created with well-educated, resource-rich clients, would work for those in the criminal justice system, who often lack both education and resources. Indeed, I learned from the first test class delivered in prison that I could not just take workshops about conventional job search from other settings into the prison, as participants’ needs were different. For example, most prison participants are worried about how to respond to the interview question, “I see you have been incarcerated, tell me about that,” and welcome coaching about their response. That is not a question I had dealt with previously. Conversely, there are some approaches that work equally well within or outside of a prison. For example, a mock interview exercise others developed for students also worked well in the prison setting and was often a highlight for participants.

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Emotional considerations are particularly significant when working with incarcerated people. Conviction, incarceration and the prospect of formidable barriers to financial self-sufficiency are daunting. Offering hope that it is possible to re-engage with work by weaving affirmation of personal potential throughout is crucial. This includes emphasizing learning occurring inside the prison, including work experience, educational activities and interpersonal skills.

Career support can help build a sense of belief and hope, sometimes in unexpected ways. I recall one class participant realizing that illegal activities leading to her incarceration gave her a range of skills, such as selling and communication, that could work well for her in a legal, entrepreneurial setting. There was a murmur of class support for this as others saw the same for themselves.

Flexibility is also important when navigating the challenges of working in the prison system. These challenges include: working with participants who bring a wide range of backgrounds and experiences; competing commitments that can cause participants to miss sessions; and lack of access to electronics and the internet on prison premises. Support from prison staff is instrumental in classes meeting participants’ needs.

I found class evaluations valuable both to help in continually refining session content and in communicating to prison staff how the classes were received. Evaluations by participants in 18 class series showed a 96% satisfaction rating. One participant commented, “Your concern and care for this class gives us the confidence we need to try.” Positive word of mouth led to sign-ups exceeding class availability.

The importance of advocacy

The earlier statistics point to the need for community advocacy through a social and political lens. What can we in the career field do on a community level to make our society better? This includes contributing to reducing poverty or supporting mental health and eliminating the links of both to incarceration. Here is where our social advocacy comes in (Elsdon, 2007, 2013). This means staying informed about social issues, particularly those affecting people who are marginalized. It means influencing public policy for the benefit of those who need it most and are under-represented (e.g. Indigenous populations, those in poverty, those needing mental health support). It means influencing media, joining legislative campaigns and engaging in creative direct action.

Another lens, close to the heart of those of us in the career field, is the lived experience of those in prison or re-entering society. Not surprisingly, the lives of many people involved in the criminal justice system are precarious. Picture coming out of those forbidding prison gates with almost no money, little or no family support, hardly any education, no job and mental health challenges. We can help change this picture for the better. Getting employment or self-employment stability with adequate income can turn despair into hope and reduce the likelihood of returning to prison (Kelly, 2020; Yu, 2018).

In summary, providing career support for those involved in the criminal justice system is rewarding, fulfilling and appreciated. By building on our core career development skills and tailoring our approach appropriately, we can bring hope where it is needed.

Ron Elsdon founded organizations in the career and workforce development fields. His books include: How to Build a Nontraditional Career Path (Praeger); editor of Business Behaving Well (Potomac Books); editor of Building Workforce Strength (Praeger); and author of Affiliation in the Workplace (Praeger). His doctorate (Cambridge University) and bachelor’s (Leeds University) are in chemical engineering; his master’s is in career development (John F. Kennedy University).

References

Careeronestop web site for a worker with a criminal conviction. Retrieved from careeronestop.org/ResourcesFor/WorkerCriminalConviction/worker-with-a-criminal-conviction.aspx

Elsdon, R. (2007). The Growing Divide Calls for Advocacy. NCDA: Career Convergence. March 2007. Retrieved from ncda.org/aws/NCDA/pt/sd/news_article/5296/_self/layout_details/false

Elsdon, R. (Ed.). (2013). Business Behaving Well: Social Responsibility, from Learning to Doing. Washington, D.C.: Potomac Books. Information is available at elsdon.com/business-behaving-well.html

Elsdon, R. (2014). How to Build a Nontraditional Career Path: Embracing Economic Disruption. Santa Barbara, California: Praeger. Information is available at elsdon.com/how-to-build-a-nontraditional-career-path.html

Elsdon, R. (2016). Volunteer Career Services in a Prison. NCDA: Career Convergence. February 2016. Retrieved from ncda.org/aws/NCDA/pt/sd/news_article/117365/_self/layout_details/false

Goodwill/Easter Seals and Minnesota Career and Technical Education. (2019). Career Planning for People with a Criminal Conviction. Retrieved from careerwise.minnstate.edu/iseek/static/STEP-AHEAD-Workbook2.pdf

Kelly, M. (2020). The Predictive Ability of Self-Efficacy on Recidivism Among Adult Male Offenders. (Doctoral Dissertation, Walden University, 2020). Retrieved from scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=9574&context=dissertations

Office of the Correctional Investigator, Indigenous People in Federal Custody Surpasses 30%, Correctional Investigator Issues Statement and Challenge (January 21, 2020), Retrieved from oci-bec.gc.ca/cnt/comm/press/press20200121-eng.aspx?texthighlight=indigenous+people+in+federal+custody+surpasses+30%

Prison Free Press, Prison Facts in Canada, Retrieved from prisonfreepress.org/Facts.htm#:~:text=In%202017%2F18%2C%20on%20a,4%25%20from%20the%20previous%20year.

The John Howard Society of Canada, Data on Canada’s Prison System, January 25, 2020, Retrieved from johnhoward.ca/blog/data-on-canadas-prison-system/

World Prison Brief, Retrieved from prisonstudies.org/world-prison-brief-data

Yu, T. (2018). Employment and Recidivism. EBP Society. Retrieved from ebpsociety.org/blog/education/297-employment-recidivism

Integrating new technologies in career development programs increases participants’ confidence and workforce relevant skills

Megan Stannard and Alison Reaves

Imagine that you have been let go from the job that has been your career for the past 20 years. Your resume has not been updated in years, and you have never applied for a job online. Your computer skills are limited and your confidence has taken a huge hit. This is the reality facing many Albertans as the province deals with a declining oil and gas industry as well as the ongoing pandemic.

With the rapidly changing workplace, it’s more important than ever to be confident in using technology. Technology aids us in almost every aspect of life, as we have seen during COVID-19 with the shift to online work. However, mature workers struggling with technological literacy continue to feel left behind. As technology innovates at an exponential pace, many older adults view learning new technologies as an insurmountable challenge. Career development programs can build competencies and confidence by providing practice in low-stress learning environments and ensuring that mature students are better prepared to use technology during the hiring process and within the workplace. Integrating new and up-to-date technologies within and throughout a career development program provides older adults the opportunity to gain confidence in using technology while increasing their employability and developing new skills.

In this recurring Careering feature, career professionals share their real-life solutions to common problems in the field. Read more Case Studies from Careering:

• Helping a client with autism improve her interview skills
• Employment fit and friction in a rural creative enterprise
• Job-shadowing program helps LGBTQ2+ students navigate workplace concerns

Our program

The NorQuest College Career Moves Program, funded by Future Skills Centre, provides adult learners in Alberta the opportunity to develop and practice employability (soft) skills in a self-paced, virtual learning environment. This program – initially designed to be a hybrid of virtual and face-to-face learning – has been delivered virtually since March of 2020. Participants range from 30 to 65 years of age, with varying levels of English proficiency and a wide range of personal, educational and professional backgrounds. Each participant is assigned a career coach, who is available for one-on-one coaching and tech support.

Over a third of Career Moves participants have expressed frustration or anxiety surrounding the use and understanding of technologies. We have incorporated technology throughout the program so students can develop their skills and confidence and we make sure to provide numerous opportunities for practice, support and guidance.

Building confidence and curiosity 

Mature students in this open and supportive learning environment gain confidence and comfort with asking questions, using unfamiliar tools and engaging with technology. In Career Moves, we have incorporated technology throughout the entire program, from the application process through to program completion. Participants schedule appointments online (Microsoft Bookings), attending virtual meetings (Microsoft Teams, Blackboard Ultra), complete course content (e-learning via Storyline 360) and activities (Moodle LMS, Voicethread, Padlet), and build community with other participants using an online communication platform (Slack).

Practice makes perfect, so we give students many opportunities to hone their skills; with each success, their confidence grows. They practice curiosity and problem-solving as they explore new ideas and ask questions, preparing them to shine in future career roles. This method of incorporating and teaching new technologies in a supportive, strengths-based environment encourages continuous learning and increases self-efficacy, confidence and curiosity.

Putting skills to the test

When Jane* entered our program, she was worried that her uncertainty and fear of technology would prevent her from finding administrative work. After her first meeting was conducted over-the-phone, Jane worked closely with her career coach to practice joining online video meetings. Her confidence continues to grow, and she is now comfortable trying new features in Microsoft Teams and joining virtual events. The safe learning environment was the biggest factor in her success; Jane felt comfortable asking questions and making mistakes. She continues to pursue her new career in administration, taking additional online courses to build her technical skillset.  Jane has even successfully arranged for an informational interview with an employer in her field of interest, conducting the entire process online using her new technology skills.

After being laid off earlier this year, Sam* wanted to move away from the trades and into the business world. Sam had been out of school for decades and was nervous to complete a virtual program. One of Sam’s goals when joining the program was to gain tangible computer skills and learn how to become an entrepreneur. After one-on-one mentoring with their career coach and lots of practice, Sam is now able to confidently complete course content online, submit assignments via a learning management system, and use a microphone and web camera for meetings or interviews. Sam is currently applying for a part-time virtual business program, ready to use their newly developed skills to succeed.

These mature students felt they were being left behind due to the technological advance of the modern workplace, but in a career development program they have been able to grow and advance their skills, boost their confidence and are now better prepared to re-join the workforce.

Best practices for success

Based on our experiences, we recommend three best practices for success:

1. Incorporate the use of technology throughout the program, integrating continuous practice and learning. Students should be able to access multiple technologies to increase the breadth of their knowledge. All additions should be relevant to the learning objectives of the program.
2. Encourage comfort with exploration, creating a safe space for questions and answers while empowering students to find their own solutions to problems. We leave space for questions during every virtual classroom session and encourage students to use the chat feature to ask questions about both content and technology. Students are also provided with virtual links to external websites (including LinkedIn Learning) where they can take the initiative to learn more about a subject.
3. Ensure students are able to find answers to their questions quickly, so that they can continue their learning. Tutorial videos are a great example of how to provide technical support 24/7; these resources can be quickly created and provided to students via a learning management system. One-on-one technology support is another key to success – in our program, all staff are trained on program technology and can provide quick support or training to students.

Career development programs have the potential to be low-stress learning environments where mature

students can practice their digital literacy and develop employability skills. With the increase in e-learning and telecommuting, it’s more important than ever for jobseekers to be competent and curious with technology. Using best practices for success, mature students gain opportunities to work with new technology. This learning environment allows students to develop workforce-relevant skills and gain confidence with asking questions, utilizing unfamiliar tools and engaging with technology.

*names have been changed

Megan Stannard is the senior Career Coach with the Career Moves Project at NorQuest College. Stannard developed the successful online career development program that engages mature workers and coaches participants to meet their goals.

Alison Reaves manages the WIL and Career Education team at NorQuest College in Edmonton and previously worked as the Associate Director in the Business Career Services office at Appalachian State University in North Carolina.

HR needs mechanisms in place to prevent bias in performance management practices

Janelle Benjamin

With the movement for social justice in full swing, many workplaces feel compelled to do something, anything, to demonstrate that they are diverse and inclusive and support the notion that #BlackLivesMatter. With each new Chief Diversity Officer job posting, companies in all sectors are sending messages to their stakeholders and staff that their organizations need fixing – and that they did not truly care about diversity and inclusion or anti-Black racism until now.

Over the years, I have worked in many settings. I have investigated complaints at the Ontario Human Rights Commission. I have implemented legislation and developed policies to improve organizational practices and access for historically marginalized people at the Office of the Fairness Commissioner and at the Accessibility Directorate of Ontario. I have sat on hospital boards and workplace committees and advised senior leaders on how to create more diverse and inclusive organizations. My work has been rewarding and fulfilling, and on paper I seem to be a successful Black woman. But the truth of the matter is that in many places I have worked, I have experienced acts of violence that did not rise to the level of discrimination or harassment under the Ontario Human Rights Code, but still affected my psychological safety.

Too many workplaces have been tainted with the toxicity of bullying, marginalization and disrespect. Too many people have experienced the insidious nature of day-to-day microaggressions and other behavioural indignities from co-workers and senior leaders alike, even with so-called “inclusive employers.”

I have learned that employers have a hard time seeing how the bad behaviours of the people they employ, and often promote to leadership positions, are deeply rooted in phobias and isms (e.g. homophobia, xenophobia, racism, sexism, ablism, Islamophobia), as well as the systems their organizational policies and practices support (such as patriarchy, white supremacy and misogyny). This leads to homogeneity, exclusion, workplace violence, oppression and injustice, time and time again.

Unless companies begin to innovate to solve workplace issues for racialized people, the current civil rights movement will be longstanding.

Below are two innovative solutions that companies can take to show their commitment to diversity and inclusion and make workplaces safer for racialized employees – even without a Chief Diversity Officer hire.

Question your Karens

We all know a “Karen” at work. Like Amy Cooper, the white female dog walker who tried to call the police on a Black male bird watcher in New York’s Central Park last May, workplace Karen is overly meddlesome, questioning and complaining (Vera & Ly, 2020). She is often promoted to positions of power without merit and is threatened by smart, talented and capable racialized workers. Karen evaluates performance and makes excuses why a person of colour needs a performance improvement plan. Even worse, Karen is able to call human resources and weaponize her white privilege against racialized employees when she feels she has had enough – she believes the person of colour is not conforming in some way and should be removed from the workplace.

“Too many people have experienced the insidious nature of day-to-day microaggressions and other behavioural indignities from co-workers and senior leaders alike, even with so-called ‘inclusive employers.'”

Too many companies do not question the practices of these workplace Karens when names of racialized people are brought forward and the Karen says they are not a good “fit” for the organization. Racialized employees end up “performance managed” or worse – removed from places where they should belong.

If organizations truly feel an imperative to break systemic and attitudinal barriers to inclusion,  human resources departments need to do a better job of questioning senior leaders when individual names are brought forward for performance management and/or termination. HR leaders should question whether bias is playing a role and, if so, have mechanisms to address those biases.

End the practice of terminating racialized employees at will and without cause

Racialized workers who make it through workplace doors are the best and the brightest. They have grown accustomed to being “the only” in many spaces, which often leads to their oppression, subjugation and, later, termination. Over the course of my career, Black, Asian and other racialized employees have shared their stories of marginalization, discrimination, oppression and ousting with me. Many have learned to thrive at office events and have expertly handled microaggressions in workplace interactions. Many of them had equal or greater qualifications than their white colleagues and were overworked and tokenized as the model minority. Later, they were passed over for promotions and other high-profile opportunities. Some were performance managed straight out the proverbial workplace door. Some did not even have the chance to remedy so-called deficiencies via a performance improvement plan, because there were none. At the management level, reasons were not given for their termination. Personally, even I was walked out of a workplace with strong performance appraisals simply because my uneducated workplace Karen felt I no longer met her requirements.

The phenomenon of Black women moving from office “pet to threat” was first coined by Keisha M. Thomas in a 2013 study (Stallings, 2020). This icy transition happens when the Karen feels threatened in some way by the racialized employee and begins to put a plan in place to have them fired. I have seen people from marginalized groups experience hostility from their superiors, punishment for taking time they were entitled to and that was previously approved, exclusion from meetings and a lack of access to information they need to do their jobs. Thomas felt that it was important for Black women to have mentors and a strong network of peers, as well as connections with people in more senior positions to help navigate the “invisible currents” we are all swimming in. I agree.

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The practice of terminating racialized and other historically marginalized workers without cause should be totally abolished. The provision that permits termination at the whim of the employer should not make it into employment contracts for people of colour. Instead, mechanisms should be created to identify biases that may be at play among employees and management. Organizations also need to develop succession plans to mentor talented employees of colour.

These are the cries for equitable treatment coming from racialized and other marginalized employees at work. They want workplaces that are not just paying lip service to progress and rushing to make their organizations appear to care about changing things for Black and brown people, but that are legitimately diverse, inclusive, safe and support the mental health and well-being of all their employees.

I am hopeful that this movement for change will incite workplaces to make meaningful improvements beyond their performative hiring of Chief Diversity Officers by implementing innovative, thoughtful solutions that truly make a difference.

Janelle Benjamin is the Founder & Chief Equity Officer of All Things Equitable Inc., a new GTA-based Management Consulting Firm, created to address the cries for systemic change coming from all marginalized groups in the workplace. It helps organizations in all sectors come up with innovative solutions to make workplaces more diverse, inclusive and safe, and support the mental health and well-being of all their employees.

References

Stallings, E. (2020). When Black women go from office pet to office threat. Medium. zora.medium.com/when-black-women-go-from-office-pet-to-office-threat-83bde710332e

Vera, A., and Ly, L. (2020). White woman who called police on a black man bird-watching in Central Park has been fired. CNN. cnn.com/2020/05/26/us/central-park-video-dog-video-african-american-trnd/index.html

Thinking we know what is best for youth without considering their lived experiences can inhibit their visions of their future selves

Josslyn Gabriel

In Canada, the tendency to pressure youth to get serious about what they want to do with the rest of their lives is ever present. The education system tends to be career-motivated, structurally merit-based and unforgiving of the developmental changes youth experience. The risk of thinking, as adults, that we always know what is best for youth – especially without consideration of cultural context – is that we can stunt career exploration inside or outside of school. This is not a risk we should be willing to take.

X-Impact strives to dismantle some of these barriers for students, while creating tools and opportunities for youth agency in the interest of students’ mental health, wellness, self-advocacy and social consciousness. Our Youth Activator Hubs program provides a community for youth to think and act in their best interests outside of school. We have developed a concept that uplifts and supports youth voices and their initiatives.

Looking beyond the file

A few years ago, I had the privilege to work with a young girl whom I’ll call Jayden. Jayden, who was in an alternative education program, lived in a low-income area. She was 14 and had not been in school the year prior; this was her first time back in a classroom setting. This student had a large file that would follow her from school to school, detailing her trauma as if her experiences were meant to have a warning label for her future educators and support workers. This limited her ability to believe she could lead a life with purpose. She was able to tell me all of the things that she was not good at, but would never speak positively about herself.

Students like Jayden who are deemed to not “have their life together” at an early age are often channelled into a lifetime of minimum wage work, and thus believe that this is all that is possible for them. The system ignores the fact that people have the ability to grow, change and develop, especially children and youth.

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Jayden was a phenomenal storyteller and her art was amazing. She was great with numbers, but always received low math grades because she could not show her work, and so she believed she was bad at math. She did not put capitals where they belonged, and so she thought she was not good at English. Her grades never accounted for her attention to detail, her memory, her ability to quickly solve problems and her impressive vocabulary.

Jayden was motivated to do well in school through connection and genuine investment. Authority and trust were not earned by being the oldest in the room or the one with the title. Jayden was diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder, so just demanding she complete a task was not enough. This structure does not work for any student who has distrust or lack of respect for authority figures.

We forget what a privilege it is to feel safe and respected in a classroom. While the other educators and support workers had read Jayden’s file, I chose to learn about her at her pace. There are pros and cons to reading a student’s file. By reading about the student’s history, an educator could get a sense of how to prepare their teaching dynamic to meet a student’s needs. However, this is also a permanent file that educators can use to pigeonhole students, in a way that does not allow for an equal relationship to be built between student and teacher. I often think back and wonder if, when I was a teenager, I would have appreciated everyone having access to my most vulnerable moments without my consent or awareness.

Systemic issues restrict future possibilities

I wish I could say that this anecdote about my student was rare, but there are classrooms full of students with similar stories. Many students get lost in large classrooms and they believe by 14 to 16 years old that they have nothing to offer, with no future ahead of them. Canadian and international research shows that youth in low-income communities face socioeconomic barriers that restrict them from pursuing post-secondary opportunities in education, training and meaningful employment (Gilmore, 2010; Lyche, 2010).

The data reveals the outcomes of inadequate support. In 2018, Indigenous youth made up 43% of admissions to correctional services, while only representing 8% of the population. Ninety-four percent of Black youth reported that they would like to earn a bachelor’s degree or higher, but only 60% thought they could. Black Canadians are also more likely than non-racialized Canadians to be unemployed (Statistics Canada, 2018).

“We forget what a privilege it is to feel safe and respected in a classroom.”

How can educators and support workers mitigate these outcomes by teaching priority youth to rely on a system that is based on inequities? With Jayden, it took me one school year and a lot of positive affirmation to support her in knowing that she had choices and was capable of anything beyond educational walls.

While there are a number of barriers that affect families and youth on the individual level, many are systemic and correlated with race, class, education and lack of access. They affect Black, Indigenous and racialized youth disproportionately. With Canadian school dropout rates sitting at roughly 50% or more in the lowest-income communities (Statistics Canada, 2018), the economic discrimination against Black, Indigenous and racialized children not only affects their individual growth but robs them of the progression and development of their communities (Frankle, 2020). We need to think about these statistics as push-out rates (Dei, Mazzuca, McIsaac, and Zine, 1997) rather than dropout rates, as it is the education system pushing these students out of classrooms by not believing in their potential.

A call to action

Representation and culturally specific supports are essential for youth, especially those living in under-resourced communities. A curriculum that does not account for these needs can negatively impact students’ mindsets toward learning and their future ambitions. X-Impact’s Youth Activator Hubs strive to combat some of these concerns by taking a student-centred approach. We focus on advocating and co-creating with BIPOC youth to have more culturally relevant programming, in order to support their growth and potential in the highest form. We also ensure that when we are engaging with youth about their future aspirations and careers, we remember the developing adolescent attached to those decisions, as well as their lived experiences.

All youth have the right to figure out their futures with the same unconditional support and belief we give youth who seemingly have it “together.” It is no longer enough to assume that everyone is coming from the same starting point. It is important to take up privilege and positionality when we are teaching youth about career development and it is vital we do so in a way that supports and empowers all youth.

Josslyn Gabriel ​has completed a Master’s in Social Justice Education from the Ontario Institute​ for Studies in Education, at the University of Toronto. Gabriel is now the executive director of X-Impact, where she focuses on youth advocacy and program development, such as their new Youth Activator program that specializes in youth wellness, self-advocacy, as well as civics and career engagement as it pertains to underserved communities.

References

Lyche, C.S. (2010). Taking on the completion challenge: A Literature Review on Policies to Prevent Dropout and Early School Leaving. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Dei, G. J., Zine, J., Mcisaac, E., & Mazzuca, J. (1997). Reconstructing Drop-Out: A Critical Ethnography of the Dynamics of Black Students’ Disengagement from School. University of Toronto Press.

Do, D. (2020, February 25). Canada’s Black Population: Education, Labour and Resilience. Retrieved April 13, 2020, from https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-657-x/89-657-x2020002-eng.htm

The Impacts of Socioeconomic Status and Educational Attainment on Youth Success. (2019, September 09). Retrieved Nov 13, 2020, from https://www.pathwaystoeducation.ca/the-impacts-of-socioeconomic-status-and-educational-attainment-on-youth-success/

Slaughter, G., & Singh, M. (2020, June 07). Five Charts that Show what Systemic Racism looks like in Canada. Retrieved October 25, 2020, from https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/five-charts-that-show-what-systemic-racism-looks-like-in-canada-1.4970352

People in positions of power need to get comfortable with discomfort and actively work to break down barriers for those who are disenfranchised

Alex Hosselet

After graduating and starting my career years ago, I quickly realized two things as I entered the business world. The first was that it was not a level playing field. Most of my colleagues were white, male and from a financially comfortable background – as am I. The second realization was that I had skills, connections and experience that could help others, both individually and organizationally. I think that we all want to make the world a better place, but many of us don’t realize the many actionable ways we can work toward that.

Recent years have been marked by social movements that challenge injustice and seek to empower systemically disenfranchised people, in Canada and beyond. Anyone working in career development has felt the impact of movements like Idle No More, MeToo and Black Lives Matter. Many of us have changed our policies, updated our hiring practices and evolved our organizational systems in light of what we’ve learned. This has made a positive impact in many ways, but it often overlooks the work we can do as individuals.

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Gatekeeping is a concept often understood as involving an active barrier: individuals in power refusing to respect and welcome people who are different. This is sometimes the case, but more often, the gate is simply closed and overlooked rather than being held shut. That is to say: if you’re not working actively holding the gate open for others, you’re maintaining the status quo of keeping it shut.

While the MeToo movement shone a needed spotlight on the levels of sexual harassment in many workplaces, many men have not learned the right lessons. Instead of actively fostering safe workspaces, they’ve retreated from working closely with women at all. A 2019 survey from Lean In showed that “60% of managers who are men are uncomfortable participating in a common work activity with a woman” and “36% of men say they’ve avoided mentoring or socializing with a woman because they were nervous about how it would look.” In some ways, bringing awareness to social inequities has resulted in people in privileged positions avoiding getting involved in fixing these issues.

It concerns me to see people with the power to make change instead choose to disengage because of their discomfort and uncertainty. Discomfort is natural when recognizing inequity and realizing how you may have benefitted from different dimensions of privilege, but disengaging is a choice.

There are many ways to decide to engage with the issues and leverage privilege to make a difference, and they don’t require special skills or knowledge. For example, you can become a champion for any workplace initiatives in diversity, equity and inclusion. This may be volunteering for mentoring programs, participating in new employee orientations, joining volunteer committees or other ways of getting involved in existing programs. When doing so, be sure to make space for voices that aren’t often heard and respect the lived experiences of people facing systemic barriers. Most medium-to-large workplaces have one or more diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and smaller workplaces that may not yet have such programs can often be more nimble in creating and adopting them. You don’t have to start on your own; you can be a part of something with your team.

“Discomfort is natural when recognizing inequity and realizing how you may have benefitted from different dimensions of privilege, but disengaging is a choice.”

If you feel like your understanding of social issues limits you, take that as a sign to expand your learning. Many free or easily accessible resources exist to help you along this journey. For example, at Electricity Human Resources Canada, we’ve developed Illuminate Opportunity: Equity in the Workplace, a free digital toolkit anyone can use to bring mindfulness and action to diversity, equity and inclusion in their workplace. Many other books and tools are available, often created by people who have experienced barriers, and you can quickly build your confidence to get involved by learning from them.

There are charities and non-profits in any city that could also benefit from your skills and experience. You could be formally involved by joining a board or committee, or casually, by making yourself available when needed. By being available and supportive to one of these organizations, you can provide pathways to success for youth, newcomers to Canada and other groups.

That being said, you don’t have to go through a formal program or organization to make a difference. Mentoring can be a rewarding and impactful experience. Whether it’s junior employees, students or recent grads of your alma mater, or members of networking groups, there is no shortage of people who could benefit from your experience. When you have opportunities to be a mentor, you can look for mentees who haven’t benefitted from the same privileges you have enjoyed. Not only will you provide a helping hand, you also have an opportunity to listen and learn from someone who has lived a different life from your own.

The challenges of inequity in our organizations and society can seem overwhelming, but when we endeavour to make a positive contribution, we can start by taking small but meaningful steps toward change. You don’t have to be an expert in a new field; you only have to be willing to share your expertise in a way that will maximize the impact for others. As career development professionals, we know that success is measured in more ways than titles and salaries; I challenge you to explore ways that you can redefine success as helping others have an equitable chance at accomplishing their career goals.

Alex Hosselet is a marketing and business professional with over 10 years of experience in organizations, including tech start-ups, agency consulting and non-profits. He is the Marketing and Communications Manager at Electricity Human Resources Canada, a non-profit that serves the human resources needs of Canada’s electricity sector.

References

Electricity Human Resources Canada. (n.d.). Illuminate opportunity: Equity in the workplace. electricityhr.ca/workplace-solutions/diversity-inclusion/illuminate-opportunity/

LeanIn. (2019). Working relationships in the #MeToo era. leanin.org/sexual-harassment-backlash-survey-results

Research finds career education in high school affects students in different ways depending on their family income bracket

Reuben Ford

Decisions, decisions, decisions … How do youth make them? What influences where they want to go in their lives? As Yogi Berra famously said: “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.”

Every day, Canadian youth navigate an education system designed to transport them along diverse paths toward different futures. The price of an abundance of options is a myriad of decisions to be made relatively early in the process regarding which way to go. Everyone hopes they are guided by clear ambitions and informed expectations and ­– if not – that they get the support they need to engage and prepare. But is career programming in high school helping young people to formulate or realize their career ambitions years later? Our team at Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC) embarked on an ambitious two-stage research project to try to find out.

First, we reviewed the literature to learn what is known about how youth make career decisions. Then, we explored longitudinal data to better understand what influenced changes in the life plans of 7,000 young Canadians. We started with their occupational aspirations as high school students at age 14, then matched these to their later post-secondary education (PSE) and employment decisions and outcomes over the decade that followed. We found that high school career programming did different things for different people. It influenced some youth – generally those from higher income and better educated families – to realize long-held ambitions, while it stimulated others – generally those from lower-income and first-generation families – to, more often, revise their plans.

What do we know about what influences decisions?

The literature revealed what researchers already know about how youth make career decisions, including that there are many gaps in the process. We know institutional and social obligations demand decisions from young people. Institutions and social connections can also provide support. But even though engagement from parents, career counsellors, teachers and peers is unevenly distributed, few studies have tracked the impact of career supports for more disadvantaged youth. And very few have examined the consequences of career education on long-term outcomes.

Visit ceric.ca/careereducationinyouth to learn more about this CERIC-supported research, read the reports and watch a webinar from the researchers.

What does this new study add?

SRDC sought to fill knowledge gaps by analyzing longitudinal data on youth from the Future to Discover and BC AVID projects, with a special focus on those from lower-income families. The data come from randomized trials funded by the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation in 2004-2005. They compare program groups of youth offered career education interventions in high school to those in statistically equivalent control groups at the same schools. Control group members received no new treatments but remained eligible for the normally available career supports and financial aid. In line with the Council of Ministers of Education description, our study considered career education as school-based activities and experiences designed to prepare and engage individuals in their career development. Three interventions were tested:

• Manitoba and New Brunswick: access to 20 career education workshops from Grades 10 through 12.
• New Brunswick only: a guarantee made to Grade 9 students from lower-income families of a PSE grant. [In New Brunswick only – some students from lower-income families received the offer of the PSE grant alongside the workshops];
• British Columbia only: an elective class promoting and supporting academic engagement involving specially trained PSE-focused educators (including counsellors).

Because the receipt of these interventions was randomized, we could compare each group of youth receiving a new program to a control group of youth not receiving the program that was, on average, identical. We can have high confidence that the interventions, rather than other factors, brought about any differences in outcomes.

What changed youth career outcomes?

Our analysis looked at how the career programs influenced (or not) six ‘outcomes’ of interest in the career pathways of the 7,000 participating youth. We compared the youth’s early occupational and educational aspirations to their later PSE and actual occupation. For example, each youth answered survey questions in Grade 8/9 about their career aspirations. When they reached Grade 12, we asked them their intended program of study in post-secondary education (if any).

By looking at the changing level of precision in their stated career choice between Grade 8/9 and grade 12, we assessed improving career clarity. Youth whose Grade 12 expectations matched their Grade 8/9 aspirations were said to be continuing their early career aspiration. A match between Grade 8/9 aspiration and the PSE program they enrolled in implied carrying out the early career aspiration, while a match with the post-schooling occupation meant realization of the early career aspiration.

We interpreted a match between the Grade 12 PSE expectation and the PSE program enrolled in as carrying out the post-secondary plan. Matching the program of study and the post-schooling occupation meant realization of the career plan through post-secondary education. In this way, we looked for the impact of high school career programming on six different career pathway outcomes. Some of the findings that stand out include:

• Workshops on their own affected higher-income students in terms of carrying out their post-secondary plan and carrying out and realizing their early career aspiration. But the effect of workshops was also indirect, inducing increased volunteering. Volunteering then affected the choice of career paths. There was no impact on volunteering among lower-income students.
• Like a virtuous circle, career education interventions typically increased academic engagement and the number of other career-related activities students engaged in. Youth receiving interventions seemed less often to resort to easy-to-obtain jobs straight after high school.
• But workshops had no effect for students from lower-income families on engaging in other career activities, raising academic engagement or parents’ valuation of PSE unless a grant was promised as well. It seems guaranteeing a financial barrier to PSE would be lifted catalyzed youth to make changes on a broad range of future-oriented outcomes.
• Career programming realigned students’ early focus, choices and plans more often for those whose parents had not attended PSE (whose children are also typically less likely to access PSE) but reinforced the existing early choices and plans among those whose parents had attended PSE (who are typically better able to promote PSE as a destination to their children).
• Overall, the interventions decreased the likelihood that students from lower-income households carried out their early career aspirations directly, suggesting that career programming is changing the focus and choices of youth from more disadvantaged backgrounds relatively early in high school.

For much more of what we learned on whether career education helps or hinders each of the outcomes, and for whom, please access our report on the CERIC website.

What have we learned? What do we have yet to learn?

The career education that disadvantaged youth responded to more often took the form of guidance being provided directly to them from the start of Grade 10 and/or a guarantee of a grant at the same point in time. This finding about early ‘universal’ provision (contrasting with more conventional career support that youth have to seek out themselves and/or PSE funding amounts that must be applied for and are only revealed in the final year of high school or later) prompts a reconsideration of how education services are structured and the timing of providing supports.

That said, our work does not yet say much about the life-impacting consequences of career education. For example, realizing one’s early career aspiration could prove on balance positive or negative. To date, we have not placed a value on the six career outcomes.

The plan for our next work will be to track these youth further to get closer to understanding lifetime implications. What are the impacts of different career interventions on the chances of being unemployed? Do the career interventions looked at here impact how much youth go on to earn? Do they impact their physical and mental well-being? When we have those answers, then we will really know where they are going.

Reuben Ford is a Research Director in SRDC’s Vancouver office with extensive experience in the design and analysis of innovations spanning education and employment transitions.  Since 2003, he has worked with educators and thousands of students in four provinces on six large-scale investigations of early interventions to increase access to post-secondary education. He holds a PhD in geography and is a credentialed evaluator with 27 consecutive years in program evaluation.

My name is Lindsay Purchase. I am a white, cisgender, non-disabled woman. I have a university education and I am fortunate to be able to do work I find meaningful. I live in Toronto, a territory to which the Huron-Wendat, Petun, Haundenosaunee, Anishinaabe and Mississauga Anishinaabe of New Credit share a special relationship. Today, it is home to Indigenous Peoples from across Turtle Island and many who have come from away.   

Why am I telling you this? Following in the example of two of this issue’s contributors, Natasha Caverley and Kathy Offet-Gartner, I am sharing my social location to acknowledge the powers and privileges that I hold. These have shaped my worldview and the opportunities I have been able to access. 

This issue of Careering, on the theme of Social Justice, highlights the importance of understanding the context in which people pursue education and work – or are prevented from doing so to their full potential. It also reminds us that career development can be a powerful tool to challenge inequities and to advance the public good.  

Contributors to this issue examine social justice from many different perspectives. They confront anti-Black racism in the workplace and challenge us to do the same. They offer resources and strategies to support transgender students, newcomers to Canada, clients in the criminal justice system and neurologically atypical jobseekers. Writers examine the potential of K-12 career education to meet the needs of all learners. They analyze how COVID-19 has affected the labour market and reflect on how to build back better.  

By sharing their experiences and ideas, contributors are issuing a call to career professionals to reject complacency. There is much work to be done, and this issue of Careering reminds us of the great promise of career development to help build a more socially just society.  

We hope you will join us to continue these discussions at CERIC’s virtual Cannexus21 conference, on the theme of Career Development for Public Good, starting Jan. 25. In the meantime, let us know on social media, using #Careering, about how you bring a social justice lens to your work and your takeaways from this issue.