Nebraska Career Information System

The junior high or middle school years are a time of change. Parents are becoming a bit less of an influence as peers become more and more important in their children's lives. For the students school is no longer one teacher one classroom and now requires more individual responsibility. Then there are the physiological changes that many begin to experience during these years. It's no wonder that many adjustment problems start showing up and therefore a need for effective school counseling.

An important area of growing emphasis is the idea of developing an individual career exploration and education plan. Beginning at this interesting time of change in students' lives, a new framework of thinking is being introduced that requires purposeful planning of classes and activities, in the context of possible future careers. Counselors, teachers, and parents can work to make this a positive experience.

First let's not give the impression these students have to make their career choices at age thirteen. Some studies say most eighteen year old college freshmen are still not ready to make those decisions. But they do need to start thinking about how the classes they are in now and will choose to take in high school can affect their future. When making decisions on what classes to take or how much time to study, they need to realize they can be opening or closing opportunities, making progress toward a goal, or getting off track. This is where counselors and parents can have the most impact.

Briana Keller, a counseling psychologist and career counselor at the University of Washington , found that basic loving and supportive parent behaviors seem to be more important than specific career-related actions. If parents want to help their young adolescents gain confidence in their abilities to make good career decisions, they need to maintain open communications and be consistently honest. She says parents should:

•  Express interest in various teenage issues that are important to their children.
•  Tell their children they have high expectations for their careers.
•  Encourage their children to make their own decisions.
•  Tell their children they are proud of them
•  Help their children understand the results from career or interest assessments they have taken.

Both counselors and parents should encourage their students to start thinking of things in the context of what they would like their futures to be. In junior high it becomes important to get into the right classes that will provide the basic foundations for the more challenging upper level classes available in high school. Students need to work with their counselors to insure they are at the proper level based on their abilities. Counselors should make sure the students are started in the proper sequence to meet graduation requirements, college entrance requirements if possible, and/or the vocational or technology prerequisites for a career track. The basic plan should be to keep as many options open for each student as possible.

Counselors should be ready to recommend and have sources for developing stronger study habits, making up deficiencies, and resources for challenging advanced students. Parents and students need to sit down and look at different programs within their high school or if there is the option of different high schools, which one will offer the most opportunities in the areas they find most interesting. Parents and counselors can also help set goals for high school. The Princeton Review offers these considerations when starting to set goals:

Suzy Wakefield, PhD with almost thirty years in high school counseling working with unfocused kids, offers these steps to help students focus on their education and career plans .

•  Make an education/career plan based on strengths and abilities.
•  Start a financial plan with flexibility and back-up.
•  Develop strong academic and technical skills.
•  Develop strong relationships with adults who will help and push them to achieve.
•  Develop good personal discipline for effective work and study habits.

She also provides these ideas to help students get the most out of their junior and senior high school years.

•  Knowing one's self is the fundamental key to successful career planning. The more you understand your strengths, interests, abilities, values, likes, dislikes, etc. the clearer and more specific goals can be. Interest inventories, skill sorts, values sorts, personality inventories, all of these can help a person gain insight into who he or she is.
•  Teens need to talk to their parents/guardians, friends, and school counselors about their plans. Their relationships with people who care about them are very important. Studies have shown parental involvement can be critical for student success.
•  Develop a Personal Learning Plan. Once teens have some sense of who they are and a support system in place, they can begin to develop goals and make education and career plans. The NCIS provides a place to keep all career related information and guides them in further development.
•  Teens need to gain experience and be involved in activities that can broaden their interests and enhance their skills. Parents, schools, communities, organizations, churches, and employers can all help provide adolescents with opportunities and experiences that will help them develop positive, realistic expectations of the future. And as they learn new skills and gain experience, they will have the confidence to adjust their goals and plans.
•  Teens need to learn to look at their choices and evaluate where they are. Is this good? Am I on track? If not, what do I need, a different goal, new skills? Where will this lead if I continue? Where can I get help? Parents, counselors, and teachers should be readily available and equipped to help students sort through their options, make realistic evaluations, and understand how to use their goals and plans to make their decisions.

Junior high/middle school students may not need to commit to specific careers at this point, but if they can learn more about themselves, if they begin to discover who they are and where they want to go. They can develop their plan. This will help them begin to see the connection between their classes and their future, how good choices will help them get to where they want to go. They might change plans as things change and they learn more about themselves, but that is the way it should work. Parents, guardians, counselors, and educators cannot make it happen, but are an integral part of the support system that students need to gain the confidence to make their plans and stay on track.