After reading chapter 12 of Brown, I can see how school
counselors play an integral role in helping to develop and implement career
development programs into their schools. As I was sitting on my couch reading
the chapter two thoughts came to mind; 1). Holy cow this seems intense and do
counselors really get this much time to develop such plans and 2). I can’t
remember in any of my schooling any of my counselors doing any type of
assessments or career planning with me either than trying to figure out what classes
I was going to take next. Some of this might because I just don’t remember but
I think it’s not necessarily a good thing if one can’t remember any type of
career planning, and who is at fault for it?
Brown did a
nice job of including what types of programs you might see in each grade level
from k-12. Some of the things listed are becoming familiar with occupations
and those occupations that family members have for elementary school students.Which
is a good way to increase awareness of their choices. Middle school students
would continue their awareness of occupations and interests but also start goal
setting. This can be done through career classes which Brown classifies as
organized classes that allow one to go into more depth in a unit. The goal of careers
classes should be to enhance ones self actualization by developing concepts
that are appropriate to their age and maturity level and what type of
occupations would come into play at the current age of students. High school
students should continue to work on goal setting and interests but also be
narrowing down choices of going to college, vocational school or transitioning
right into the work force. Some suggested ways for high school students to
narrow down their choices are; job shadowing, internships, part time jobs and
interviews, ( Brown, 2012). With any career development program at any grade
level, parents should be involved whether it be answering questions asked for
homework, helping their children with computer based activities or taking their
high school students on interviews, college applications or resume building.
I was happy
to see that Brown added in targeting students with disabilities, as I feel
sometimes these students are forgotten about or counselors just do not have the
knowledge and tools to help this specific group with career choices and
activities that meet their needs. “High school career development programs
should pay particular attention to students with disabilities”, (Brown, 2012,
pg 286). Not only do career developments programs need to help those students
with disabilities develop skills for possible jobs but also and emphasis needs
to be placed on helping the students make transitions to higher education.
Students with learning disabilities have different ways of comprehending and
interpreting things. This is something that I struggled with in k-12 as well as
undergrad and in this program as well. Counselors need to be prepared to
explore with their students with disabilities careers related to their
interests as well as tailoring their efforts to students with disabilities. It
is encouraging to see those with disabilities not be left out of the process of
career development and be able to see potential that they posses and to some
extent be able to achieve their goals and dreams.
Brown, D. (2012). Career
information, career counseling, and career development (10th ed.). New York , NY
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