Career Awareness and Exploration
Career Awareness and Exploration focuses on learning about the characteristics of various career options through direct and hands-on experiences. In elementary and middle school, the process involves interviewing workers and experimenting with work tasks from various career pathways and occupational categories. This provides insight into various jobs as well as the personal interests and strengths needed for that career. In high school, emphasis is placed on further understanding career pathways, exploring employment opportunities and future trends, and engaging in activities that are individualized on the basis of a learner’s interests, aptitudes, and preferences. For most people, the career exploration process continues throughout a person’s educational and work life.
Career Pathways are one of the most efficient ways to help students sort through thousands of different occupations. These are six broad groupings of careers that share similar characteristics and whose employment requirements call for many common interests, strengths, and abilities. Michigan’s six pathways encompass the entire spectrum of career options, providing opportunities for all students and all ability levels. They include:
- Arts and Communications
- Business, Management, Marketing, and Technology
- Engineering/Manufacturing and Industrial Technology
- Health Sciences
- Human Services
- Natural Resources and Agriscience
Education Development Plans
An Education Development Plan (EDP) is a personal document in which a student identifies career goals, lists interests and skills in line with meeting those goals, and records the experiences, education, and accomplishments he or she wants to pursue to successfully attain them. The purpose of the EDP is to provide every student with an ongoing and periodically updated record of career planning that will serve as a guide for entering a career of choice. Students in Michigan are required to develop an EDP in the seventh grade.
Xello is an on line career guidance and planning system that has been designed with one goal in mind: to help students plan their future. Visit Xello
Manufacturers understand the misconception most students, parents, and others have about career choices in manufacturing. They are dedicated to change that opinion. High school students can view manufacturing related videos to gain a better understanding of the manufacturing environment today and discover opportunities for growth and professional development.
Manufacturing Video Challenge Boyne City High School