Preparing Middle School Students for a Career

This guide provides information about how middle schools can promote the development and education of adolescents, especially about how they can focus students' attention on career opportunities and training. It also offers families some ideas about how they can encourage their children's career awareness. Finally, it presents some criteria for parents to consider when selecting a middle school for their children or when participating in the planning and functioning of the school their children attend.

Middle School Student Development
The early adolescents (ages 10-14) in middle school are undergoing rapid physical growth and experiencing many new emotions. They are moving from concrete to abstract thinking as they progress in their studies. They are acquiring a self-concept and social skills. They are developing lasting attitudes about learning, work, and other adult values. Finally, they are learning to take responsibility for their education.

Middle School Students' Beliefs About a Career
Youth who are most likely to think about their future careers, and believe that they have a variety of career options, have high self-esteem and are able to understand and evaluate complex career information. They have families that help them learn about career choices and support their efforts, in school and outside, to prepare for a career.

But some adolescents have difficulty seeing a connection between what they learn in school, and how they behave there, and their future careers. Students who are not able to meet with a guidance counselor may not know what they need to do, and which courses they should take, in order to make their plans for the future a reality. As a result, some students who expect to go to college do not take the courses necessary for college enrollment. Unfortunately, poor students are least likely to think about how their middle and high school course choices can limit their career plans later. They may also have less family support because of all the stresses created by poverty.

Unfortunately, many youth have already limited their career aspirations by the time they reach middle school, based on false information and beliefs. For example, many boys may have sex-stereotyped views of occupations by the time they reach adolescence. Girls also acquire these views, but at a slightly older age.

Career Education in Middle Schools: Programs
Many middle school programs can help students plan for a career even if they do not provide specific training for a vocation. The most effective programs combine general middle school education strategies with vocational education by doing the following:

Work-Related Skills Development. Curriculum can introduce students to the world of work by providing career information and by integrating learning with working. Students can participate in monitored work experiences, pre-apprenticeships, entrepreneurships, job shadowing, and community and neighborhood service. These experiences can also help schools prevent students from dropping out. An important part of curriculum involving work is support from adults. These adults include parents; school staff members who act as advisors, brokers, troubleshooters, or behavior modifiers; and community and business mentors.

Another way for students to learn work skills is to integrate teaching them with teaching academic skills. Academic skills are learned by performing certain vocational tasks, and vocational tasks provide a real-world context for academic skills.

Students can learn academic subjects, integrate the use of technology, and explore career opportunities in the community by studying local hospitals, restaurants, and other places of business that provide goods or services.