Exploring possibilities: Journeying through career-related learning in primary schools

Description

Career-related learning is about helping children to understand who they could become and helping them to develop a healthy sense of self that will aid development of their foundational skills and enable them to reach their full potential (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2016). We know that teachers engage in a variety of learning and playing activities that introduce and develop foundational concepts and skills, such as healthy habits, social and emotional skills development, and helping children to build their self-confidence, empathy, and team-work skills. Such concepts and skills are crucial for successful career development in later life-stages, but they are not usually undertaken through a career development lens by primary teachers.

For many people, the idea of delivering career-related learning during the primary phase of education is highly controversial. Surely elementary education is about teaching and learning for the development of children rather than developing children for a career?  Clearly, we should not be expecting elementary age children to commit to which jobs they see themselves applying for when they reach adulthood.  During this seminar we hope to take you beyond thinking of career in terms of being linked with educational options and jobs and reveal how well aligned career-related learning actually is to the typical primary school teaching and learning mission.

To buy a copy of the book

Delivered by

Nicki Moore: Senior lecturer in career development at iCeGS, University of Derby.

Dr Lorraine Godden, Ironwood Consulting and FUSION National Lead, Carleton University, Canada