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Using Group Counseling to Implement a Career Development Program with High School Students
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Giallombardo, Lisa |
| Copyright Year | 2005 |
| Abstract | Discusses the importance of implementing career development groups at the high school level. A study was conducted to determine if group career counseling is beneficial to students’ growth in their career development. The methods used in this study were described, including the setting, participants, procedure, and evaluations. The findings were detailed along with a discussion about the implications of the results. Included in the literature review was the rational for having career development in high school, as well as the educational system and counselor’s role pertaining to career development. Using group work as a counseling technique was described, along with its effectiveness when working with adolescents. Finally, the advantages of combining group counseling with career development were introduced and explored. Group Career Counseling 8 Using Group Counseling to Implement a Career Development Program With High School Students Introduction With the amount of career options for people to explore today, career development has become an increasingly popular tool for individuals to learn more about their career interests and possibilities. Career development is especially helpful when working with adolescents. The high school years are an important time for adolescents because of the transitions they will be facing and their decisions regarding further education and career (Maduakolam, 1999; Gullekson, 1995). High school counselors play an essential part in providing students with information about their future options (Gibson & Mitchell, 1995; Bloch, 1996; Barker, 2000). Unfortunately, counselors in a school setting usually carry a large caseload of students and may not have a large amount of time to devote to career development (Gullekson). Gullekson (1995) found that when career planning activities were implemented, counselors would hold one-time seminars to a large group of students in order to provide information in a timely manner. Within these large group seminars, the school may provide information on post-secondary education and careers, but not necessarily help the students learn about their interests and values regarding careers. Career exploration can be helpful when counselors meet on an individual basis with students, however this is not always realistic with the amount of students counselors may have on their caseload. One way to reach a number of students on a more individual basis is with small groups. Career counseling in small groups would provide the counselors the opportunity to meet with more students at once as well as providing individualized information. Group Career Counseling 9 Using groups would allow the students to explore their own self, hear others’ fears and desires, and gain knowledge about the working world. The goal of this study was to develop and implement a career development program by using small groups. The research describes the advantages of group counseling combined with career counseling in a high school setting. Review of Literature The beginning of the literature discussed the importance of career development. This topic includes the meaning of work and the need for career development with all ages and specifically, adolescence. The next part explored was the educational system and career development. The failure of schools to address career concerns, the school counselors’ role, and the educational systems’ role towards career development was included. Career counseling in schools was addressed next, which included a definition and explored the implementation of career development programs. The final part of the literature discussed school counseling in a group setting. This addressed the advantages of group counseling and the reasoning for combining career development with group counseling. Importance of Career Development In today’s society, work and career are more than a means to earning a living. Career concerns occur throughout one’s lifetime and their career choice can be one of the most important aspects affecting an individual’s personal happiness (Sears, 1982). Career counseling has long been considered a significant area of the counseling profession (Blustein, 1992). In a society with increasing technology, a volatile global economy, and school-to-work programs, career counseling is necessary more today than ever (Blustein). Group Career Counseling 10 For most people, career development is a lifelong process that begins at an early age. Adolescence is a transitional period often marked by important decisions relating to their future. Determining what to do with one’s life remains an important developmental task for graduating students (Maduakolam, 1999). To help students in making career decisions, school counselors have to locate the difficulties adolescents face and provide them with guidance on how to overcome, or at least minimize, these difficulties (Gati & Saka, 2001). Significance of work. Work has been as part of society since human beings gathered together in communities. Their desire to thrive and survive led to a kind of “division of labor” where individuals with certain talents and skills became recognized for the work which they did. As this was studied more, it gradually became clear to many that people’s occupations or work actually served four distinct functions (Morse & Weiss, 1955; Steers & Porter, 1979; Sverko & Vizek-Vidovic, 1995). First, labor serves an economic function, providing the individual with some financial return for his efforts in order to better his/her state in life. Second, it was found that work has a social function which allows people to interact with one another. A third function is that of giving the individual social status in the community: one’s position in society is often a reflection of what he/she does for a living. Finally, work can have a psychological function, providing the individual with an “identity” and a source of self-esteem. While these four functions serve an important role regarding individual’s work, the term “work” has evolved to incorporate much more meaning. The need for career development. The concept of career and career development has been undergoing changes and has been defined in various ways throughout the Group Career Counseling 11 literature. Instead of being defined as a job or work, career is increasingly being defined as the combinations and sequences of life roles, the settings in which life roles unfold, and the planned and unplanned events that occur in people’s lives (McDaniels & Gysbers, 1992). Sharf (1997) defined career as “how individuals see themselves in relation to what they do” (p. 3); while Sears (1982) defines it as “the individual’s work and leisure that take place over her or his life span” (p. 138). Williamson (1975) believed that for most people their career is a basic way of establishing one’s identity. This can be observed at most social functions where, commonly, the first question after an introduction is often, “What do you do?” There are many reasons why social status has long been associated with one’s career. One’s occupation generally determines where and how he/she lives and the community organizations in which one participates. Work provides the person, and often the family, with self-satisfaction, esteem, recognition, affiliation, and similar psychological and sociological products necessary for participation in society (Isaacson & Brown, 1993). Krumboltz (1993) viewed career decision as being crucial to human happiness. A career affects the way someone spends most of the day. It can affect the kind of people with whom one socializes; it can determine vacation plans, family plans, and retirement possibilities. Career decisions can profoundly affect the way one lives; yet ironically people are not eager to spend time planning for their career, and often avoid it until the last moment (Krumboltz). Starting the career exploration process during adolescence is an essential part of their development. As youth strive to find places for themselves in the world of work, they are not only faced with considering what kind of job they will hold, Group Career Counseling 12 but also the kind of work environment which will provide them personal satisfaction and growth (Maduakolam, 1999). Rational for career development during adolescence. People typically make their first career-related decisions during adolescence. Such decisions may have lifelong consequences for the individual’s future, personally and professionally (Mann, Harmoni, & Power, 1989). At the end of one’s high school career, an individual is expected to assume the responsibility for deciding the direction of their future personal and professional life. There is a need for serious planning and making important decisions as well as assessing values and determining interests (Campbell, Walz, Miller, & Kriger, 1973). These authors believed that with the immediacy of needs, multiple career and educational options, and the pressures put on an individual during high school, planning can result in productive and meaningful decisions or can lead to confusion, stress, and thoughtless decisions. Barton (2002) found that many students, both high school graduates and dropouts, are deficient in career planning skills as they enter the work force or transition to postsecondary education. Many adolescents face difficulties before or during the actual process of their career development. Gati and Saka (2001) found that lack of information added to the difficulties in the career development process. This lack of information included; lack of knowledge about the steps involved in the process, lack of information about self, lack of information about alternatives, and lack of knowledge on how to obtain or research additional information. Gati and Saka believed these difficulties may lead adolescents to attempt to transfer the responsibility for making decisions to someone else, delay, or even avoid the decisio |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1035&context=edc_theses |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
