Objectives for Career Education at the Elementary Education Level.

Overview & Synopsis

The climate for acceptance of career education has been found to be favorable and widespread. However, serious theoretical questions remain and many operational problems persist. The ultimate acceptance of career education is related to the degree to which curriculum developers can articulate and validate the behavioral outcomes of career education programs. The aim of career education is to develop an individual who can achieve a meaningful career existence in which his individuality functions for both personal and common good. Thus, long-range curriculum goals are directed to the development of competencies and/or attitudes which will be useful in situations that may not now be predictable. Primary sources of data for conceptualizing a model for career education are the construct of career development and the foundations of vocational education. Included in this paper is a description and discussion of a curriculum model designed to facilitate career development at the K-6 level. The model is an outline for a school-based approach to career education, which is differentiated into four developmental stages with corresponding subprocesses for Grades K-12. The goals and rationale for the awareness and accommodation stages at the elementary level are described and are accompanied by a listing of integrated objectives. (SB)