Career Education of Adults.

Overview & Synopsis

Prepared for the National Advisory Council for Career Education, this paper offers a broad view of the current practice of career education of adults, drawing on statistical information that indicates millions of adults are engaged in diverse kinds of educational activity. The paper defines the terms adult and career education and discusses a structure for the domain of career education of adults. Information about aspects of career education of adults other than instructional, such as counseling, career development, and job placement, is reported. The point is made that career education for adults depends not only on activities based in educational institutions but also on a wide variety of services by agencies outside colleges, universities, and other postsecondary teaching institutions. (Three examples of such services used to illustrate this point are educational brokering, educational assessment and credentialing, and experiential learning.) Three categories of career education of adults are posited: Preparatory, primary, and adaptive, each of which address different goals or purposes of career education of adults. Brief recommendations are made and a list of references is included. (TA)