Opinion
College & Workforce Readiness Letter to the Editor

Career Preparation Is Not Career Awareness

April 21, 2015 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

To the Editor:

There is a distinct difference between career preparation and career awareness. The former prepares students for careers. The latter teaches about careers.

High schools, for decades, have been preparing students for well-paying careers in construction, manufacturing, technology, and numerous other fields. The training is specific to the needs of a particular career. Many of the programs, along with preparing students for entry-level positions, provide solid postsecondary connections. The curriculum is narrow but deep. Curricula are often developed by national industry groups.

Career awareness gives students an understanding of the careers available to them. Students interested in medicine, for example, learn of careers that range from nursing assistant to brain surgeon. With such a broad curriculum, the depth is limited. But upon graduation, students should be able to better assess the postsecondary career-preparation choices available to them.

Most secondary-level career-preparation programs are designed to serve long-standing manpower needs, such as carpentry, auto technology, and cooking. Between the creation of the concept of a career-preparation course and the graduation of such a course’s first entry-level employees, a high school program needs four or five years to move from a proposal to budgeting, delivery of a three- to four-year curriculum, and graduation. Colleges, although more flexible, also require significant time to respond to employer needs.

An alternative to a school-based program for businesses, such as the one needing machine operators mentioned in your article, is for the training to take place at the business site, where the machines and the operators qualified to serve as trainers are readily available. This is career preparation.

For either to be successful, career preparation and career awareness need clear definitions.

Joseph Crowley

Executive Director

Rhode Island Association of School Principals

Providence, R.I.

A version of this article appeared in the April 22, 2015 edition of Education Week as Career Preparation Is Not Career Awareness

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Equity & Diversity Webinar
Classroom Strategies for Building Equity and Student Confidence
Shape equity, confidence, and success for your middle school students. Join the discussion and Q&A for proven strategies.
Content provided by Project Lead The Way
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Professional Development Webinar
Disrupting PD Day in Schools with Continuous Professional Learning Experiences
Hear how this NC School District achieved district-wide change by shifting from traditional PD days to year-long professional learning cycles
Content provided by BetterLesson
Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

College & Workforce Readiness Want to Motivate Students? Give Them a Meaningful Taste of the Working World
Work-based learning experiences can help students understand why the classes they are taking are relevant to their future success.
7 min read
A nurse supervises a young student standing at the foot of a hospital bed chatting about the medical chart that she is holding.
E+/Getty + Education Week
College & Workforce Readiness A Lesson in Eggonomics: The Story of Soaring Prices and Industrious High Schoolers
California agriculture students are undercutting grocery store egg prices—and learning big lessons in the process.
4 min read
Cardboard egg cartons sit stacked on the shelf of a grocery store cooler case.
Eggs are displayed on store shelves at a grocery store. Egg prices surged in late 2022, giving agriculture students hands-on lessons in supply chain issues.
Ross D. Franklin/AP
College & Workforce Readiness Photo Essay PHOTOS: Cars, Canines, and Cosmetology—All in a Day's Work
EdWeek photographer Morgan Lieberman reflects on her day with Dean McGee, a 2023 Leaders To Learn From honoree.
2 min read
Students Fernando Castro and Eric Geye’s, part of the Auto Technology class, show Dean McGee the vehicle they are working on at the Regional Occupational Center on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023, in Bakersfield, Calif.
Dean McGee takes a look under a vehicle alongside students from the auto technology class at the Regional Occupational Center, in Bakersfield, Calif.
Morgan Lieberman for Education Week
College & Workforce Readiness Leader To Learn From Building Skills for Independent Lives: A Leader's Vision for Students With Disabilities
Dean McGee of Kern High School District in California draws on his personal experience to improve and expand career-technical education.
7 min read
Dean McGee pets Sydney while visiting the Veterinary Technology program at the Regional Occupation Center on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023, in Bakersfield, Calif.
Dean McGee, deputy superintendent of educational services and innovative programs in the Kern High School District, pets Sydney while visiting the veterinary technology program at the Regional Occupation Center in Bakersfield, Calif.
Morgan Lieberman for Education Week