High School Counseling: High School Guidance Counseling

Structuring Opportunity: The Role of School Context in Shaping High School Students' Occupational Aspirations

“…These include course units and lessons, interest inventories, career days, job shadowing, and apprenticeships (Turner & Lapan, 2005), as well as structures that indirectly convey career-related information such as extracurricular activities. However, in a national survey of high school guidance counseling programs, Parsad, Alexander, Farris, and Hudson (2003) found that most schools reported a "team approach to career development" (p. iv) like the one advocated by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA;2003). Studies of such curricula, which combine a variety of career interventions, have shown that participants are more likely to form tentative post-high-school vocational and educational plans (Lapan, Gysbers, Hughey, & Arni, 1993) and also report feeling better prepared for their future (Lapan, Gysbers, & Sun, 1997).…”

The relationship between career competencies, career identity, motivation and quality of choice

“…When it comes to career guidance, research shows that the focus is mainly on helping students with their academic achievement and not on helping students plan and prepare for their work roles afterwards (Meijers, 2008;Parsad, Alexander, Farris, & Hudson, 2003). There is evidence, however scattered, that career guidance and education affects a number of outcome measures, especially with regard to decision-making skills and knowledge of work and occupations.…”

Comprehensive School Guidance Programs in the United States: A Career Profile

“…At the middle and high school levels a wide variety of career awareness, exploration, and planning activities take place. Classroom presentations, career/educational days and nights, job shadowing, and the use of career information are just a few examples of the types of activities that are standard in most schools (Parsad, Alexander, Farris, & Hudson, 2003).…”