Smart Choices

1. Smart Choices for high school and beyond

2. A Parent Presentation . . . designed to enlighten parents about the: • Workforce and workplace changes in the 21st century • Need for career guidance and career development throughout the educational process • Nontraditional training and employment opportunities • Planning for high school • High School Course and Program Options • Importance of Parental Involvement

3. The Ever-changing Workforce and Workplace of the 21st Century

4. The purpose of this presentation is to give you a glimpse of the future and explain how your child can begin preparing now for the changes and challenges of the 21st century!

5. Changes in the Workforce in the 21st Century Spending 20 plus years with one employer is a thing of the past due to many factors, such as: • Rapid technological changes • Competitive global markets • Company downsizing • Mobile workers

6. Workforce Changes (continued) Some of the changes in the workforce of the 21st century are: • Most new jobs will require education beyond high school, but only 20% of the jobs will require a four-year college degree. • Of today’s high school students, 60% will work in jobs that do not yet exist. • New jobs will continue to shift to the service industries with more than half of the new jobs in health, business, and retail services. • In the next century, 44% of all jobs will include information management.

7. Workforce Changes (continued) The way we do business will also change. For example: • Individuals will need to perform a variety of tasks requiring broader skill areas. • Individuals will find themselves working in more dynamic group environments. • Individuals will face the necessity of updating their skills in order to get and keep jobs.

8. Success in the Workplace Success in the workplace depends on: • Occupational Skill Level • Human Relations • Computer Literacy • Problem Solving • Excellent Math, Science, and Communication Skills • Ability to take Initiative • Decision-making Abilities

9. Success in the Workplace (continued) Workplace success also depends on: • Healthy self image • Job satisfaction - ongoing good career decisions • Positive perception of one’s relationship to the workplace • Ability to access the job market, negotiate or bargain for decent wages, and maximize opportunities

10. Success in the Workplace (continued) Workplace success also depends on: • Recognition of the importance of upgrading skills and retraining • Ability to make the most of changing circumstances • Ability to deal with gender and race role changes and conflicts • Ability to accept people in a variety of positions regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, class, age, or disability status • Ability of individuals, employers, and educational institutions to provide supportive structures to help employees combine work and family

11. The Need for Career Development and Career Guidance Throughout the Educational Process

12. Open the Door to Your Child’s Future Encourage career development and career guidance throughout your child’s educational process to insure smart planning for high school and beyond.

13. Career Education Goals • Understanding self and others • Exploring occupations • Learning to make decisions • Acquiring work skills • Planning for beyond high school • Helping students to become lifelong learners

14. Guidance Curriculum Provides a foundation of information for career development and successful high school and postsecondary educational planning

15. Guidance Curriculum Emphasis • Self Knowledge • Educational & Occupational Exploration • Career Planning

16. Career Guidance Pointers • Provide self knowledge and career exploration opportunities • Encourage career planning before the selection of a graduation seal in 9th grade • Encourage challenging academic standards • Encourage periodic evaluations • Suggest work-based learning

17. What is Your Concept of Career Develpment? Career development is much more than preparing for an occupation. Rather, career development is a dynamic process (not a one-time activity) involving our: • Beliefs & Values • Interests & Personality • Skills & Aptitudes • Knowledge about the ever-changing work environment This process concerns the whole person and spans our entire lives.

18. Stages of Career Development • Career Awareness • Elementary Grades • Career Exploration • Middle Schools • Career Preparation • High School

19. Importance of Career Development • To help middle school students link their career interests to the available high school courses/programs. • To encourage students to test their interests in a career field by enrolling in a related course, participating in shadowing and/or mentoring experiences, etc.

20. Importance of Career Development(continued) • To educate students for a changing workforce • To enlighten and involve parents in their child’s career development process. • To supply business and industry with the best trained workers in order to sustain economically strong communities.

21. Career Development Process ? • Who am I? • Where am I going? • How do I get there?

22. Career Choice is a Continuing Process

23. An interest is a preference for one activity over another. One’s interest is the base upon which an occupation is chosen.

24. An ability is a skill (or set of skills) that is used to do something well.

25. Tomorrow’s workers will need more education and skill to work with and manage technology successfully.

26. Remember that career development is a process. Make sure that your child takes advantage of all the career guidance resources available in his/her school. • Guidance Counselor • Career Center • Career Exploratory Programs • Computerized career data banks (like GCIS) • Occupational Outlook Handbook (printed materials) • Career Fairs, etc.

27. Nontraditional Training and Employment

28. Encourage your children to think “Outside the Box” in terms of future careers and the workplace.

29. Nontraditional Training and Employment • Preparation for occupations or fields of work for which individuals from one gender (male or female) comprise less than 25% of the individuals employed in each such occupation or field or work. • Some of these fields are in computer science, technology, and emerging high skill occupations.

30. Do you naturally think of males performing some jobs and females performing other jobs? What about the jobs below? • Auto Technician • Nurse • Child Care • Provider • Electrician • Female or Male? • Female or Male? • Female or Male? • Female or Male?

31. Many of us stereotype jobs according to “women’s work” and “men’s work.” You may be thinking, so what? These innocent stereotypes can limit your child’s opportunities.

32. Because of long-held stereotypes: • A young woman who is good at math and science and loves the outdoors may never consider a career as a civil engineer. • A young man may want to work in the medical field and may genuinely like to care for people, but he might never seriously consider nursing.

33. We attribute behaviors, abilities, interests, values, and roles on the basis of gender. We often use language that pertains to males or females when referring to roles and careers. For example: • Fireman instead of Firefighter • Stewardess instead of Flight Attendant • Chairman instead of Chairperson

34. Increasingly, gender stereotyping hinders the career options of young women. • Over the last 20 years, the number of women in the workforce has risen by 21 million (95% increase). • It is estimated that women will account for 15 million or 62% of net growth in the labor force between 1990 and 2005.

35. Increasingly, gender stereotyping hinders the career options of young women. • Two out of every three new workers in the next decade will be women. • As a general rule, women and men spend comparable time in the workforce: 41 years for single women and men and 34 years for married women with children.

36. Gender Stereotyping and Young Women • The lower paid, lower status jobs have traditionally been attributed to women. • Families maintained by women have increased dramatically. • Women of all ages are more likely to live in poverty than men, and black women are nearly three times as likely as white women to live in poverty. • In the early 1990s, 54% of the poor families in this country were headed by women.

37. To a lesser degree, gender stereotyping affects young men. • Economic stress, employment problems and unemployment are linked to domestic problems. • Nearly 80% of husbands are now with their wives in the delivery room compared to 27% a decade ago. • Men are now the primary caregiver in one out of every five dual-earner households. • Men do about 33% of the domestic work up from 15% in 1965.

38. In essence, a lot hasn’t changed. • Men and women still face internal and external barriers to nontraditional work. • Women’s role in the workplace is still perceived as secondary. • Women’s involvement in the workforce is still seen as temporary.

39. A Lot Hasn’t Changed (continued) • The wage gap has decreased, but not significantly. • The status of workers who are people of color and new immigrants has improved, but not dramatically.

40. Planning for High School

41. Middle School Credit • Students who take courses based on the Quality Core Curriculum (QCC) in middle school may receive Carnegie units toward high school requirements.

42. Help Your Child Understand High School Credit • Carnegie Unit - one unit for 150 hours of instruction • Core Course - a course chosen from English, math, science, social studies or foreign language to satisfy graduation requirements • Seal - an attachment placed on a high school diploma indicating successful completion of one or more programs of study • Required Course - course that is mandatory • Elective - a course, beyond the core requirements, that fulfills Carnegie units for graduation

43. Listed below are the four seals which can be earned based on units of credit. Your child should choose a College Prep seal or a Technology/Career Education seal based on his/her educational and career goals. High School Graduation Seals • The College Preparatory (CP) seal requires 22 units. • The College Preparatory with Distinction (CP+) seal requires 24 units/3.0 gpa. • The Technology/Career Preparatory (TCP) seal requires 22 units. • The Technology/Career Preparatory with Distinction (TCP+) seal requires 24 units/3.0 gpa Your child’s school may have additional requirements for graduation. Be sure to check with the guidance counselor or advisor for specific local requirements.

44. Many middle schools offer exploratory programs which operate on six, nine, or twelve week rotations. These programs allow students to: Middle School Exploratory Programs • Develop life skills (classes in Family & Consumer Sciences) • Experience a number of fields (Technology, Business, Trades, etc.) to narrow career interests • Learn to work cooperatively to complete assignments • Put classroom theories into practice through many hands-on activities • Determine courses/programs to pursue further in high school • Make informed decisions about the choice of a high school seal

45. Standards for Admission to University System of Georgia Colleges and Universities • The Board of Regents is the governing body for all university system colleges and universities. • Board of Regents increased the number of College Preparatory Curriculum (CPC) requirements. • Admissions based on Freshman Index • (Verbal SAT + Math SAT + Core GPA x 500)

46. Standards for Admission to Georgia Technical Schools • The Department of Technical and Adult Education sets the standards for admission to the technical schools in Georgia. • ASSET is the state-mandated test for entrance into these technical schools. • SAT and ACT scores are also accepted for admission. Applicants are accepted in regular, provisional, or developmental status and may exempt ASSET testing with the SAT or ACT scores specified by each technical school. • Additional criteria may be set by individual schools.

47. Hands-on Learning Experiences Your child can enrich his/her high school education by participating in some of these experiences: Shadowing SchoolAcademic/Technology/CareerEducation StructuredSummerWork Experience Internships Mentoring

48. High School Options Three Options Which Can Lead Students to a Two or Four Year Postsecondary Education

49. As students explore careers, they will be amazed to learn that many of these high tech/high skill/high wage careers require a two-year Associate degree, not a four-year Bachelor’s degree.

50. Students no longer have to choose EITHER a technical school OR a college. Two years in a technical school plus two more years in selected Georgia colleges can lead to a four year degree.