Key points:
Career-connected learning is critical for life-skills development and the middle grades are as important as any other level. While some schools have pivoted to more project-based learning to ensure that students are gaining skills beyond just the content, there are only so many skills that students can acquire in a classroom setting with a teacher and their peers.
We argue that the future of high-quality middle level engagement will include career exposure and exploration with a focus on transferable skills and the development of career goals.
Career connections lead to durable skills
The link between career-connected learning and durable skills development is undeniable, especially as we look at the present-day labor market where key interpersonal skills are sought after in a highly complex world. There are countless opportunities within the school day for middle school students to develop the essential skills that employers demand. One way is to integrate a clear framework for how to think about the development of non-academic skills for students. The Durable Skills Advantage Framework, designed in collaboration with industry experts, identifies the most critical skills for early-career individuals worldwide. These include communication, critical thinking, collaboration, and leadership–all skills that hold value and relevance throughout a career, regardless of technological advancements or industry shifts. These are also the skills that are most easily developed when prioritized.
The opportunity here is that skills such as leadership and communication–two of the most sought-after durable skills–can be developed in any middle-level student regardless of college or career trajectory and will make them more marketable to future employees. By incorporating career-connected learning into the current curriculum, educators can equip students with the skills that employers crave, setting them up for success in an ever-changing workforce.
To make this a reality, educators and policymakers must move beyond isolated skill instruction and integrate durable skills into curriculum, school programming, extracurriculars, and more as part of a career-connected vision for learning. This requires a holistic approach built around a common framework, such as the one linked above. Each unit of study in every subject can include a career connection as well as projects that reinforce the development of the skills that the framework provides. Simply including a guest speaker to connect the classroom instruction to what a job requires of employees and then assessing those skills along with the knowledge associated with the unit can bring any subject to life and impart skills that students can transfer within the school setting, high school pathways, future jobs, and life in general.
Career connections help with goal setting
One of the many durable skills listed on any framework is the ability to set both short- and long-term goals. Generally considered an executive functioning skill, goal setting is critical to be college- and career-ready. Yet, goal setting is often left out of the curriculum as learning unfolds toward standard assessments and other skills and knowledge acquisition, such as writing for clarity or memorizing facts. Neither should be ignored as the possession of skills and knowledge are both critically important outcomes of schooling, but goal setting is one of the most important life skills that any school can incorporate into units, courses, and pathways, and it should not be introduced for the first time in high school and postsecondary planning. When middle school students learn to set goals academically and personally, they carry that skill with them into later grades.
One way to include goal setting in middle school–on a regular basis to build the skill and reinforce it as a habit–is to bring forward career connections within the classroom environment. In early grades, career exposure can help students to set goals around the types of jobs they might want to pursue in life. In middle grades, career exploration strategies allow students to begin to think about their future goals for college, military, and trades as they make connections between careers and the level of education required for those careers. Exploration and goal-setting at this level assists students in their decisions about high school courses and postsecondary plans.
In our experience, without career-connected learning, especially in the early grades, students are less likely to see school as important or as a place to obtain life skills. In that regard, career-connected learning is also a way to foster a sense of belonging, develop purpose, and create life-long learners.
Schools that struggle to include career connections should consider technology tools to help with exposure, exploration, and experiences. There are a number of dynamic ways to develop career connections both in the classroom and beyond the school walls. Rather than requiring educators to facilitate these experiences on their own, technology tools can provide a number of benefits, including lessening the burden on teachers.
What matters most in this regard is asking the right questions before adopting a tool and choosing the right pace for implementation. It’s best to adopt the most inclusive all-in-one platform as possible and take it one step at a time. Adding career-connections to the middle grades is a great next step for any school or district, but ease of implementation makes all the difference for success and sustainability.
