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For students, more encounters with the world of work raise aspirations and broaden horizons. How do we do this in a fun and exciting way for students?
As a District Career Education Coordinator, I have been trying to increase career exposure for students while making the career encounters engaging and fun. I’ve been targeting Grade 7 students across School District No. 73 Kamloops – Thompson with an event that I call “Who Am I?”, adapted from the “What’s My Line?” concept from the UK-based organization Education and Employers. This project was launched in British Columbia and commissioned by provincial Ministry of Education and Childcare. I was lucky to get to pilot it in two K-7 elementary schools.
I have been hosting a monthly Who Am I? event and have found an unexpected outcome has been the excitement generated by teachers, as there are clear links between learning and career development. Students get very excited too when they can guess the jobs and when they get to see the hands-on career tools guests bring.
What is Who Am I?
Who Am I? is an event where three guest speakers visit a school and students guess what their careers are in a game-style fashion.
The sequence of events for Who Am I is:
- The game show host leads the event with a beginning opener for students: e.g. How many careers start with the letter ‘T’ – then an additional letter or two.
- Students are introduced to the three visiting speakers, who are not wearing any work uniforms.
- Students ask yes or no (closed) questions and each volunteer answers. Supporting teachers track the answers and visually display them on vertical boards.
- Taking turns with each guest, the yes/no questions are reviewed and then students guess what the person’s career is. Guests can help the students guess by revealing a prop or a clue. Students either guess correctly or the answer is given. Then the guest talks about who they are and their career. This is repeated with each guest.
- Students are given the opportunity to ask open-ended questions to the guests as a collective.
- To close, the career education co-ordinator asks the guests to share their top tip for students.
Broadening perspectives
I specifically challenge stereotypes by inviting culturally diverse and equity-deserving people to be guest speakers. For example, I always invite a female tradesperson.
I also ensure that I include a range of careers that students may not know or may not think they can do. For example, at my first event I invited an industrial technician, a human resources manager for a construction company and a beef farmer; all three were women.
I challenge stereotypes subtly through the guest speakers when possible, but the key is career exposure – and all career exposure is great! The point is that students get to think, learn and interact with local people who have a career that they may not have been exposed to. For example, Samantha Lecerf, Senior Buyer from NewGold, blew students away with the thought that you can be a professional buyer and seller for organizations, make a six-figure income and live in a rural community.
Why should we encourage more career encounters for our youth?
Education and Employers have six key findings that I share with educators all the time to show them the research behind career exposures.
- Broaden young peoples’ horizons and raise their aspirations
- Excite children about subjects, increasing motivation, confidence and attitude to learning
- Challenge gender and social stereotypes
- Improve academic attainment
- Increase young people’s earning potential
- Reduce the likelihood of young people becoming NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training)
I find that once teachers see the importance of career education, they are keener to bring in guests to speak about their careers. However, I have learned that it is important to make sure that guests engage with students through a game-like approach such as the Who Am I, with a hands-on activity or images or props that help students visualize their role. Students get to do more than learn about a career; they also get to interact and reflect on it. I also learned that is important to invite guests with careers students may not have heard of before. This truly does increase their aspirations and expands their horizons as they meet with a real person from their community.
