Get To Explore Several Careers With The Help Of Career Clusters

Deciding what career to follow must be the hardest thing for any student. This difficulty is brought about by the lack of information on the available careers. With incomplete information on a career, you cannot be able to make a wise decision. There are a lot of careers available to students and the problem only arises in choosing which one to follow. When choosing a career many factors come into play and for you to make a decision that you will not regret in future, you need to do enough research on the available careers. Traditionally, this was a challenge. Today, this is no longer a big challenge due to the development of career clusters, frameworks that tries to link the education system to the employment environment.

In the beginning, career clusters were prepared by stakeholders in the education and employment industries, but today, some great entrepreneurs have emerged, who are a earning a living by preparing these clusters. The clusters are available in many formats. Some are available in form of DVDs, handbooks, blog posts, while others in form of seminars. All of them serve the same purpose, but via different means. Most of these clusters are highly accessible as you can assess it from the internet. The DVDs and the e-books are downloadable from the internet. Access increases the effectiveness of this important educational material.

A good career cluster should be comprehensive, but easy-to-follow for students as well. A comprehensive career cluster is one that incorporates aspects of the education system and shows how they are related to the career of choice. Good career clusters will also have job readiness skills for students. Job readiness skill means it will give you information of what is expected of you in a particular job that falls in your career of choice. Most of this information is delivered in an easy-to-understand format in simple English that is understandable to people of all levels of education.

Career clusters are not only important to students, but they are also equally important to teachers and the authorities, who prepare the syllabus and curriculum. They need to understand all the careers to be able to prepare curricula that falls within the broad clusters. Once they have understood the clusters and prepared the syllabus, they can now go ahead and advice students on the best careers to follow based on their courses of specialization. These clusters also need to be understood by inspirational and career speakers, who visit students in schools and give them inspirational career talks.

Your career is your life. You need to choose a career you will enjoy forever. You do not want to be tired the rest of your life by doing something that you won't enjoy. For this reason, make sure you get access to the clusters, understand them and choose a career you are good at and one that you will enjoy doing. You can buy the clusters online saving you all the travelling and searching costs that are associated with physical shopping.

If you are serious about achieving a successful career, you should definitely get career clusters. Find out about several easy-to-use career clusters on DVD-ROM and use the guidance for building up a great career.

Understanding Career Clusters for a Better Future

Most of the states in the United States have a provision and set guidelines for all students. It is mandatory for all children to be educated; this is because education is highly necessary for empowerment. That is why for children living in the states, the federal government has provided some guidelines to help all students. By setting definable strategies, these clusters help under-graduates to find a suitable career path, and make the right choice. It is paramount to understand the intricacies of career clusters.

These guidelines are known as career clusters and are very important to each and every student in the lower and upper level of the education system; that is from first grade to the twelfth grade. However, the importance of clusters is mostly set for the upper level students, since they have a better understanding as young adults on what they would wish to do in future, as grown up adults. That is why the clusters are enforced and put into place; to guide and direct these young adults as to the main areas and scopes of career and how one can achieve that.

A career cluster helps and informs these young adults as to the main and different types of career paths, what these careers require and what they must take as a study path in college, so as to attain their goals in life. A career cluster consists of 16 clusters that are categorized and set forth by the US government and several other educations and career related bodies.It was created to make sure that students transit smoothly from high school to tertiary education with a set mind and goal as to the studies they would follow. This way, they get empowerment in the career fields they choose in the clusters.

There are different career paths set in them and has incorporated many different career jobs in the different sub categorized clusters. This is to mean that nearly all career options are set in a certain cluster, meaning the jobs in a cluster are more related to each other and have their own differences in execution and working. That is why with the clusters, once a student chooses a certain career cluster; he / she will have to make sure to choose a fitting career path, which he / she would love to go for, so that he / she can get to know the right study path to attend, in order to get to that career field.

The integration of the career clusters in the US education system back in the mid 90s, provided for students a chance to set a goal and an objective as to the career they would love to go for. Offering them the paths and spheres to attend and go for to get to that profession. This way, the system has ensured to nurture and build a higher probability of accomplishment in school and work by most of the students who have already gone through the system. The end product of this is a competent and able working force once done with school.

A pathway level, in the career clusters, sets forth the standard and needs required to get through to a certain career field, setting the detailed proficiency and knowledge, academic and technical needs required, to pursue the field one wants to go for as a career. This way, the student can gauge whether they are fit or able to go to the specific career field and if so, what requirements they have to attain to find a space in the career field.

career clusters
A great tool for teachers, counselors, and parents in helping students identify their interests and goals for the future. Use in guidance offices, career labs, libraries, and as a great enhancement to any state career information system.
Click here for 16 career clusters

Career Clusters Close the Gap Between Schools Subjects and Careers

A wealth of information exists that explains the relationships between school subjects and careers. Across the nation, children, teens, teachers, and counselors use Career Interests Areas or Clusters to explore careers and to make school study plans. There are sixteen (16) Interests Areas or Clusters:

Agriculture, Food, & Natural Resources
Architecture & Construction
Arts, A/V Technology & Communication
Business, Management & Administration
Education & Training
Finance
Government & Public Administration
Health Science
Hospitality & Tourism
Human Services
Information Technology
Law, Public Safety & Security
Manufacturing
Marketing, Sales & Service
Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics
Transportation, Distribution & Logistics

States and federal agencies across the nation have created career cluster web sites and resources. We have reviewed three (3) of the best state or federal agency web sites.

Louisiana Integrated Skills Assessment (LISA)

One of the most unique comprehensive career cluster resources is the Louisiana Integrated Skills Assessment (LISA), an Internet program. LISA lets you explore career clusters, careers, abilities, training requirements, and more. Using the Lisa, you can do the following tasks:

Assessment: Explore career options using the Work Importance Locator.
I Enjoy: Find careers based upon the things that you enjoy.
Cluster: Find careers from Career Cluster Groups.
Search: Search for jobs based on knowledge, skills, and abilities.
Best Match: Use your current job to find knowledge, skills, and abilities to identify a new career.
Compare: Compare current job to potential new job.
Profile: Use this feature to create a profile from a selected career.

There are 3 steps in the LISA program. In Step 1, when you choose a career cluster, you will read the description of the cluster. When you select a career cluster in Step 2, you can select a career group. In each career group, you will see a lot of different careers. Finally, in Step 3, you see additional occupational information, such as:

Job descriptions
Educational and training requirements
Crosswalks, for example ONET, DOT, GOE, and other codes
Abilities
Knowledge
Skills
Tasks
Work Values
Labor Market Information

There is detailed information in each job profile:

Description
Crosswalk
Abilities
Knowledge
Skills
Tasks
Work Values
Occupational Characteristics Narrative

The Louisiana Integrated Skills Assessment (LISA) is an excellent tool for students to do career cluster exploration.

NCE Career Clusters and State Career Clusters Initiative Resources

The NCE Career Clusters has adapted information from the State Career Clusters Initiative to create a career education toolkit for teachers and counselors. In your NCE Career Clusters toolkit, you can find a Career Cluster Model, poster, resource booklets, At-a-Glance PDF Slices, and Plans of Study. Each resource is designed to facilitate the exploration of Career Clusters.

Career Cluster Resource Booklet

To prepare for a Career Clusters discussion, teachers and counselors use the State Career Clusters Initiative Career Cluster Resource Booklet. The brochures discuss the differences between career clusters and career pathways. The booklet outlines that career clusters are career groups from the same industry that have the same skills and educational requirements. Career pathways are specific careers that are within the each career cluster. The Resource Booklet discusses the following topics:

Historical background information
Cluster Knowledge and Skills
Pathway Knowledge and Skills
O*NET Crosswalk Report
Validation Studies
Assessment Protocol
Certification Protocol

The booklet is a "must-read" resource that provides in depth information on each career cluster. Each booklet has detailed graphs, charts, and tables.

Career Cluster Model

To provide an overview of Career Clusters, teachers and counselors use the Career Cluster Model. The Career Cluster Model simplifies sixteen (16) Career Clusters model. The center of the NCE Career Clusters model focuses on six (6) major groups. The career clusters are color-coded so that you can easily present six (6) major groups in classroom activities. The six (6) major groups are:

Environmental and Agricultural Systems
Business, Marketing, and Management
Communication and Information Systems
Industrial, Manufacturing, Engineering Systems
Health Sciences
Human Services and Resources

Here is summary of the relationship between the sixteen (16) Career Clusters and the 6 Super Clusters.

Environmental and Agricultural Systems - Agriculture, Food, & Natural Resources (1)

Business, Marketing, and Management combines:


Business, Management & Administration (4)
Finance (6)
Hospitality & Tourism (9)
Marketing, Sales & Service (14)

Communication and Information Systems involve:


Arts, A/V Technology & Communication (3)
Information Technology (11)

Industrial, Manufacturing, Engineering Systems include:


Transportation, Distribution & Logistics (16)
Architecture & Construction (2)
Manufacturing (13)
Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (15)

Health Sciences - Health Science (8)

Human Services and Resources merges -


Education & Training (5)
Government & Public Administration (7)
Human Services (10)
Law, Public Safety & Security (12)

The sixteen (16) Career Clusters systematically fit within the six (6) major groups.

Career Cluster Brochure

Another excellent career cluster student aid is the Career Cluster Brochure. The brochure is filled with photographs that show people performing the different jobs. With this easy-to-read booklet, students get an overview of the different careers, career clusters, and career pathways. Students read about:

What is a career cluster?
What is a career pathway?
What school subjects are important for a career in the ... career cluster?
What is the educational or training requirement for a career in the ... career cluster?
What are the necessary credentials for a career in the ... career cluster?
What is the employment outlook for a career in the ... career cluster?
What are some sample occupations?

Career Cluster Slices

Besides the Career Cluster Model and the Brochure, a third student Career Cluster aid is the NCE Career Cluster Slices. The NCE Career Cluster Slice identifies specific career opportunities found within each Career Pathways. Each Cluster Slice is illustrated and designed to explore areas, such as:

Cluster Description
Pathway Description
Cluster Knowledge & Skills
Career Field
Preparation for a Career in ...
Examples of Education and Training Postsecondary Programs of Study

Students discover that each pathways leads to post-secondary options including:

Apprenticeships
Certificates
Licenses
Associate's Degree Programs
Bachelor's Degree Programs
Master's Degree Programs
Doctoral Degree Programs
Professional Degree Programs

Career Clusters Plan of Study

At the beginning of the students' middle school years, the students use assessments identify career cluster interest areas. With the Career Clusters model, brochure, Slices, and LISA resources, the students have explored the different careers and post-secondary training options. Students, teachers, counselors, and parents then use the Career Clusters Plan of Study to strategically plan the students' high school course work. The Career Clusters Plan of Study provides examples of English, Math, Science, Social Studies, electives, and extra-curricular activities for the following grade levels:

7th - 8th grade
9th - 10th grade
11th - 12th grade
Advanced coursework for postsecondary credit

The NCE Career Clusters web page is the gateway to the student career cluster resources.

State Career Clusters Initiative, NCE, and Lisa materials are just examples of career cluster resources. Career clusters resources have established a connection between school subjects and careers.

Resources:

Explore Career Clusters, Texas Workforce Commission/Career Development Resources (TWC/CDR), US Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, and Louisiana Department of Labor

Nebraska Career Education, States' Career Clusters Initiative, 2005, and NCTEF/NASDCTEc (National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium) States' Career Clusters Initiative, & National Association of State Directors of Career and Technical Education Consortium

State Career Clusters Initiative Washington, DC: National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium, 2002

Dr Mary Askew specializes in career tests, websites, and books for students. Students need eye appealing, easy to use, yet comprehensive career resources. Find out how students can reach their career potentials at http://www.hollandcodes.com Contact Dr. Askew at learning4life@qwest.net