A Match Made in Heaven? Career Development Theories and the School-to-Work Transition

✍ Scribed by David L. Blustein

• Publisher: American Counseling Association
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 311 KB
• Volume: 47
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0889-4019
• DOI: 10.1002/j.2161-0045.1999.tb00743.x

✦ Synopsis

The Career Development Quarterly on the application of career development theories to the school-to-work transition. Common thematic elements in these 4 articles include a focus on the individual who faces the transition from high school to work and an emphasis on the developmental aspects of the transition. The article concludes with a cautionary recommendation that theory-building efforts derived from the individual experiences of work-bound youth ought to be included in theoretical and intervention initiatives to facilitate the school-to-work transition.

The four articles in this special issue reflect sophisticated thinking by some of the leading scholars in our field. One might suggest that the synthesis of the major theoretical perspectives in career development with the challenges of the school-to-work movement is a match made in heaven. As a whole, the articles by Savickas (1999), Krumboltz and Worthington (1999), Swanson and Fouad (1999), and Lent, Hackett, and Brown (1999) are thoughtfully written, innovative, and far-reaching in their implications. In fact, a significant part of my reaction to these papers affirms the beliefthat a careful integration of the school-to-work transition with the four bodies of theory detailed in these articles represents a great opportunity for both work-bound youth and for the continued vitality of the theoretical foundation of our discipline. However, when I consider these articles in light of the knowledge I have gained in my recent re-