Theoretical Perspectives on the School-to-Work Transition: Reactions and Recommendations

✍ Scribed by Edwin L. Herr

• Publisher: American Counseling Association
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 379 KB
• Volume: 47
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0889-4019
• DOI: 10.1002/j.2161-0045.1999.tb00745.x

✦ Synopsis

Although extant career theories provide important conceptual insights into the content and process of the school-to-work transition, they have not addressed 2 questions that need to be considered in future theoretical and research agendas. These questions, which are addressed in this article, are (a) why are career theories not developed to account for the school-to-work process? and (b) are the career theories proposed here complete in their explanation of the schoolto-work process?

In their analyses of specific career theories, the authors included in this issue have reminded the reader that, as Lent and Worthington (1999) suggest in the first article, the theories offer a vantage point from which to understand and facilitate the school-to-work transition and have the potential to bring a coherent conceptual base to the evolution of school-to-work programming efforts. The introductory article by Lent and Worthington (1999) makes other assertions that deserve consideration. One is that none of the four theoretical positions examined in the articles-social learning, person-environment fit, developmental, and social cognitive--were developed to account for the school-to-work process. This is a critical issue that raises two major questions: (a) why are career theories not developed to account for the school-to-work process? (b) are the theories proposed here complete in their explanation of the schoolto-work process? Although there are other questions that could be asked, it may be useful to look briefly at these two important questions to stimulate further deliberation about elements of a future theoretical and research agenda related to the school-to-work transition process.