Donald Super bases his theory of personal growth on the premise that one’s self-perception evolves through time. People’s perspective on their profession and aspirations changes as they gain experience and maturity. According to this concept, an individual’s “career” spans their whole life. According to this model by Donald Super, kids start to build their ideas of who they are while they are in elementary school (Sharf, 2019). The foundation of Super’s idea is self-concept. The self-concept is influenced by various elements, including biological traits, social roles, and the interaction between others’ responses and the person. In late to early adolescence, self-notion starts to develop. It is arbitrary, and opinions about oneself or one’s profession from family, friends, and instructors may have an impact. This paper will discuss Jill’s case study regarding Super’s model effectiveness in career development.
The first step in Super’s Model is identifying the child’s interests. Exposure to new things, new people, or numerous other stimuli can develop curiosity. These interests will motivate Jill to explore and learn things that further their interests. Super emphasized the need to limit disruptive behavior while enabling kids to be naturally interested and exploratory (Howard & Ferrari, 2022). Children’s requirements for curiosity can be met, and caregivers may have an option of punishment if they promote healthy inquiry and curiosity. Jill will be able to learn more about the environment as a result of exploration leading to greater discovery, which may increase the likelihood that they may plan a career.
One way that kids receive knowledge, according to Super’s Model, is through imitation. This mimicking might be essential to the child’s life, such as a role model. Jill might adopt or reject traits from their significant figure during the formation of their self-concept in order to more closely match themselves. The super’s model looks at a client’s background throughout the growth period to learn about traits that are developed during this time, such as attitude, self-concept, and grasp of needs and the wider working world. The counselor can help the client develop her own identity of likes and dislikes by knowing the client’s professional history in addition to her parents and siblings’ occupations. The client will be able to reduce her range of potential careers.
Furthermore, Crystallization, definition, and implementation are all substages or activities that make up the exploration stage of the super’s model. Individuals in the exploratory phase are interested in learning more about themselves and their world. The individual’s professional interests become more evident as the exploration process progresses, leading to a more focused occupational decision that may be put into practice through formal schooling and subsequent employment. in light of the importance they place on one’s occupation, the authors write, “In general, it is essentially the inability to decide on an occupational identity that concerns young people.” This statement emphasizes the critical nature of encouraging curiosity and curiosity-based learning among adolescents. Adolescence is a crucial time for exploration since it aids in developing a person’s sense of purpose and identity.
The client is not mature enough in their education journey. Jill lacks clarity, despite having a general understanding of her interests and skills. She has a lot of options and directions she can go in. The counselor must meet the client where she is in this circumstance. Understanding Jill’s desire to investigate and consider potential career possibilities and her familiarity with the world of education would be helpful. The exploration and establishing phase might begin after the counselor is more aware of the client’s career maturity.
Possible future outcomes of this approach
Jill and the counselor will be able to identify the stage of Jill’s professional growth more efficiently and effectively to create objectives for Jill’s mastery of the activities specific to each stage. Jill can explore various professional options by participating in classes, pursuing hobbies, and working. Because Jill’s vocational maturity will be increased by any activity that increases her self-knowledge, she will have the ability to improve her self-concept. Then the counselor will assist her in connecting the dots between her self-knowledge and instructional material. Additionally, Jill can solidify her place within the context of her class work. Jill will create an influential personality and adopt a vocational choice through role auditions and exploration; there is a steady narrowing of alternatives leading up to adopting a preference. Nagy, Froidevaux, & Hirschi (2019) suggest that when put into action, preferences evolve into choices. Because the number of possible occupations decreases with age, she will also have access to various work environments. She will consider the consequences for her way of life, and the vocational and autonomy leads relevant to topics covered in school.
Ethical concerns
Autonomy
The principle of autonomy deals with respect for individuality and freedom of choice. Giving a person the freedom to decide what to do and how to accomplish it is the heart of this idea. The obligation of the counselor to support clients in acting on their ideals and making their own decisions is discussed. When promoting customer autonomy, there are two key factors to consider. First, assisting clients in comprehending how their choices and values may be interpreted in the context of the society in which they live and how those choices and values may infringe on others’ rights. The client’s capacity to make wise and logical judgments is the second factor to consider. Children and certain people with mental disorders are examples of people who should not be permitted to make decisions that might hurt them or other people.
Justice
Treating equals equally and unequally but in proportion to their significant differences is the definition of justice. Justice does not imply treating everyone equally (Kettunen & Makela, 2019). If a person is to be treated differently, the counselor must be able to justify why it is necessary and acceptable to do so. Justice could be demonstrated by a counselor handing a blind person a form in braille or talking them through it verbally rather than giving them a standard written form to complete. Nevertheless, in all other respects, the counselor would treat him or her the same as any other client.
Beneficence
Beneficence reflects the counselor’s obligation to promote the client’s well-being. That is, to act morally, to take the initiative, and, wherever feasible, to avoid causing damage. Benevolence can take many forms, such as preventative and early intervention measures that improve customers’ lives.
Nonmaleficence
According to Woo et al. (2020), the idea of nonmaleficence states that we should not damage other people. This principle, which is sometimes stated as “above all, not harm,” is seen by some as the most important of all the others, even though technically, they are all equally important. This rule incorporates the concepts of not intentionally injuring others and not taking acts that could damage others. In order to ensure “no damage,” a counselor must weigh prospective advantages against potential harms.
Fidelity
The concepts of loyalty, faithfulness, and keeping promises are all part of the term “fidelity.” If clients are to grow, they must be able to confide in the counselor and have faith in the counseling relationship (Kettunen & Makela, 2019). In order to avoid endangering the therapeutic relationship or failing to meet duties, the counselor must exercise caution.
Conclusion
Donald Super’s focus on building a strong sense of identity had been a significant addition to the field of career guidance. Super argues that one’s sense of self evolves and progresses for a lifetime. Development of one’s professional skills, thus, continues throughout one’s life. According to Super’s model, people’s interests, abilities, and priorities in the workplace and their personal and professional circumstances evolve throughout time. Super proposed the idea of vocational maturity, which does not always correlate to chronological age; instead, it describes the stages people go through when they change careers. Effective career counselors rely heavily on this notion. However, to maximize and safeguard the model’s efficacy, career counseling, like any other kind of therapy, is governed by ethical concepts such as faithfulness, fairness, etc.
References
Howard, K. A., & Ferrari, L. (2022). Social-emotional learning and career development in elementary settings. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 50(3), 371-385.
Kettunen, J., & Makela, J. P. (2019). Practitioners’ conceptions of ethical practice in social networking in career services. International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance, 19(3), 345-362.
Nagy, N., Froidevaux, A., & Hirschi, A. (2019). Lifespan perspectives on careers and career development. In Work across the lifespan (pp. 235-259). Academic Press.
Sharf, R. S. (2019). Applying Career Development Theory to Counseling Ed 6.
Vondracek, F. W., Lerner, R. M., & Schulenberg, J. E. (2019). Career development: A life-span developmental approach. Routledge.
Wehmeyer, M. L., Nota, L., Soresi, S., Shogren, K. A., Morningstar, M. E., Ferrari, L., … & DiMaggio, I. (2019). A crisis in career development: Life designing and implications for transition. Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals, 42(3), 179-187.
Woo, H., Dondanville, A., Jang, H., Na, G., & Jang, Y. (2020). A content analysis of the counseling literature on technology integration: American Counseling Association (ACA) counseling journals between 2000 and 2018. International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling, 42(3), 319-333.
write