Career Pathways by Marianne Mooney Career pathways, commonly referred to as career clusters, occupational themes, and career majors, are structured and meaningful sequences of academically and vocationally related courses tied to occupational areas. However, both laws support the planning and selection process to begin much earlier in a student s school career. For instance, IDEA is considering changing the requirements of the law, so that students have a statement of transition by the age of fourteen. Before selecting a pathway, students are exposed to a wide variety of occupations in introductory career exploration courses.
Career pathways can encompass a variety of occupations so that all students can fully participate.
Occupations included in career pathways range from requiring highly skilled to moderately skilled background and include broad areas such as business and finance, health and human services, agriculture and natural resources, and communication technology, to name a few. Career pathways are often determined by local economic needs, teacher expertise, and labor market trends. Students can join the work force immediately after completing high school, or they can continue their career pathway as part of their postsecondary education. Career paths that are linked to business, industry, labor, government, and the community lead to further education and employment. The use of career pathways moves away from training students only for specific occupations.