Group Intervention and Career Guidance Plan for K-3 Students

This report outlines a comprehensive career guidance plan for K-3 grade students (ages 8-12), emphasizing group intervention strategies and activities. It explores the target population's demographics, developmental stage based on Erik Erikson's theory of psychosocial development (Industry vs. Inferiority), and relevant career competencies. The plan includes interventions such as developing a personal career portfolio and encouraging discussions about future career strategies, aligning with Spanish primary education policy. The report also highlights the importance of parental collaboration and interactive sessions to support the children's confidence and self-esteem, as well as the assessment of intervention effectiveness. The paper concludes by reiterating the significance of child-centered learning activities and collaboration between teachers and parents in guiding the children, considering their cognitive and abstract thought processes.

Running head: GROUP INTERVENTION AND CAREER GUIDANCE PLAN
GROUP INTERVENTION AND CAREER GUIDANCE PLAN
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1GROUP INTERVENTION AND CAREER GUIDANCE PLAN
Introduction
From birth to adulthood, children undergo and experience a range of physiological,
psychological, cognitive, social and emotional changes, which in turn, influence their
development across the years. As a child grows, his or her perceptions concerning the world and
surrounding environment change inevitably, which in turn must be addressed and acknowledged,
not just by parents but also by teachers, pediatricians and early childhood educators alike (Garcia
et al., 2019).
Current educational frameworks necessitate educational institutions to develop child
centered teaching strategies compliant to the needs and developmental stages of the concerned
children. One of the key ways of adhering to the same, is via development of career competency
based learning activities, which will not only help educators to recognize the learning
expectations and needs of students but also allows the targeted children group to identify and
recognize their own personal preferences, interest and opinions with regards to learning,
education and future professional practice (Akkermans & Tims, 2017). The following paper will
thus briefly expound upon the key cultural competencies observed in K-3 grade children (ages 8
to 12 years) and an associated career guidance plan and activities, using relevant templates.
Discussion
Target Population
Population demographics
The target population selected for development of the career guidance activity, will
include children studying in K-3 or 3rd grade students, who belong to the age group of 8 to 12
years of age. The career guidance activity will be conducted either in a local school or

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community center in collaboration with the teachers, parents and administration of the early
childhood center or school educating this target population.
Developmental Stage
The key developmental theory which will be used to evaluate the developmental stage of
the K-3 grade children is Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development, which provides
key insights in terms of how individuals develop socially, emotional and psychological from
infancy to old age. As per this theory, students studying in k-3 Grade, aged 8 to 12 years of age,
can be placed in the psychosocial developmental stage of Industry vs. Inferiority (Dunkel &
Harbke, 2017).
During this stage, children demonstrate a new found independence in terms of decision-
making as well as thinking and wish to be appreciate or heard. When such children and their
associated cognitive and communicative skills are not appreciated or encouraged by elders, they
are likely to lose confidence, self-esteem and optimism and are likely to encounter feelings of
disempowerment, isolation, hopelessness and anxiety in the future (Kropf & Greene, 2017). If
however, appreciated, such children demonstrate high levels of confidence and empowerment. A
key way of ensuring the same, is by including children in leadership or group work based
activities. Despite their cognitive enhancement, such children still demonstrate crude levels of
abstract thinking, which is why, parental collaboration and participation are still necessary
(Knight, 2017).
Career Competency
According to the theory of psychosocial development as well as the research by Park,
Rojewski and Lee (2018), children in this stage need to be recognized as individuals with unique
skills, abilities and identities and thus be provided with opportunities to demonstrate the same in

3GROUP INTERVENTION AND CAREER GUIDANCE PLAN
their career competencies. As per Spain’s Primary education policy, educational and career plans
for such children need to ensure teaching children on the importance of respectful
communication, tolerance towards cultural diversities as well as provide areas where they may
engage in the creative, artistic and unique expression of their ideas and independent thought
processes (European Commission, 2020).
Group Intervention
Thus, based on the above, a Career Guidance Activity was prepared (Appendix). Two of
the major interventions which were included in the plan were: encouraging students to develop a
personal career plan in the form of a creative portfolio followed by motivating students to not
just share but also discuss with other student’s in class regarding their future career strategy. As
evidence in Eriksson’s theory of psychosocial development, children in the stage of industry vs.
inferiority develop and thus demonstrate a need to express independence in terms of thinking and
decision making (Willock, 2018). Thus, including career portfolio development interventions not
only allow children to demonstrate independent thinking but also enhances their skills of
leadership, interpersonal communication and shared decision making, as they are encouraged to
discuss their ideas with others. These interventions also demonstrate compliance to Spanish
primary educational policy requirements of encouraging individual and team based working
skills as well as expression and communication of ideas in a creative, artistic and respectful
manner (European Commission, 2020).
The third key intervention which will included in the group career guidance activity is the
inclusion of a collaboration interactive session where parents will participate as students share
their future expectations from others. As evidenced in Eriksson’s theory, despite the acquisition
of independent critical and logical cognitive abilities, children at this age are still prone to highly

4GROUP INTERVENTION AND CAREER GUIDANCE PLAN
concrete abstract thinking. Additionally, parental support in this stage enhances confidences and
feelings of empowerment in such children while lack of the same id likely to result in low self-
esteem and anxiety which progresses into adulthood (Tuttle, Land & Moss, 2017). Thus, such
collaborative interactive sessions will not only allow parents to recognize their child’s strengths,
limitations and expectations, it will also encourage active, empathetic and non-judgmental
communication and affectionate bonding between parents and their respective children. Lastly,
to assess intervention effectiveness and compliance to client autonomy feedback will be obtained
from both parents of the participating children as well as the educators of the respective school or
learning center (Degges-White, 2017).
Conclusion
Thus this paper provides an extensive and elaborate discussion on the key components
underlying a group career guidance activity with respect to students aged 8 to 12 years and
studying in the K-3 grade. Since this stage is characterized by psychosocial developmental
changes such as children’s acquisition of independent and logical thinking skill coupled with the
need for autonomy, special consideration has been given to inclusion of child-centered learning
activities. To conclude, despite children’s heightened sense of confidence and capability, there is
a still a need for teachers and parents to collaborate and discuss results with each other
considering the prevalence of concrete and crude level abstract thought process in this target
population.

5GROUP INTERVENTION AND CAREER GUIDANCE PLAN
References
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European Commission. (2020). Primary Education - Eurydice - European Commission.
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Garcia, P. R. J. M., Restubog, S. L. D., Ocampo, A. C., Wang, L., & Tang, R. L. (2019). Role
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