5.1 Super Flashcards
(7 cards)
explain the principles the career development theory lies on
Career choice is viewed as an ongoing developmental process that unfolds throughout an individual’s lifespan.
The self-concept is considered central to career choice and development.
Career choice is an expression of one’s identity; thus, self-knowledge is crucial (“Until you know who you are, you won’t know what you can become”).
The theory emphasizes the importance of context, which creates opportunities, barriers, and influences on the self-concept.
What are the themes in Supers Theory
Differential: Recognizes that people and occupations differ in their characteristics and requirements, highlighting the idea of person-environment fit.
Self-concept: Posits that career choice and development are fundamentally an expression of who a person is.
Developmental: Incorporates concepts like career maturity (an individual’s readiness for career choices and developmental tasks) and career adaptability.
Career & life satisfaction: Extends beyond work to consider various life roles.
The theory utilizes models such as the Career Rainbow (gay model) and the Archway Model (pull up bar) to illustrate its concepts.
Splain the Development Stages
Growth (4-13 years): Characterized by becoming concerned about the future, increasing control over one’s life, becoming achievement-oriented, and acquiring competent work attitudes and habits.
Exploration (14-24 years): Involves crystallizing, specifying, and implementing a career choice.
Establishment (25-44 years): Focuses on stabilizing, consolidating, and advancing one’s career position.
Maintenance (45-65 years): The individual aims to hold on, keep up, and innovate in their career.
Disengagement (65+ years): Involves decelerating work activity and planning for retirement and retirement living.
Each stage has specific developmental tasks associated with it. Individuals may need to revisit or “recycle” through earlier stages during career transitions (transgender). Patterns of cycling through stages can be stable, unstable, conventional, or involve multiple trials
what is career Maturity and Adaptability
Maturity :
Refers to whether an individual’s career self-concept is sufficiently developed for them to be ready for career choices.
Adaptability :
Defined as the ability to cope with current and future work commitments, and to balance work with other life roles.
Explain the pull up bar model
This model provides a detailed contextualization of self-concept development by representing the resources at an individual’s disposal.
The archway has two pillars:
Left Pillar (Biographical/Individual factors): Includes Needs, Values, Interests, Intelligence, Aptitudes, Special Aptitudes, Personality, and Achievement.
Right Pillar (Geographical/Environmental factors): Includes The Economy, Society, Labor Market, School, Community, Family, Peer Groups, Social Policy, and Employment Practices.
The arch itself is formed by Developmental Stages, crowned by Role Self-Concepts, with the “SELF” as the keystone, holding it all together.
There is career construction theory ( revised version)
Savickas revised super’s theory:
- This theory posits that individuals construct their reality and career development through self-reflection.
This reflection considers:
Objective career: The actual career events an individual experiences.
Subjective career: The meaning that the person gives to these career events.
It is a social constructionist approach, suggesting that individuals construct their representation of reality, but not reality itself.
A key tenet is that “Careers do not unfold, they are constructed”.
Super’s Theory in the South African Context (read the shit i just added some shit)
influential in career counselling practice in South Africa
“The lecture advises caution against implementing the theory prescriptively.”
“Prescriptively” means applying the theory as a strict, unchangeable set of rules or stages that everyone is expected to follow in the same way. Given South Africa’s diversity and the limitations of the initial research base, career counsellors are warned against rigidly forcing individuals into Super’s developmental stages or assuming that career tasks will be the same for everyone or occur at identical ages. A more flexible and individualized approach is necessary.
“It emphasizes the need to be aware of cultural differences, for instance, in the salience or importance of different life roles.”
This directly follows from the need for caution. Super’s concept of “life roles” (like being a worker, student, homemaker, citizen, leisurite, or child) and the importance (salience) individuals attach to these roles can vary significantly across different cultures within South Africa. For example, in more collectivist cultures, family or community responsibilities might hold greater importance or be defined differently compared to more individualistic cultures where the theory was initially developed. The very understanding of “career” or “work” can differ. If counsellors are not sensitive to these cultural nuances, their application of Super’s theory might be inappropriate or less effective.
