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Career Programs, Issues, and Ideas

Here we provide ideas and examples of programs and ideas for helping those develop in their chosen field. This includes programs from middle and high school into and through the professions.

 

Because so many terms are used in describing career development related options and issues, many interchangeably, we believe that a few few definitions will be helpful. Our definitions follow and we welcome feedback.

 

Career pathway is the actual path that someone takes to move through an occupational or career field. The pathway is 1) a progression of learning, internship and paid employment, or apprenticeship, leading to a career into a  profession, 2) additional education and training gained as an an incumbent worker, and 3) on-the-job experiences that make one increasingly skilled and marketable.

 

Pathway Program of Study is an "educational experience," that involves structured coursework and experiential learning under the guidance of one educational organization, or partnering organizations working together to offer the Program of Study. The POS has curriculum intended to develop specified transferable applied academic and employability skills, as well as career-focused technical skills. Oftenthe POS includes one or more professional certifications. The Pathway Program of Study allows a learner to access a Career Pathway, but not every career pathway requires a very specific Pathway Program of Study.

 

The Pathway System term has a more expansive meaning. The system typically has five component: cross-sector partnerships, career exploration and development, multiple pathways programs of study, dynamic teaching and learning, and employer and community engagement.

This allows secondary/postsecondary schools, workforce training and employers to collaborate on a larger scale.

 

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 Some Career Programs, Issues, and Ideas

 

1. Enhancing Recruitment Efforts Nationwide through K–12 School Partnerships By Dr. Joseph N. Coffee, Greg Kyritsis and Dr. Thomas E. Navickas in Police Chief.  

                               

For careers in public safety, an all-too familiar challenge lies in the need for more efficient, cost-effective recruiting and               hiring processes. This issue may be most pressing in law enforcement. In most cases, hiring just two to three police                       officers requires the thorough, time-consuming evaluation of at least 200 candidates. What is more, each hire takes the                 better part of a year to complete. Three to six months are allotted for screening and selection, and the subsequent                       training and education of recruits adds three to four more months. Because of the length of the process, top candidates                 often secure alternative positions in the field, and reject hiring agencies’ offers. Meanwhile, departments incur unbudgeted             overtime expenses required to cover gaps in staffing; this squeezes funding and puts additional stress on public servants                 in high stakes occupations. However, this trend may be only a symptom of a more fundamental problem. And the solution             may rest within K–12 and higher education.  Read More

 

2. Career Pathways Toolkit: A Guide for System DevelopmentU.S. Department of Labor (DOL), Employment and Training Administration (ETA)/Manhattan Strategy Group, 2015The new edition of the Career Pathways Toolkit: A Guide for System Development incorporates the latest innovations, creative approaches, and best practices in career pathways that have emerged since the original publication. This revised Toolkit continues in the spirit of the original Toolkit: to provide the workforce system with a framework, resources, and tools for states and local partners to develop and implement career pathways systems and programs. This edition maintains the original career pathways framework but also reflects substantial gains in knowledge and experience as well as the workforce system's new guiding legislation, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA)


3. Think like a boxer: 4 key elements of success in policing

A law enforcement officer and boxer links similarities for success. This is a short article provided by David Bermudez a 10-year law enforcement veteran for the East Bay (California) Regional Parks Police Department and can provide some good teaching points. Read more....

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4. Questions all new potential police officers should ask

One of the lessons that should be developed for those interested in law enforcement should challenge to think about the emotional and psychological challenges that they will face. Jeff Lurie, a police officer in Virginia, has identified five questions that can be used as a basis for a lesson plan.

The five questions

Read more

 

 

 

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