Careers are a very important part of our lives. Across the lifespan, our career needs and goals can change and adjust. Therefore, in order to assess how our career development changes across the lifespan, I am going to discuss the career development theory by Donald Super. I will discuss the main tenets of the theory, evaluate the theory, and highlight important key terminology. Furthermore, I will explain how it is relevant when applied in the counselling setting.
Donald Super’s Career Theory
During the 1950’s, Donald Super, one of the most influential vocational theorists, devised a significant theory for career development (Super, 1957). The most salient point about Donald Super’s theory for career development is that it …show more content…
As stated earlier, the self-concept changes over time, and is influenced by one’s personality, abilities, interests, values and experiences (Luzzo & Severy, 2009). According to Super (1957), people choose occupations that allow them to express their self-concepts. The lifespan refers to the period of life that occurs from birth to death. Lastly, the life space is the type of role that you take on in your life, for example: teacher, student or parent. According to Super (1980), these can affect your career according to which role a person is currently undertaking. For the purpose of this assignment, I shall discuss the part of his theory that covers the …show more content…
The task is for the person to ‘crystallize’, which involves developing and planning a provisional career goal (Holt et al., 2012), and then pursuing the necessary steps. This means that when Sarah is approximately 18 years old, she may ‘try out’ certain majors at college such as zoology, and start working with the SPCA, in order to see if she really wants to be a vet. Later, when she is 21, she must achieve the task of ‘specification’ by firming her vocational goal to study veterinary science. She then may achieve the task of ‘implementation’ by getting the right