ABSTRACT
Careers education and guidance at school poses the question ‘What do you want to do when you leave here?’ The answer can be specific (‘to train as a teacher!’) or more encompassing (‘to find something with meaning and purpose!’). But we can no longer assume that the specific answers will serve for a working life: both the possibilities and the priorities may change. A career is becoming episodes, linked by transitions, stretching into an unforeseeable future. The question, therefore, is protean, manifesting itself differently to each rising generation. It might now engage students at school in:
1 Understanding how working opportunities came to be the way they are now and how they continue to change. 2 Being able to see themselves in relation to those opportunities-a better fit for some than others. 3 Knowing what they want to change in their sense of their possibilities in the working world. 4 Equipping themselves to making those changes. 5 Knowing what they will do at the coming career transition, and why. 6 Appreciating what other things they might have done. 7 Appreciating the reactions of other people to their action. 8 Anticipating the possible consequences of that action for themselves and their life-style. 9 Being able to deal with frustration, disappointment and rejection.
