You hear that question all the time: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Well, some kids know exactly what they want to be. They want to be doctors or engineers or teachers or police officers. But there are many children still trying to find their interests and many who don't know about all the possibilities open to them.
It is more difficult to decide on a profession when students arrive at classes 10, 11, and 12. They need to consider the right subjects to study, plan for entrance exams, and prepare for college and jobs. Parental choices for the best school in Hyderabad and career guidance for your child are essential aspects of your child's education. But should students wait until Class 12 to begin considering their options?
Why Should Career Guidance Start Before Class 12?
Children don't always understand what a career entails. They may decide to go into a specific line of work because their friends have decided that's what they want to do; because the career sounds like fun or exciting; or because they've heard of the career from a relative.
Career information available to children during the early stages of education allows them to investigate various pathways. For instance, one young person, who shows an interest in drawing, might consider their interest as an artist. With investigation, the child may also look into other careers, such as animation, graphic design, or product design.
For example, a child who likes solving puzzles may be drawn to the subject of technology, mathematics,s or research. Such interests do not determine the child's life, but they can lead him or her to new opportunities.
Providing career guidance prior to Class 12 prepares a student earlier to see the linkages between school subjects and higher education and various careers. They are better equipped to make informed and well-thought-out choices rather than decisions made under duress.
It is not to get children to decide early what they want to be when they grow up. It is to guide them so they can identify their possibilities early.
What Happens When Children Get Real-World Career Exposure?
It's one thing to read about a job in a textbook, but it's another to hear from someone who's actually done the job and find out what the job actually entails and what challenges people face.
A student interested in entrepreneurship. The child might think that being a businessman involves selling products and making money. But, having listened to a talk by an entrepreneur, he will be aware of planning, teamwork, saving, and customer's needs and failure.
These jobs show children what a name really stands for. Children also learn that careers are not always clear-cut. People often change their minds, do something once, or do something badly before finding the right career.
School may provide career awareness by arranging: guest lectures; workshops; visits to workplaces; projects; and meetings with professionals from different fields, where learners can listen to people's lived experience and have their questions answered.
From a simple classroom project to organising a small event, role plays help children see what is involved. Planning a small project involves teamwork, organisation, budgeting and communication. Pupils start to see that a lot of jobs require skills they can develop at school.
How Can Early Exposure Prepare Children for the Future?
Being prepared to work does not just mean choosing what to study after school. You also need the skills that will help children deal with whatever might come along in the future.
These skills are valuable in many careers. Students can help develop these skills in the classroom through talking with others, working as a team, using higher-level thinking skills, competing, and leading others.
So, if the child has a job with some type of responsibility, such as a group project, he or she might learn how to work as a group, how to split up assignments, how to be a good listener, and how to deal with setbacks and solutions to different problems.
In addition, talking about personal successes and challenges in front of the class can allow students to identify their talents and weaknesses. For example, a student who loves to voice his or her opinion may consider a future in speech and communication.
But children may also change as they develop. Today's future doctor may find that she is interested in environmental science in a few years' time. It's only natural for them to be exploring who they are.
Career guidance is concerned with keeping options open and helping students make decisions as they acquire more and more knowledge and skills.
What Role Is Meru International School, Tellapur Playing in Assisting Students to Discover Career Readiness?
Parents searching for the best school in Hyderabad can look up to Meru International School, Tellapur, which launched career readiness for its students in the form of the M-CLAP (Meru Career-Readiness, Leadership and Life Skills Academic Enrichment Programme). The programme aims to upskill students with life skills, leadership, and career guidance. It believes future-proofing life begins well before college counselling.
This was exemplified through the school's NIPUN Career Readiness Talk, "From Classroom to Boardroom," by NUS graduate, Young Entrepreneur, and Co-Founder of MB Learning Global, Ashmit Tainwala. In the session, he shared how he chose his career path and explained the sacrifices he made, as well as his success stories. Students learned from his experiences: how a career can be decided based on honest work, and how to learn from setbacks rather than fall prey to success. Such career-centric initiatives create awareness among students about the real-life workplace challenges and inspire them to see setbacks as learning opportunities. Through activities like these, Meru International School, Tellapur, prepares its students to understand and connect their classroom concepts with future decisions.
Empowering our children to make good choices
Children don't have to know all about their future before they finish school. They need time to explore their interests, to have experiences, to explore different jobs, and to develop skills that will enable them to make choices.
During the primary years of career guidance that begin before Class 12, teens have more time to weigh the options without pressure. Schools and parents can help by asking questions and exposing children to the world around them.
It is not about making early decisions about a child's future, but rather about helping the child face the future confidently, with open-mindedness and self-awareness.
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