Note: Though the choices of the areas are formally made on the 12th grade, the task of Vocational Orientation should take a proper time to be worthwhile. Therefore, if one is on the 10th or 11th grade (or one’s daughter or son), this would be the ideal moment to start counseling.

VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE IN CURRICULAR TRANSITION PHASES

9th grade

At this stage, a lot is “under construction”. A good intervention on this type of area cannot be based on a “black or white” answer. We must walk a good solid path in order to develop the draft of a professional profile by exploring tastes and motivations.

In order to get better results, one must consider all that is quite undefined in life: fears towards the academic future, doubts and distresses )both academic and individual), all-encompassing the adult life construction. Simultaneously, flexibility should be maintained so that, along with those maturing days, there will be the possibility of thinking and rethinking choices and consequences which help to better define that same professional profile.

Highschool

Not forgetting all the factors mentioned above regarding the 9th grade, at this stage one should also reconsider additional factors: the school (University/Professional School), financial status (public school versus private school), geographical location (sometimes one must leave his hometown or his country to apply for University), and all of this coincides with the transition to adult life: a clash of expectations. Because of all these factors a special attention is given to all these questions so as to not inadequately interfere on the choices and, at the same time, so as to not be “forgotten” during the choice procedure. The objective will be to explore the intrinsic motivations and the professional profile which is beginning to develop in order to attain more beneficial choices.