My vocation within Portfolio

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My vocation within

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In this portfolio you will find part from a teenager's vocational orientation process integrating four different phases, each one of them with their theoretical framework and a field journal section, reflecting on the intervention. Besides, at the end you can check out some recommendations and final conclusions on what went well and what could be improved.

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by Daira Mariana Clemente Hernández

This project consisted of an educational guidance process focused on accompanying a teenager in their vocational decision throught different interventions. It is well-known that "choosing a college major represents a naturally critical life-decision of anyone interested in pursuing higher education" (Vicente-Sánchez in Quiroga-Garza, et al., 2020, p. 1). Therefore, it is important for teenagers to receive good accompaniment to make this process easier and centered in what they need. Taking this into account, the purpose of this project was strengthen the identity of the teenager to assure what they want to do with their life, while developing professional competences as vocational orientators. Some of these competences were to make professional decisions in favor of the well-being of the teenager, and, also, communicate assertively proposals and ideas that guided the teenager to reflect on their ownself and their vocation.The project was integrated by four phases, which consisted on different interventions, and even though, each encounter with the teenager was planned, the reality was that since it was a vocational orientation process, it was more dynamic than static (Quiroga-Garza, et al., 2020). However, first of all was to get in contact with a teenager, who was between 15 and 18 years old, and I chose my sister because she is 16 years old and is currently deciding on her career. So, for the first phase, we had our first encounter , which was important to break the ice and get to know each other furthermore than our relation as sisters, especially her interests, hobbies, abilities, passions, and concerns. In the second phase, she had to research on her family background, specifically on their career decisions. On the other hand, in the third phase, we conducted vocational orientation tests for the teenager to identify their interests, aptitudes, strengths, expectations and vocation. Finally, the teenager chose two careers to research about and then just one to explore two universities that offer it.Each one of the interventions was face-to-face and had the purpose to guide the teenager towards choosing a career. After all the different activities and techniques carried out to help the teenager, some recommendations to continue further in her vocational process were given to her, as well as an overview to her parents for them to be aware of what was done and discovered. Besides, to give a closure and reflect on the ellaboration of this project, I developed an analysis of my strenghts and also my areas of opportunity.

Introduction

Educational Guidance Final Project

My vocation within

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Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Conclusions

Phase 4

Recommendations

Quiroga-Garza, M. E., Flores-Marín, D. L., Cantú-Hernández, R. R., Eraña, I. E. y López, M. V. (2020). Effects of a vocational program on professional orientation. Heliyon, 6(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e03860

After ellaborating this project I can say I am more fond of this area of pedagogy, especially from educational guidance, meaning vocational orientation. Definitely, it is something I would love to work at in the future, and at some point of my professional career. Thanks to this project I have come to appreciate the value of accompanying people and having someone to hear you out and understand you. I feel like people rely on educational orientators because they trust their expertise, but is more about the place they give to the person. Good orientators place the student at the center and work hard for the well-being of students. However, there are many exceptions for this kind of orientators and really mislead the vocational orientation process, demotivating students.This is why I appreciated very much this project, because it gave me the opportunity to step into the place of an educational orientator, worry about a teenager and help her reflect on actual and future self. Along the way, it was not just the teenager who was learning about her own interests, aptitudes and concerns. While I was accompanying her, I also discovered strengths about myself and realized areas of opportunity I have to work on. For example, in the first encounter that one of my biggest advantages was that I already know many aspects about my sister, but that did not stop me from going deeper nd talking about topics outside of the proposed format. I also feel that the notes I took during the session were very useful to do the analysis afterwards, however, looking back I feel that taking those notes in my computer gave the impression of an interrogation and did not allow a more friendly conversation.In second place, about the encounter focused on the family background of the teenager, I am really proud of myself of once again, giving the extra mile and developing extra formats and preparing specific questions for the teenagers to do her research, which it made it easier and broader. An strength in that moment was adapting the format for it to be attractive for my sister, because since she was the one filling it up, and she is very usual, I had to consider what could be best for her and from that I could develop the format. However, this took me a long time and the reality is I procrastinated this delivery, so when I asked my sister to complete the family vocational tree, she had few time to do her research and was not able to ask directly to other family members who were not my parents.

Conclusions

Educational Guidance Final Project

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Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Conclusions

Phase 4

Recommendations

Regarding the third phase, I think that in the case my strengths were my analysis competence to assess the results from the tests with and without the teenager. Even though we discussed together some aspects of the results I was also able to integrate every characteristic from the tests and interpret what the relation was. After hearing some of my classmates experiences about this third encounter, I realized I could have guided more the tests, because I have the feeling i just handed them to the teenager and left her own. So, my strategy to improve this area of opportunity would be to not do anything else when the students are doing an activity, to be paying attention to how they are doing and explain better the instructions. I actually feel that this applies not only in the educational sector, but in life as well. Definitely, active hearing is one of my weaknesses and I have start working on it by applying associations with what people share with me.Finally, in the last session I think that I learned from my mistakes and I was able to connect more with my teenager and make a greater effort to have properly the encounter. However, again time worked against me and I could not contact my teenager with students and professionals before the delivery of this project. I feel this happened because I was not aware of this part of the project, and even though it is a great complement to the vocational orientation process, for next time i have to be well-informed of all the parts from the project to be working in advance and not being in a hurry. In the face of this area of oppportunity I think that a good strategy is keeping an agenda, and in the case I have more projects like this it is not only important I know the whole project, but that I let the other person know to be on the same page.Overall, I can conclude that my biggest enemy during this project was time and schedules. It was very difficult to coordinate the sessions with my sister because she always had a project, a homework, or an exam to do. Besides, we both had different schedules, but definitely I could have made a greater effort to have our session in a timely manner because I think that could have helped give more seriousness and structure to the project, instead of doing what we could in the few "free" time we had. I am truly aware procrastination is one of my biggest areas of opportunity, the bad news is that I see this bad habit in my sister as well, so now more than ever, I have to be more responsible to complete my activities and project without stressing out, because as the older sister I have to set a good example for my sister. In conclusion, I am very thankful I was able to carry out a project like this and I am very committed to give it follow up because my sister and her well-being are important for me. So, if there is something left in my hands to help her in this vocational orientation process, I am going to do it.

Conclusions

Educational Guidance Final Project

My vocation within

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Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Conclusions

Phase 4

Recommendations