An Ecological Perspective on Youth Career Education in Transitioning Societies: China as an Example

Abstract

Contextual factors have received increased attention in understanding the challenges and difficulties in translating career education and career guidance services from Western societies to non-Western societies, many of which are undertaking a shift from a socialist and collectivistic system to a more individualistic one. In this article, using China as an example, we discussed the contextual factors in different ecological systems, such as economical, educational, and sociocultural, and how they may facilitate or impede youth career education in a transitioning society. We reviewed a career education program in a Chinese senior middle school to illustrate such impacts. Additionally, we proposed strategies for further development of youth career education in China as well as in other countries with similar transitions. We introduced a framework of a diversified concept of career and several context-resonant career development theories to be considered in guiding youth career education programs in these transitioning societies.

Keywords

career education contextual factors transitioning societies ecological systems China

Career education began as an educational reform movement in the 1970s in the United States and has been broadly defined to entail activities and experiences designed to prepare and engage students in their future paid or unpaid work, a learning process of not only preparing students to earn a living but also developing a way to enrich their life experience (Hoyt, 2005). Such notion of career education requires the integration of work and career into academic curriculum to make learning more relevant and meaningful to students. A challenge that today’s career education faces has been that economic globalization has led many countries to undertake multiple-level transitions in areas of ideology, economy, and culture. Particularly noticeable of such transition is the shift from a more collectivistic, socialist system into more individualized cultures characteristic of Western nations. For example, such a shift has been observed in both China (Ma, Hu, & Goclowska, 2016; Yan, 2010) and Russia (Velichkovsky, Solovyev, Bochkarev, & Ishkineeva, 2017). This has led to modifications of already existing career types in addition to the formation of new career types altogether. It is necessary that career education also make appropriate adaptations to the massive amounts of growth in order to sustain the new economic conditions and to make use of traditional, modified, or new career types meaningful to individuals during this transitional era.

In countries undergoing this transition period, the lifelong career positions that individuals would hold within government institutions have been removed, and individuals now have to focus more on their own employability than on the job security that had previously been guaranteed by the government. Without the education available to make careers attainable, young adults just entering the job market can quickly get left behind. Other challenges for these individuals include the transition from family loyalty and values to operating as an individual within the new economic conditions. For example, as noted by Sultana (2014), this has created a large frustration among young people, particularly young women, in Arab states where these individuals are ready to begin making decisions for themselves but are receiving a large pushback from older generations, including within their own families.

Attention to contextual factors has been called for to better understand the difficulties and challenges that these transitioning countries face in career education and career guidance services (Arulmani, Bakshi, Leong, & Watts, 2014a; Sultana, 2014, 2017). These factors can manifest their impacts at different levels that are consistent with the ecological systems proposed by Bronfenbrenner (1979) to understand environmental contexts in child development such as evolution of economic and educational systems of the chronosystem; the sociocultural context of the macrosystem; and beliefs of students, parents, and teachers of the exo-, meso-, and microsystems.

The aforementioned change process, and the impacts of multilevel ecological systems, can be examined more closely in the context of China where the economy has been developing rapidly in recent decades. China’s fast economic development has led to not only changes in the way that employment is viewed and pursued but also exchanges of different cultural beliefs due to the influx of Western cultures. Such a mix of differing beliefs can manifest in the form of an integrated coexistence as well as clashes or conflicts across generations or even within the young adults who are developing multiple identities. Therefore, the current sociocultural context in China is typical of other countries that have undergone similar changes and transitions in economic globalization.

The purpose of this article is to expand the horizon of internationalization of career education through discussing the contextual factors of different levels of ecological systems and their influence on youth career education in China. This purpose is also in line with Goodman’s (2015) recommendation for a broader representation of countries in her review of a career development handbook with international perspectives edited by Arulmani, Bakshi, Leong, and Watts (2014b), which does not include a chapter on China. Using a specific career education program in a senior middle school as an example, we intend to illustrate how contextual factors may facilitate or impede development and implementation of career education programs in multicultural societies—particularly those transitioning from a more socialistic society to a more individualistic one. We propose strategies and theoretical considerations that are believed to be helpful for youth career development not only in China but in countries elsewhere that have been making similar transitions. We focus on youth as it is one of the traditionally important career development stages (Super, 1953) and a critical developmental stage most susceptible to sociocultural contextual factors. Moreover, the rapid economic development and reformation of the education system in China has created an urgent need for youth career education. However, it should be noted that selection of youth career development as the focus of this article does not imply career development in other periods of life such as mid- or late adulthood is less important. Instead, we recognize and support the emphasis on lifelong career development in a changing and transitioning society and plan to discuss careers associated with mid- or late adulthood in China in another paper.

The Chronosystem: Evolution of Economic and Educational Systems

Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological systems theory points to the importance of multiple-level environmental contexts in studying child development. Applying this perspective to career education, we discuss how these ecological factors may impact career education in a changing and transitioning society such as China. We believe knowledge of these factors is important in that it not only helps us better understand the challenges and difficulties career education faces, but it also provides proactive strategies and considerations for context-resonant career education programs in these societies.

Economic Transformation

Economic transformation has been one very significant macro-level factor. Indeed, the evolution of work and the subsequent career guidance movement (Parsons, 1909) in the United States was, in part, due to economic transformation from an agrarian to an industrial society in the early 20th century. Today, it is still an important factor affecting the adaptation of career, a Western society–based idea, to societies that are alien to this concept.

Specifically in China, career development and related concepts, such as career education and counseling, were not known before the 1990s when China adopted a socialism ideology and planned economy that defined career as one’s contribution to communism and social improvement (Zhang, Hu, & Pope, 2002). A job was guaranteed and allocated by the government for university graduates with the belief that such allocation would maximize students’ contribution to society. The state’s collective interest was put above a student’s individual interest. University students had no control over their career development and thus were not motivated to explore future career paths. Similarly, students only studied to be admitted to a good university that would then lead them to a promised job allocated by the government. Therefore, neither career guidance in universities nor career education in secondary schools was deemed necessary during this period of time.

Beginning in the early 1990s, China’s economic system reformed from a planned economy to a market economy. As a result, the government was no longer responsible for allocating jobs to university graduates, and students were responsible for finding their own employment. At this point, college students had the freedom to choose their own jobs but found themselves unprepared for the job search. They neither had the knowledge nor the skills to explore the world of work as well as their own interest and ability. These students exclusively focused on jobs located in big cities that had both good pay and work environment, though they rarely considered whether the job fit their interest, ability, or personality.

Reformation of Education System

The reformation of education to emphasize educational counseling in elementary and secondary schools once played an important role in the establishment of career guidance in the United States during the economic depression of the 1930s (Pope, 2000). Today, education reform continues to affect career development, more so in societies beyond Western cultures, in a much different economic context. Consistent with the increasing international policy interest in career education as a result of economic globalization (Sultana, 2014), the Ministry of Education of People’s Republic of China (MEPRC, 2007) issued a document requiring career education be included in college curriculum. Therefore, while career education in China came into play in the new century, it primarily remained in colleges and universities.

It is important to note that one significant hurdle for youth career education in China was the National College Entrance Examination (NCEE) system, which was launched in the late 1970s. For decades, the NCEE has been crucial to the fate of secondary school students as reflected in a Chinese saying that “the test determines the rest of life” (Zhou, Li, & Gao, 2016). This system has led to an exam-oriented educational approach for almost all Chinese elementary and secondary schools. Students only must choose between the sciences or arts track before taking the exam. The choice of which college to attend, and which major to study, is exclusively based on the estimated or actual NCEE test score. In other words, the NCEE score determines the level of prestige of the college a student may attend, and the popularity of the major that they can study, which is closely associated with good and stable employment. Indeed, the choices students can make based on their knowledge about themselves and the world of work, which have important implications for future career paths, are significantly restricted. Under this system, it is not at all necessary to have career education in the school’s curriculum as all students must do is to prepare for a test that will ultimately select their major and decide admission to college.

Youth career education did not start to emerge in China until recently when the NCEE system was called to be reformed by China’s State Council (2014). According to the reformed NCEE system, which was first tested in Shanghai and Zhejiang Province and is currently being extended to the rest of the country, the division between the sciences and arts tracks no longer exists, and students can choose from a wider range of subjects. More importantly, the NCEE scores are no longer the only determinant of college admission. Students’ moral integrity, creativity, and hands-on abilities are also considered. This reform has led to changing the prevailing examination-oriented education system to essential qualities–oriented education that emphasizes the development of students’ all-around qualities including interest, ability, and personality. More recently, to further promote this shift of education system, MEPRC (2017) issued a guidance outline that requires mandatory curriculum on social practice activities (e.g., exploration and observation, community services, handcrafting, and occupational shadowing in China’s elementary and secondary schools).

Imbalanced Economic Development

The internationalization of career education and career development can be viewed as a result of global economic development. However, it is important to note that such global economic development has been far from a balanced status quo across, and within, global communities. Associated with unbalanced economic development is often an inequality in education including career education. Indeed, several scholars (e.g., Müller, 2014; Sultana, 2014, 2017) have called for attention to such inequality and social justice strategies to correct it.

Although China has achieved significant economic development over the last several decades, there has also been an unbalanced development across different geographic regions. Schools in economically developed regions, such as coastal provinces, cities, and some major municipal cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, have started to incorporate career education into curriculum (see the case example described in a later section of this article). However, career education curriculum has been largely absent in schools of economically less developed regions, particularly those in remote and rural areas. Career education curriculum is often viewed as secondary to major subjects such as the sciences and arts. For many schools in these economically less developed regions, career education remains conceptual without any specific or systematic implementation. The purpose of having a career education curriculum is often unclear in contrast to the goal of pursuing student admission rates to prestigious universities. Yan, Zhu, and Wang (2016) found few students from these schools had a plan to pursue their career goals, and, if they had one, they were often unable to associate it with their own interests and abilities.

Labor Force and Trend of Pursuing Education Overseas

Labor force is another macro-level contextual factor influencing career development (Sultana, 2017). While the change of the labor force has important implications for adult employment, we focus here on the emergence of a few special youth groups and the increasing trend of overseas education. China’s fast and great economic development has largely relied on the labor force migrating from rural regions to major cities. This has created the further need for such a labor force and has attracted an increasingly large number of migrant workers to move from their rural hometowns into big cities. As a result, migrant workers’ children have to be left in their rural hometowns, to be known as left-behind children, or migrate with their parents to the urban cities, to then be known as migrant children.

Lu (2009) found that gender stereotypes associated with career choices appeared much earlier among left-behind children than their non-left-behind counterparts, implying a more restricted range of career choices when they grow up. Left-behind school-age children often receive little career education due to the absence of career education programs in their schools. As for the migrant school-aged children, Chen (2012) called for attention to education inequality following the compulsory education. The current policy, in which migrant students must return to their hometown or place of permanent residence to take the NCEE, has put migrant students at a disadvantage in pursuing higher education. This policy has left this group of students with relatively few choices other than following in their parents’ footsteps to become migrant workers, which has significantly decreased migrant students’ motivation to be involved in career education programs.

The word “left behind” describes a state of detachment and disconnection between children and their parents. While left-behind children often come from families of low socioeconomic status, there is another group of left-behind children coming from wealthy families of high socioeconomic status. As a result of rapid economic development, many Chinese families have become financially able to support their children to pursue education overseas in countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand to the point that seeking education overseas has become a surging trend among Chinese students. According to a report by the Institute of International Education (2017), Chinese international students top the enrollment of all international students in United States’ colleges and universities, followed by India, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia. In Chinese secondary schools, we have found that students who are planning to seek overseas education are not very interested in their school’s career education program. Many of them seem to believe receiving overseas education in a developed country will ensure a better career, and, therefore, there is no need for them to participate in their school’s career education activities. While migrant students exclude themselves from career education because they do not expect much out of a future career, the students who are planning to go overseas for education do so because they take it for granted that a degree from an overseas institution would promise a better future career.

The Macrosystem: Sociocultural Context

Macrosystem is used to describe the social environment that individuals live in and incorporates important sociocultural factors such as socioeconomic status, ethnic background, religious affiliation, and so on (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). In spite of historical challenges, the current sociocultural context in China is instrumental for the development of youth career education. The government has been increasingly supportive, as evidenced by recently issued educational policies promoting career education. The nation’s centralized administration and the sociocultural emphasis on collectivism can facilitate implementation of such policies. China’s fast economic development has led to significant financial improvement for most Chinese families, enriching the resources of career education and increasing affordability for children to be involved in many career education activities. Along with the significant economic growth is the influx of Western cultures. Advancement of information technology has also enabled extensive interactions with ideas and practices from other cultures, leading to a more diversified and more accepting society for new and different things.

However, it is important to note that the current sociocultural context in China is characterized by a mix of different beliefs that may lead to an integrated coexistence as well as clashes or conflicts. For example, Chinese culture has long been viewed as being collective which values conforming to authority and groups, orientation to harmonious interpersonal relationships, and an interdependent self-construal (e.g., Kim & Markus, 1999; Markus & Kitayama, 1991). However, recent studies suggest a shift from collectivism to individualism in Chinese society (Ma et al., 2016; Yan, 2010). We argue that these collective orientations are still influential, perhaps less directly than previous decades, for contemporary Chinese work and life. Specific to career education, emphasis on self-exploration of one’s own traits and career decisions may be perceived as being selfish and inadvertently create conflict with the conformity orientation. Chinese children are expected to demonstrate filial piety (or xiao in Chinese) to their parents, and their career decisions may be associated with such demonstration and judged to be either consistent with, or violating, this core value. Therefore, it is important that youth career educators in China become aware of these traditional sociocultural factors and potential conflicts with the emerging individualistic orientations that focus on independence and autonomy among the younger generations.

The Exo-, Meso-, and Microsystems: Students, Parents, and Teachers

Now, we turn to other ecological systems to focus on students, their parents and families, and their teachers and schools. As mentioned earlier, recent studies have found a shift of cultural orientations in China, especially among the younger generations who value modernity and independence (Wang, 2006; Zhang & Shavitt, 2003) and are more confident and self-promoting (Yi, Ribbens, & Morgan, 2010) than earlier generations. Ma and colleagues (2016) found a significant increase in vertical individualism and a decrease in horizontal collectivism among the generation born in the 1990s in China. According to the conceptualization of these orientations (Chen, Meindl, & Hunt, 1997; Triandis & Gelfand, 1998), such findings imply that, compared to the earlier generations including their parents, the post-1990 generations are now seeing themselves as being more autonomous rather than part of a collective group. They may have also come to be more aware and accepting of social inequality and be less likely to perceive all members of the collective as equal. Although current Chinese secondary schools students are all post-2000s, a continuation of, or an even stronger degree of, such orientation is expected among this population.

Interdependence Between Parents and Children

It should be noted that parental expectation and involvement in their children’s career development is not one directional; rather, Chinese students were found to be dependent on their parents for career-related information along with financial and emotional support (Hou, Bai, & Yao, 2010). Indeed, children with an Asian cultural background were most intrinsically motivated when choices were made for them by trusted authority figures such as their parents or teachers (Iyengar & Lepper, 1999). This is consistent with the cultural orientation to interdependent self-construal in Chinese society. Chinese parents may define themselves and find their identity through their children’s achievement, and the children often associate their identity with the extent to which they can make their parents and family proud and bring honor to them through academic and career achievement. However, in such interdependent processes, Chinese parents often unknowingly unload their own unfinished career dreams onto their children, which may be associated with mental health issues in children (Xie & Yang, 2014).

Student, Teacher, and Parental Attitudes Toward Career Education

As mentioned earlier, there has been an increasing openness and acceptance to new things in the overall Chinese sociocultural context, particularly in those more economically developed regions. This can lead to an increased awareness of the importance of career education among students and their parents and teachers. However, the lingering effect of the old NCEE system that prevailed for more than three decades on students’, parents’, and teachers’ attitudes toward career education should never be underestimated. The traditional standard of achieving a good NCEE score to be a good student may be still strongly held. Moreover, teacher’s and school’s performance is still being evaluated based on admission rates to top universities. Therefore, any other curriculum or activities, such as those in career education, can be perceived as interfering with students’ abilities to achieve high scores on the NCEE.

Case Example: A Career Education Program in a Chinese Senior Middle School

In this section, we present a brief case example of a career education program to illustrate how the aforementioned multilevel contextual factors may influence the development and implementation of youth career education programs in China.

The career education program is part of the curriculum of the Fourth Senior Middle School of Jiaxing (4th-JXSMS), Zhejiang province, China. Jiaxing, geographically close to Shanghai, a metropolis in China, is a city in China’s Zhejiang Province. Both the city and the province are characterized with advanced economic development. The 4th-JXSMS has about 1,900 students whose grades (first, second, and third seniors) are equivalent to 10th, 11th, and 12th grades in high schools in the United States. In preparation to the reformation of the NCEE, all secondary schools in Zhejiang province started to implement curriculum reformation in 2012 with the career education program in the 4th-JXSMS being originally developed in early 2013. In 2015, this program was rated by the Education Department of Zhejiang Province as an exemplary model of career education for all secondary schools in the province.

The program focuses on students’ career adaptability based on Savickas’s (1997) theory that defines career adaptability as the readiness and ability to cope with both the predictable tasks and the unpredictable adjustments prompted by changes in environment. Also integrating Gelatt’s (1989) framework of positive uncertainty and Mitchell, Levin, and Krumboltz’s (1999) planned happenstance theory, the framework intends to develop students’ career adaptability through three domains of career activities: career education curriculum, career guidance, and career practice.

Two full-time career educators employed in this school were predominantly involved in developing this program. Both of them have a bachelor’s degree in education and received workshop trainings on career education and career development. They train teachers of other subjects to become adjunct career educators and encourage teachers to voluntarily develop and teach career education courses apart from their officially assigned subjects.

The program started with the development and teaching of career education courses. Some of these courses were originally developed and taught by the two main career educators and, subsequently, teachers of other subjects were invited and encouraged to participate in this process. There are currently 15 career education courses. One is mandatory for all students while others are selective, totaling more than 200 hours a semester. These courses educate students with basic concepts and knowledge about career development, increase their awareness of career issues, and help them learn career exploration skills.

As these courses are taught, students are organized into peer support groups to design and implement career practice projects through which they observe activities and interview employees to gain knowledge about occupations. Students make and display posters summarizing their career projects, and they participate in competitions for awards.

In addition to career education courses and career practice, students seek career guidance from the two main career educators or from the instructor of the career course they are taking. Students also take the Career-Sky—a career assessment system developed by a local company that focuses on multiple dimensions of students’ career development including self-exploration, occupational knowledge, career decision-making, goal setting, and so on.

We have found several strengths of this career education program. First, this program has been informed by a set of theoretical models in contrast to the absence of theoretical guidance of many of career education programs in other schools. These models focus on planned happenstance (Mitchell, Levin, & Krumboltz, 1999), a positive perspective on uncertainty (Gelatt, 1989), and development of career adaptability (Savickas, 1997). Happenstance and uncertainty are common in a transitioning society such as the one in China and require an adaptability to cope. Therefore, a career education program based on these models can help students better understand the happenstance and uncertainty they encounter and prepare them to cope with acquired career adaptability. Secondly, the program heavily incorporates career practice activities into career education. Through direct observation and interaction with occupations, students develop a more realistic and accurate understanding of the occupation than by simply reading printed materials describing the occupation. Thirdly, the program has a mechanism for piggyback training of teachers of other subjects to become career educators by the two major career educators. Although this training mechanism may not be adequate for producing a fully qualified career educator, it may effectively relieve the severe shortage of career educators, which is a common issue in most of the career education programs in China along with other countries experiencing similar transitions.

Nevertheless, the career education program did run into a few hiccups—particularly during the early phase of implementation due to contextual factors discussed in previous sections. Some students still have the mind-set of valuing the old NCEE system and see career education courses and practice activities as a waste of time. Similar resistance exists among parents and teachers as well. Some parents feel that a career is only an issue for adults, and it is unnecessary for children to be concerned. Similarly, some teachers still believe that career education courses and practice activities have consumed too much time and diverted students’ concentration from the NCEE. Having noticed these attitudes from parents and teachers, the career program subsequently added educational programs aimed at teaching the parents and teachers the importance for their children and students to be involved in career education courses and practices.

A notable setback of the career education program was the difficulty implementing the evaluation mechanism. Although program evaluation was originally planned to occur through establishing student career profiles and following up with student progress in development of career adaptability, it has yet to be done in a systematic manner. Having a theoretical framework is a strength, but not having data to support its validity has been a limitation of the program. This is primarily because managing career profile data of 1,900 students is time-consuming and requires data management and analysis abilities that current career educators do not have. Such difficulty is also associated with a lack of awareness of the importance of program evaluation and the absence of incentive mechanisms for career educators to be involved in program evaluation. The hours spent actually teaching in a classroom determine the teacher’s performance and the associated incentive salary; therefore, the hours of teaching a career education course, as long as they are occurring in the classroom, are counted; however, hours spent outside of the classroom that are necessary for advising student career practice projects, providing career guidance, and learning skills for program evaluation do not count. This institutional policy has yet to be challenged for further development of this career education program in the school.

Strategies and Considerations for Further Development

Witnessing China’s rapid economic development, reformation of educational systems, and shift of sociocultural orientations, we believe it is especially important for multilevel contextual factors to be considered in development of youth career education in China and other countries undergoing similar transitions. In this section, we first present chronosystem and macrosystem strategies focusing governmental policies and institutional investment in youth career education, followed by those of exo-, meso-, and microsystems focusing on involvement of students, parents, and teachers in career education programs. We conclude this section, and this article, with an argument for linking theory and research to practice in youth career education, along with strategies for future research.

Increase Legislative Involvement in Policy Development and Implementation

One primary goal of strategies at the chronosystem and macrosystem is to alter the broader environment through policy development to make it more instrumental for career education. As reviewed above, the existing governmental policies are instrumental to youth career education in China. However, these policies, issued in form of paper documents by federal and local administrative departments or offices, are often perceived as aspirational rather than enforceable and are often implemented in a perfunctory manner. These policies are generally vague without specific expected outcomes being clearly delineated. We believe such policies can be more effectively implemented if they could be made through formal legislative procedures and involve punitive consequences if expected outcomes not being achieved. A monitoring and evaluation mechanism is also necessary for effective implementation of these policies.

Also, in line with practice of social justice, more policies should be made in favor of career education development in economically less developed regions and for left-behind and migrant students. Current unfavorable policies to migrant students, such as the one that migrant students must return to their hometown to take the NCEE, should be modified for equality of higher education after the compulsory education.

Moreover, at the institutional level, the schools and administrative departments should increase their investment in training qualified career educators in order for these educators to have professional knowledge and skills in program development, program evaluation, and research. Particularly, the importance of program evaluation should be further emphasized as it is the only way to provide feedback for revision and development of the career education programs. Policies on evaluation of teacher’s performance also need to be modified to establish more effective incentive mechanisms for educators to be involved in nonclassroom career education activities.

Acknowledge a Diversified Concept of Career

At other levels of ecological systems (i.e., exo-, meso-, and microsystems), strategies need to focus more on the immediate environment that young adults live in, such as their family, school, and community, and other people that they have close contact with such as parents, teachers, and peers. One goal of intervention at these levels is to create collaborative and trusting relationship among students, parents, and teachers, which is as important as the therapeutic relationship in counseling and therapy. Another goal of intervention at these levels of ecological systems is for the students, and, particularly, their parents and teachers, to explore their own career beliefs and career development, to increase their awareness of these beliefs, and how they may have influenced their children/students’ career development.

A framework of a diversified concept of career based on a contextual model of career (Arulmani et al., 2014a) might be particularly helpful for achieving the above goals. Arulmani and colleagues (2014a) proposed that, as global forces transporting the notion of career from Western, individualized, and industrialized contexts to various other contexts, “manifestation of career can be seen in two broad contexts: contexts to which career is indigenous and contexts where it is, in many respects, culturally alien” (p. 2). Therefore, the idea and meaning of career lie along a continuum. We believe this is true not only across societies but also within societies—particularly ones such as in China where substantial transitions are occurring. In other words, the meaning of career and its delineation might be different for individuals within a society, depending on their social economic status, sociocultural orientations, ethnic backgrounds, generation status, and so on.

This framework of a diversified career concept can help us better understand the existence of different notions of career and the different career needs in the ecological systems. A better understanding of these notions and needs and how they interact with each other to impact youth career development can provide insight into designing context-resonant career education programs.

Strategically Involve Parents in Career Education Programs

Parents and other core family members are important aspects of the microsystem. Given the traditional cultural emphases on family relationships in China, parental involvement can be an important resource for children’s career development. However, parents may need to reflect on their own career development and how their parenting styles may facilitate or impede the career development of their children. Moreover, parents need to be aware of the dependence that their children have on them in career decision-making. As important and authoritative figures in children’s lives, parental support and guidance can increase children’s intrinsic motivation to be more actively involved in career development. Nevertheless, being authoritarian, overinvolved, or pressing children to complete the unfinished career dreams of their parents can impede children’s career development.

Parental involvement in career education can take place within the microsystem through both providing support and creating career-relevant dialogue between parents and children. At the mesosystem level, parents can keep a close connection to the career education program in the school and connect career resources at their own workplaces to the school’s career education program. A youth career education program should involve parents (along with grandparents and other family members) in order for them to reflect and explore their own definition and meaning of career, their own career choices and career development experience, and their perception of their children’s definition of career and career choices. An example of such activities can be a support group organized by the school where parents meet to talk about their own career development and how they can have a positive or negative impact on their children’s career development. Parents can also be invited as a guest lecturer for a career education course. A panel discussion between a group of parents and students could be another example, where parents are interviewed by students and share their successful and unsuccessful career experiences with the students. Impacts of some generation-unique aspects characterizing the family structure (e.g., most Chinese parents having siblings in their family vs. most students of current generation being the only child in family) and economic system (e.g., planned economy vs. market economy) on career development can be some focal points during these discussions.

Integrate Focus on Academic Achievement and Need for Career Education

Academic achievement has always been one of the most important goals in schools. Because of this, academic pressure is likely the most common stress that students experience in the school setting. Adding career education to the existing academic curriculum can be easily perceived as counteractive to academic achievement. Yet the need for career education is strong and evident, especially in the context of economic globalization and technology advancement where traditional career types are becoming obsolete and new career types are quickly emerging. The tension between the focus on academic achievement and the need for career education is common to many countries around the world, even in the United States where the career education movement started (Hoyt, 2005; Plank, 2001). Such a tension is particularly noticeable in China in contrast with the historically exclusive emphasis on test scores in the NCEE system. It is necessary for career education programs to employ some strategies in order to mitigate the tension.

First and foremost, youth career education programs should be developed with an integrative and infusing, rather than an add-on, approach in relation to academic curriculum. Career education programs should focus on bringing a meaning to students’ academic achievement. Students, parents, and teachers of core academic subjects should be aware that academic achievement is less significant until it is related to students’ future career development. Specifically, career education elements can be integrated and infused into contents of academic courses, and vice versa. For example, the career development history of a famous writer can be included in the teaching of a literature course that also includes the works of that writer. A chemistry teacher can include a “career link” to relate the chemistry knowledge being taught in the class to relevant occupations. Likewise, students can reflect on their academic skills in their career practice projects. Increasing application of knowledge and skills in academic courses will also facilitate the integration of academic curriculum and career education curriculum. For example, a homework assignment in an information technology course can ask students to develop a website to introduce an occupation of their interest.

Secondly, students, parents, and teachers who perceive career education programs as impeding students’ academic achievement should be educated on the research findings of the relationship between career education and academic achievement. Up to date, there has been no empirical evidence to support the impeding effect of career education on academic achievement. On the contrary, research has largely supported the positive effect of career education on academic outcomes (Choi, Kim, & Kim, 2015; Evans & Burck, 1992; Orthner et al., 2010; Plank, 2001).

Other strategies can include use of observational learning by inviting students and alumni to talk about their positive experiences with academic courses and career education programs, how both types of education benefit career development, how they were able to integrate these types of learning, and how they balance the tension between academic success and career development. Moreover, career education programs should be flexible enough to address a diverse range of student needs in academic achievement and career development. Finally, a transformational leadership in school administration and a supportive school climate are needed to effectively integrate career education curriculum into the academic curriculum (Song, Bae, Park, & Kim, 2013).

Apply Interactional and Intersectional Approaches to Research

We call for more research on youth career education programs based on local samples to investigate their effects on academic achievement and future career success and how context-specific factors at each level of the ecological systems may impact effectiveness of such programs. We particularly recommend interactional and intersectional approaches to such research. With an interactional approach, sociocultural factors at multiple levels of the ecological systems can be investigated simultaneously to help generate an understanding of how these factors may interact with each other to influence career education. Given the transitions at multiple levels including political, economic, educational, familial, and individual, an interactional approach will provide a more accurate and dynamic picture of career education and, thus, is helpful for development of culture-specific career education models.

Intersectionality research has recently gained popularity in counseling psychology (Moradi & Grzanka, 2017). Intersectionality theory has its roots in Black feminist activism and is a framework that attempts to study multiple interlocking identities of a group of socially marginalized individuals along with more privileged individuals. This intersectional approach can be very useful in understanding career education of particular groups of youth stratified as either being marginalized or privileged by several identity statuses. Using China as an example, some of these statues can include having a registered rural versus urban residence, having parents that are low income versus high income, having parents who are migrant workers versus parents holding powerful governmental positions, and so on. While the groups of left-behind children and migrant students fall under the marginalized group, those who are planning for education overseas fall into the privileged group. How do the career needs of left-behind students differ from their migrant counterparts and also those who are planning for further overseas education? What are some other identity statuses and how significant are they in defining a sense of marginalization or a sense of privilege? How do such identity statuses affect the career needs and manifestations of career behavior? These are the types of questions that can be investigated with an intersectionality approach for youth career education issues in a transforming society such as China.

To conclude, with the increasing trend of development of globalized economies and technological advancement, development and implementation of youth career education programs face many challenges, especially in countries undergoing transitions in multiple fields such as economic system, education system, and social and cultural orientations. Using China as an example, we discussed these challenges from the ecological perspective, which helps us understand these challenges holistically. We also propose some strategies at different levels of ecological systems to cope with these challenges. We believe such perspective will enable us to integrate all possible resources effectively, from policy making at the macrosystem to parental involvement through support and connection at the micro- and meso-systems. We call for additional research to study the interaction of contextual factors at these ecological systems and use of intersectional research to inform us of career interventions for marginalized youth groups.

Footnotes

Acknowledgments

We thank Xuanwen Liu, Huijie Zha, Zheng Zhang, and Xuli Zeng for their inputs in the development of this article.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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