Grade 8 - Career Development (Career Preparation)

It is expected that students will:

apply an existing academic, personal management, or teamwork skill in a new context
identify basic money-management skills

To view the prescribed learning outcomes for Career Development (Career Preparation) in other grades click on an icon below.

Have students identify three jobs suitable for them or their peers (e.g., baby-sitting, newspaper delivery, house sitting). Suggest that they create employment ads for these jobs, then generate lists of their personal characteristics (e.g., skills, interests) that might help them be hired.
Ask students to identify volunteer jobs they could do to build specific employability skills, as identified by the Conference Board of Canada.
Have each student identify a personal pursuit (e.g., hobby, recreation, extra-curricular learning activity) and work with a partner to list all the skills associated with it. Then challenge students to look for other opportunities to apply these skills in their everyday lives. Have them track their efforts for a week and report their findings to the class.
As a class, brainstorm a list of money-management skills that students think an adolescent should have. Review the list, highlighting those that are most basic, such as:
- generating an income
- forecasting income and expenses
- opening accounts (chequing, savings) with a financial institution
- setting priorities (spending, saving)
- tracking income and expenses
- using credit
Form small groups and have each group take one of these categories and develop a list of things to know about that aspect of money management (e.g., how-to procedures, difficulties that might be encountered, underlying concepts such as interest or payroll deductions).

When students list skills associated with personal pursuits and find ways to apply these in their everyday lives, look for evidence that they are able to:
- make connections between their activities and the skills involved
- identify ways in which the skills they have developed can be transferred or applied to new situations
- keep detailed records of when, where, and how they apply their chosen skills
- realistically assess their levels of success, providing details and examples to support their assessments
Have students in groups brainstorm ideas about what they consider to be basic money-management skills. Then have them identify from their lists the three or four most important money-management skills and explain why they chose these. As groups report their results, note the extent to which they understand the value of:
- having and monitoring personal financial goals
- saving and investing
- knowing about the cost of borrowing money
- developing budgets
- keeping financial records

Revised: January 25, 1999