Today, agricultural education is training and developing the next generation of scientists, engineers, teachers and advocates to efficiently provide enough food and resources to support a growing population. Agricultural education also creates a foundation to develop more educated consumers and producers by offering students learning experiences to better understand where food and resources come from and the importance of agriculture.

As a career readiness curriculum developer, we hear from thousands of teachers every year interested in teaching career exploration.

Family and consumer sciences (FCS) education has served as the backbone of life literacy education for decades, preparing students for a multitude of career opportunities focused on challenging students to think critically, problem solve and work effectively to solve real-world issues. Career exploration in FCS is extremely valuable to today’s students as FCS encompasses a wide range of disciplines that can lead to high skill, high wage and high in-demand job opportunities.  

If you’re a middle school career readiness teacher, chances are one of the first topics you plan to teach is career exploration.

Educators and parents often tell their students to “dream big” when it comes to their future careers. But how can students “dream big” if they don’t know what they can dream about? That's where career exploration comes in.  Career exploration in education is the process of researching and evaluating modern work opportunities and how students can pursue careers that interest them. As a course offered in middle school and high school, career exploration is a valuable tool for students to begin discovering opportunities and planning for their futures. In this article, you'll discover why career exploration is such an important topic for students to learn. 

Career awareness is an essential first step in building students’ understanding of the working world. Career awareness differentiates itself from career exploration and career clarity by introducing students to different job opportunities in the world. It shows them options for their futures in a huge scope with the hope that each student will find a career that resonates with them in terms of interests, purpose, and inspiration.