career development theory-

1. SUPER’S LIFE-SPAN,
LIFE-SPACE CAREER THEORY
DEVELOPMENT
NAME- SHANICE COOMBS-RICHARDS
COURSE- INTRODUCTION TO CAREER DEVELOPMENT
LECTURER- MS. ONICCA MORRIS
DATE- SEPTEMBER 16, 2019

3. HISTORY
• Dr. Donald E. Super was born on July 10, 1910, in Honolulu, Hawaii. His parents were Paul and Margaret Louise (Stump) from Missouri. Super received
his Doctorate of Science degree from Oxford University.
• At the beginning of this career, Super began working at the YMCA as an employment counselor from 1930’s-1940’s (Savickas, 1994). Super was the
founding director of the Cleveland (Ohio) Guidance Services was also later the director of Clark University’s Student Personnel Bureau.
• Later Super released his first book on vocational counseling, Dynamics of Vocational Adjustment which was published in 1942. In his book, he suggested
that occupational decision is a strategic process instead of a spontaneous occurrence that takes place with someone’s life
• Super is well known for career counselling and life planning. (The University of Virginia 2017).
• He developed on Eli Ginzberg’s work which he thought had weaknesses. (Brown D & Books 2002).
• The American psychologist, Donald Edwin Super developed innovative ideas on life planning within career development.
• In 1980, he introduced the Life Career Rainbow; the theory that describes career development in terms of life stages and life roles (Super, 1980).
• Super died on June 21, 1994 at the age of 83.

4. “Until you know who you are, you won’t
know what you can become ” - Donald
Edwin Super

5. ASSUMPTIONS OF THE THEORY
• People differ in their abilities, personalities, needs, values, interests, traits, and self-concepts.
• People are qualified, by virtue of these characteristics, for a number of occupations.
• Each occupation requires a characteristic pattern of abilities and personality traits.
• Vocational preferences and competencies, the situations in which people live and work, and hence, their self-concepts change
with time and experience.
• The process of change is divided into various stages.
• Career patterns are influenced by external factors.
• Readiness to deal with the demands of an occupation influence the types of jobs we will occupy.
• Development is guided by many factors
• Career development is the implementation of self concepts.
• The greater the implement in self concepts the greater the job satisfaction.
• Work satisfaction is dependent on several variables
• We experiment with occupations to find the one that fits.
• Work provides a place for personality expression. Blustein, D. L. (1997).

6. THREE ASPECTS OF SUPER’S THEORY
1. SELF-CONCEPT
• A picture of who we are and what we are like
• A blend of how we see ourselves and how we would like to be
seen
• How we think others view us both
• People use this understanding of self when they identify career
goals and plans Individuals seek to live out their vocational
self-concept through their choice of work. Super, D. E. (1980)

7. 2. LIFE-SPAN THE LENGTH OF ONE’S
CAREER
Stages:
1. Growth (0-15)
2. Exploration (15-25)
3. Establishment (25-45)
4. Maintenance (45-65)
5. Disengagement (65+)
The Five Developmental Tasks:
• 1. Crystallization
• 2. Specification
• 3. Implementation
• 4. Stabilization
• 5. Consolidation Super, D. E. (1980)

8. 3. LIFE-SPACE - THE BREATH OF ONE’S
CAREER
Career is defined as the combination of life roles that one plays at a given life stage, depicted in Rainbow.
• 1. Son or daughter
• 2. Student
• 3. Worker
• 4. Spouse or partner
• 5. Homemaker
• 6. Parent
• 7. Leisure
• 8. Citizen
Theatres:
o Home
o School
o Workplace
o Community Super, D. E. (1980)

9. INSTRUMENTS USED
• Career Development Inventory (CDI)
• Career Development and Assessment and Counseling (C-DAC)
assessment instrument
• Adult Career Concerns Inventory (ACCI)
• The Salience Inventory
• The Strong Interest Inventory (Super, etal 1992).

10. TECHNIQUES
1. Super’s Thematic Extrapolation Method:
Step 1: Analyze past behavior and development for recurring
themes and underlying trends.
Step 2: Summarize each theme and trend, taking into account
the other themes and trends.
Step 3: Project the modified themes and trends into the future by
extrapolation.
(Super, etal 1992).

11. 2. Super’s Cyclical Model of Career Counseling
• Nondirective problem exploration and self-concept portrayal
• Directive topic setting
• Nondirective reflection and clarification of feeling for self-acceptance and
insight
• Directive exploration for factual data
• Nondirective exploration of attitudes and feelings
• Nondirective consideration of possible actions
(Super, etal 1992).

12. CAREER DEVELOPMENT AND ASSESSMENT
(C-DAC MODEL/CSAVE)
Super and his colleagues translated the three segments of the theory into the
C-DAC Model/ CASVE (kuh-sah-veh)
• Assessments used in the model include
• Career Development Inventory
• Adult Career Concerns Inventory
• Salience Inventory
• Values Scale
• Self-Directed Search
(Super, etal 1992).

13. DECISION MAKING MODEL CYCLE
• Communication Analysis Synthesis Valuing
Execution

14. STATUS OF THE THEORY
o One of the most universally influential, accepted and used theories of career decision making, whose theory of career and life development was one of the
first to describe career decision making as a developmental process that spans one’s entire lifetime.
o It is widely used based on its extensive research and its explanations of life roles over a lifetime. It is said to explain most, if not all influences that affect
career choice and development.
o Used widely in schools and is integrated in the National Career Development Guideline Standards.
Niles and Harris-Bowlsbey, 2005, p.62

15. USE OF THE THEORY
Assist individuals to :
oKnow there interests aptitudes and values
oForm a realistic and clear self-concept
oDevelop time perspective and knowledge that today’s choices affect the
future
oView work as one important role that interacts with all other life roles.
oRecognize and adapt to influences in the environment that affect career
choice and change.
oIdentify the career development stage and set goals for mastery of the tasks
unique to each stage.

16. USE OF THE THEORY CONT’D
• Help counsellors to assist clients to understand their unique
situation and how their individual development can influence
their various life roles, including career.
• Expose students to a wider range of careers because
occupational options narrow over time. Consider lifestyle
implications and consider the vocational and avocational
relevance of subjects studied in school. (Super., Bowlsbey, 1979)

17. STRENGTHS
• Super’s theory is well researched and is supported by most other research into the career
development process.
• Super’s theory defines all life stages and sub-stages clearly and how career development
is formed. Fitzgerald (1996).
• Super’s theory defines most if not all, of the influences that can affect career choice and
development.
• Super’s theory of vocational development remains one of the most influential approaches
to understanding vocational development.
• His developmental approach moved the focus from a one-time adolescent or young adult
career choice to an understanding of the multiple influences from birth through death
that shape a lifetime of career behaviors.
• The theory has clear counseling applications. (Super, Savicks, 1996).

18. WEAKNESSES
• The theory may be gender biased as it was developed when most women stayed
home while men worked.
• In addition, the emphasis on individual choice fails to acknowledge the
important role of the family or group for individuals from more collectivist
cultures or with a more interdependent sense of self, such as Asian Americans
(Super, Savicks, 1996).
• Life-role salience and values must be viewed within specific developmental and
cultural contexts.
• In diverse settings, and with different groups, there are sex differences related
to the relative importance of life roles and values.
• In order to facilitate their clients’ career development, counselors must attend to
life-role salience and values issues in career counseling (Niles and Harris-
Bowlsbey, 2005, p.62).

19. APPLICABILITY IN CAREER DEVELOPMENT
PROGRAMMES/INTERVENTION IN JAMAICAN
SCHOOL SYSTEMS
1. Teaching the concept of Life-Career, including the notions of life-stages, life space, and life-style, helping students and adults to see the interactive nature
of the variety of roles constituting a career, and showing how self-actualization can be achieved in varying combinations of life roles;
o A counseling aid with older adolescents and with adults, to help them to: (a) Analyze their own careers to date; and to (b) Project them into the
future, both as they have been developing and as they might, with planning, develop.
2. Most career education programs have been affected by Super’s ideas. They provide gradual exposure to self-concepts and work concepts in curriculum that
represents Super’s ideas of career development/vocational maturity. (National Career Development Guideline Standards). (Super., Bowlsbey, 1979).

22. REFERENCES
• Brown, D, and Brooks, L (Eds), ‘Career Choice and Development: Applying Contemporary Theories to Practice’, San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass, 2002.
• Mulder, P. (2018). Super’s Life Career Rainbow. Retrieved September 9, 2019 from ToolsHero:
https://www.toolshero.com/psychology/personal- happiness/life-career-rainbow/
• Savickas, M.L. (1994). Donald Edwin Super: The Career of a Planful Explorer. Career Development Quarterly, 43 (1).
• Super, D. E. (1980). A life-span, life-space approach to career development. Journal of vocational behavior, 16(3), 282-298.
• Super, D. E., Osborne, W. L., Walsh, D. J., Brown, S. D., & Niles, S. G. (1992). Developmental career assessment and counseling: The C-DAC model.
Journal of Counseling & Development, 71, 74-80.
• Super, D. E., Savickas, M. L., & Super, C. M. (1996). The life-span, life-space approach to careers. In D. Brown, L. Brooks, & Associates (Eds.), Career
choice and development (3rd ed., pp. 121-178). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Super. D. E., & Bowlsbey, J. Guided Career Explorations New York: The Psychological Corporation 1979.
• The University of Virginia. (2017). Super, Donald E. (Donald Edwin), 1910-1994. Retrieved from
http://socialarchive.iath.virginia.edu/ark:/99166/w6p00s5s
• Niles, S. G., & Harris-Bowlsbey, J. (2005). Career development interventions in the 21st century (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River,
NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. (Merrill Prentice-Hall)