Donald E. Super's Theory Of Career Development

Human and Career Development
Donald E. Super’s theory of career development is known as the “Life Span View of the Career Development” as it recognizes the changes that individuals go through their life when selecting their careers. He defined individual’s career as a sequence of jobs, positions, activities and occupations in his/her lifetime. Super and his colleagues developed the model of “The Life-Career Rainbow” which reflects five major stages of lifecycle that an individual goes through the life span. These stages formed of three or four developmental tasks as listed below:
• Growth (Birth to 14)
The period when children develop their understanding of their capacities, atti¬tudes, interests and their social needs. This stage includes

• Decline or Disengagement (Ages 60 and above)
This is the final stage where the individual is going to be out of the workforce and preparing for retirement. It is the period where people disengage from their occupational activities and plan for their new life after retirement.
Career development process as stated by many theorists is a continual process where an individual forms a work identity. Different theories were developed from the 18th to the 21st centuries about career development where they all fall into four categories: o Trait Factor- to match personal traits to occupations by Frank Parson (1920’s) o Psychological- to match personality types to work environment by Holland (1980’s) o Decision- depending on situational or sociological by Bandura (1970’s) o Developmental- to reflect self-concept through the life span (1950’s)
Super’s model of career developmental theory proves that people desire, ability and interest differ through life span. This reflects why organizations face difficulties in training and developing their workforce; therefore different approaches should be considered to encourage the workforce be motivated and emphasize on their career

These factors are the main players through implementing the constructivism theory. Yilmaz (2008), states in his article about the importance of implementing constructivism in the education process as it helps the student to build his/her knowledge and understanding gradually. It also helps the teachers and practitioners ensure that they do not move from a level of teaching or training without ensuring that the student or learner mastered the previous level.
According to a research report conducted by Learning and Skills Research Center (LSRC) (2006), adults with educational difficulties have been discussed by theorists and practitioners such as Sebba, Byers and Rose (1995), who referenced those difficulties to medical, psychological and ecological models. Also, Sebba et al. claimed that the medical model reflected the shortfalls individual has because of different syndromes. The psychological model was affected by the tests of intelligence and psychometrics, Piaget’s of psychological development and Skinner’s theory of operant conditioning. While the ecological model emphasized on the individual environment. All these models and other learning and teaching thoughts have influenced our understanding of individuals difficulties in