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Dylan Frendt
Education 617-001
25 March 2016
Paper 1: Lifes Work Identity Development
Introduction:
When I reflect on what identity means for an individual or collective, my mind dwells on
hallmark events in the formation of personal ideologies and belief systems that emerge as we age
and experience events in our varied environments. For a great deal of my more adult life, I have
focused on issues of identity as they manifest in more traditionally understood arenas. By this I
simply mean that I have focused on racial, sexual, ethnic, and class-based identities, and have not
given credence to the weight or prevalence of others. This approach narrowed my view of the
possible contexts, environments, and pursuits that go into a more comprehensive identity
development.
Much of the learning that I have done in this course has allowed me to expand my
definition of identity and development. My more expansive view includes career identity and
development, topics that I want to explore more philosophically in this paper. Career identity
development, much like other forms of identity development, is cultivated through a confluence
of processes and contexts that have observable impacts on the lives of individuals. These sets of
processes and experiences enable somebody to synthesize the identity they take in a career realm
with other aspects of identity and with identity writ large. It helps give meaning to work.
In this paper, I will lay out what I mean by career identity and its development. I will first
discuss my own definition of career identity as it is informed by an analysis of literature. I will
then talk about ways in which it can be cultivated and developed, and the role counselors can
play. I will conclude with the theoretical framework for my final paper, which will propose a
program for cultivating more equitable career identity development.

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Career Identity:
Fundamentals
Peter Weinrich contends that a person's identity is defined as the totality of one's selfconstrual, in which how one construes oneself in the present expresses the continuity between
how one construes oneself as one was in the past and how one construes oneself as one aspires to
be in the future (Weinrich, p.317) Richard Lapan summarizes Eriksons 1968 work on youth
and identity by stating that the resolution of the identity crisis in late adolescence was a critical
achievement that enabled a more successful transition to young adulthood (Lapan, p.49).
Regarding careers, he claims that Erickson emphasized that the importance of successfully
resolving vocational identity issues, enables one to construct a coherent and stable ego identity
in young adulthood (Lapan, p. 49). Additionally (and relating to careers), Gillie and Isenhour
argue that career development processestake place throughout ones life and that career
management is nothing more than the internalization of career development processes that
enable one to navigate and prosper in a work world where a persons relationship to
employment is in a state of flux (Gillie and Isenhour, p. 2). Extending on this, Gillie and
Isenhour cite research that demonstrates that higher levels of sustained education and career
happiness lead to lower levels of depression and other psychological traumas (Gillie and
Isenhour, p.13).
It seems then that the fundamental notion of identity is one of a journey that begins at a
young age, involves decisions and consequences, and continues over the course of the lifespan.
The development of a career identity seems to mimic the development of an overall identity in
that it is imperative for a person to internalize developmental processes that enable them to
navigate and prosper in a world that is, indeed, always in some state of flux. That this should
happen (and does happen) over the course of ones life goes without saying. More simply put:

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the ability to internalize complex and varying processes that exist in an environment that is in a
state of flux sounds a great deal like the actual complex processes that one goes through as they
identify and accept other forms of identity that manifest in a world full of complex contextual
variations. A career identity, then, is just as integral to ones overall identity as sexual identity,
ethnic identity, and racial identity is. Moreover, because career identity and its development is a
tremendous amount of ones lifetime work (in terms of both psychic energy and actual time
spent), I contend that career identity is just as foundational as those other identities and warrants
heightened attention from educators, counselors, and the general public.
When Does a Career Identity Start to Form?
Erickson contends, the growing child must derive a vitalizing sense of reality from the
awareness that his individual way of mastering experience (his ego synthesis) is a successful
variant of a group identity and is in accord with its space-time and life plan (Erikson, p.21). He
elaborates further, stating that each action that a child takes leads to recognition of the
significance and limitations of that action (like learning to walk and then understanding physical
and cultural limitations of walking) (Erikson, p.22). Erickson continues by stating a child has
quite a number of opportunities to identify himself, more or less experimentally, with real or
fictitious people of either sex, with habits, traits, occupations, and ideas, yet, this occurs with
only a limited number of socially meaningful models (Erikson p.25-26). Moreover, Carolyn S.
Magnuson and Marion F. Starr argue if one accepts the concept that children make decisions
about themselves and the world at a very young age, then it follows that development of the
skills required for effective life career planning must begin early (Magnuson and Starr, p.90).
They point to the choices about preferences that the young people make, themselves. They also
contend that a childs progression of choices and preferences (from food and toys to
entertainment an clothing) leads to more long-term, sustained decisions about belief in efficacy

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and ability (Magnuson and Starr, p.90). Additionally, they cite research that provides theoretical
support for the concept of career development as a life process, rooted in childhood, that
occurs in somewhat sequential phases with abilities and skills that carry from stage to stage of
a persons development (Magnuson and Starr, p.91).
My focus, here, on the identity and career identity formation as it pertains to children in
particular is deliberate. If we are to believe, as Erikson did, that children began forming their
identity by acting then synthesizing the consequences of this action, and we are also to believe
that children take opportunities to identify themselves in relation to others, then Magnuson and
Starr are correct in that accepting these premises makes it imperative for us to create an
environment where children can develop skills necessary for life planning and career planning
(in addition to other aspects of identity discovery and formation). Moreover, if we are to believe
in Eriksons notion of identity in youth, then career identity formation (like all forms of identity)
begins in youth and youth must be given space to discover themselves while the adults in their
lives pay special attention to how their decisions can have long-term developmental impact.
Though we have tended to ignore the tremendous learning ability of infants before the age of
two and do very little to formally teach these youngsters, young people are making and
internalizing non-verbal observations about the world, meaning, education of children begins at
birth (Krumboltz, p.138).
Despite our lack of well-funded and institutionalized learning opportunities for the very
young, the notion that young people are learning is hardly surprising. We take it almost for
granted that there are certain things that a child has to know, but a certain time, less they lose the
ability to know or be able to do the thing in question. Parents want their children to play with
building blocks, or read by a certain point. They want their children to be able to do

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developmentally appropriate things. The particular things are often informed by the opinions and
decisions of teachers, pediatricians, or friends and relatives. It is to youth that we ascribe a future
status. They are our future leaders, with young children and infants being the future, future
leaders. A potent example of one of those developmental tasks that we find necessary to a childs
existence is first language acquisition. We want our children to talk at a point that is appropriate,
and research indicates that there is a window where children must be exposed to language and
contact, lest the lost the ability to adequately communicate. We believe that their talking at this
point is a sign of success and a springboard by which they will be able to delve into more
complex thinking that will help them discover the world, discover themselves, and discover a
measure of success.
Though it is hardly surprising that career identity and its cultivation begin in youth (like
so many others things), and though it is hardly surprising that we often take for granted the
critical things that children are doing and learning in their young age, the fact that children do, in
fact, learn and develop so rapidly and so young makes creating opportunities for early career
identity discovery so very critical. Yet, focusing on merely creating these opportunities is not
enough. Lets use a young childs first language acquisition example, again. Research has
demonstrated that speech that uses a broader and more comprehensive vocabulary, in
conjunction with utterances that contain more information that is complex, has been found to
better facilitate language development in infants (Pan, Rowe, Singer, & Snow, 2005). Moreover,
young children who hear a more varied words and phrases develop larger vocabularies and a
deeper reservoir of complex words and phrases. This can be observed as young as age two (Pan
et al., 2005). Thus, successful and optimal language acquisition is contingent upon the richness
of language input a child is exposed to. (Pan et. al, 2005). Researchers are able to observe quite

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substantial differences in the rate at which individual children acquire language and language
skills that individual children demonstrate when they enter primary schooling (Hoff, E., 2006).
These language skill differences, particularly oral language skill differences, have been shown to
successfully predict adult literacy levels, child learning ability, and experiences in classrooms
and school systems, with studies showing that more one-on-one conversation with adults in
supportive environments leads to more rapid language development (Hoff, E., 2003). All of this
shows us that, while it is important to create spaces for children to learn to speak, it is really the
quality of the speech they are exposed to that makes a life-long difference.
This research on primary language acquisition and its results helps us focus on the
importance of multiple things. First (and something we have taken for granted): children begin
learning language (and other skills) at an impressively young age and when their brain has the
most neuroplasticity. Second: different ways of teaching children how to speak yield different
results that can be observed over the lifetime. Third: the quality of speaking we expose children
to, in conjunction with the level of support we provide, correlates with how young people speak
and perform in speaking tasks in the future.
This example is important, because it relates directly to identity development (and by that
token, career identity development) in young people. Gillie and Isenhour demonstrate that
informed and considered career decisions have a tremendous amount of educational, social, and
economic value that starts in childhood and spreads across the lifespan (Gillie and Isenhour,
2003). For example, they point to research that shows us that students who have an awareness
of the career relatedness of education are more likely to engage and achieve in school, and that
we can document academic gains from career interventions as these interventions lead to
increased academic efficacy and motivation (Gillie and Isenhour, p.7-8). Much like a child who

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is spoken to with complex thoughts and in targeted one-on-one interactions, a child who is
exposed to career interventions has increased academic efficacy and motivation that leads to
increased outcomes, better career attainment, and lower levels of stress and depression. It is also
important to mention that, at a young age, children begin expressing differentiated views on their
own competency and skill as it relates to different tasks and school subjects. This expressed
competency and skill manifests as early as kindergarten, and has an impact on how students
perform in their classes in as early as kindergarten and first grade (Eccles et. al., p.837). Taken
in sum, we are able to see that career identity development begins at a very young age, and, like
other forms of identity development, substantially impact young peoples perceptions of self and
perceptions of possibility.
A Rejection of Neo-Liberal Identities
My own definition of career identity is a synthesis of the elements that I have discussed,
thus far, but also a rejection of a certain analysis of these elements. By that I mean I support a
synthesis of the research and theory postulated by the above authors, but I combine this with a
more of a wholesale rejection of certain symbolic, philosophical, and semantic components of
the authors works and ideas. Namely, I reject neoliberal vocabulary and underpinnings.
The focus on vocational or work satisfaction or identity discovery play into a very
neoliberal interpretation of what it means to be a citizen in a complex society. By a neoliberal
interpretation, I one where certain actors assures us that the market is a natural force, and one
where it is believed that all of us are rational, economic actors who, in acting in our own selfinterest, engage in a competition driven economy that is constantly growing and evolving. My
own research and philosophy compels me to believe that if one is to give significant amount of
credence to vocational or work identity, and if society is to devote a great deal of resources to
enabling people of all ages to match their identity to a possible career, then there exists a very

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implication that ones vocation or work is critical. This is good. But my own research and
philosophy also compels me to believe that coupling this emphasis on career identity
development and training with jargon and practices rooted in neoliberal capitalism will lead
people to be view a very critical aspect of their identity and identity development in marketbased terms. This is quite limited.
As I do not believe in limiting anybody (either literally or symbolically) or in reducing
them to anything that could lead to their being viewed in less-than human terms, I would like to
offer a symbolic and linguistic reimagining of vocational identity and career identity that
respects the research into career identities but also respects the fundamental fact that we are all
human. This offering comes in the form of a very simple name change. Where other researchers
and thinkers say vocational identity or career identity or life career development or being a
career conscious individual, I would like to put forward calling such things lifes work,
lifes work identity, lifes work identity development. First and most simply, I believe
that this linguistic change takes away the ever-present presence of neoliberal capitalist jargon and
allows us to effective evaluate identity and identity development in the career realm without
defaulting to notions of an individual as a purely economic actor. While individuals do act as
economic actors, I want that to be subsidiary to their role as a human being accomplishing their
own lifes work, first and foremost. Second and most importantly, a lifes work is something that
does not have to encapsulate a career in a traditional sense, but often does. By imagining a
persons lifes work identity, we are able to give that person space to imagine their lifes work in
new and creative ways that do not limit possibility and do not play into the idea that they should
work for some person, institution, or even some system. This refusal to limit possibility can work
to allow an individual to take their lifes work and create new careers that find spaces in new

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markets. In this way, allowing someone to imagine a lifes work (which may or may not be a
career) actually benefits systems that are predicated on some form of market and market-based
competition and expansion. I believe this transformation of language is key to tapping into
human potential and human possibility while paying deference to research and theory that has
operated under the overall auspices of neoliberal capitalist economies.
Career Identity Development:
Fundamental Importance
As we have established, the formation of identities takes place over the lifespan and
traces its roots to the earliest moments of our conscious childhood. Though identity development
does not truly end until we are no longer of this world, there are critical windows in which
people navigate complex changes of context and environment and make decisions (based on
available resources and other factors) that can have long-standing impacts on the rest of their
lives. Whether we believe, as Erikson does, that the successful completion of adolescence
requires solving the identity crisis, or not, research and theory demonstrates that identity
development is a hallmark of humanity, and it is something that starts in our very important
childhood years.
A tremendous amount of research demonstrates how certain factors and certain
environments can impact career identity development, which often begins in the formal
schooling system. For example, when asked about their beliefs about themselves and about their
school-based tasks, it was shown that childrens beliefs about each domainform separate
factorsindicating that the childrenclearly distinguish the different activity domains (Eccles
et. al., p.834). As mentioned earlier, this same study demonstrated that children as young as five
years old are already beginning to have differentiated views of the self, of the tasks they are
working on, and of their ability to be successful at these tasks (Eccles et. al., p.837). It is

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apparent that children in kindergarten are beginning to discern various components of their
identity, and that decisions they make at such a young age can lead to foreclosures on future
opportunities that could lead to careers and paths of life work that could be intensely satisfying.
Furthermore, it is important to mention that younger children view success and failure in a
simplistic way (they are happy when they succeed and unhappy when they do not) that does not
take task difficulty and amount of effort necessary into consideration (Nicholls, p.809). Taken in
sum, it is not hard to imagine a young girl who discovers that she wants to be a doctor, but
simultaneously believes that her gender or some other variable makes her bad at math and
science (two topics needed for medical school) without being able to recognize the connection.
This means that something that could become integral to her lifes work identity (being a doctor)
could be far out of her reach by the time she is of the age to work towards medical school!
Furthermore, young people find themselves in a simultaneously rewarding and precarious
position involving their career (lifes work) identity development. While children have the
potential to learn new skills and, with proper scaffolding, turn these skills into lifelong successes,
children are also vulnerable to criticism and discouragement. A child who is criticized
demonstrates more negative outlooks on the world and even more negative judgments on their
goodness (Heyman et. al, p.406). This undue level of criticism had the potential to instill a sense
of learned helplessness in young people (Heyman et. al. p.406). It is quite true that career
aspirations can be influenced by the perceived success or failure of various actions (Krumboltz,
p.138) and it is true that young people are more directly impacted by these actions. All of this
puts a young person in a place of opportunity marred by precarity. Young people are
neurologically most able to retain new facts and, with proper scaffolding and opportunity, are
able to start developing coherent identities with enough time to learn the skills needed to sustain

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them and accomplish lifes work goals. At the same time, uninformed adults have a tremendous
ability to hamper a young persons development and make many of their goals and aspirations
significantly more difficult to attain or sustain.
Why Schools:
In a 2003 study of students and their attitudes on what they expect from teachers and
other school officials, Cochran, Kulinna, & Garrahy show that students of diverse backgrounds
have "high regard for teachers who listen well, treat students with respect, and exhibit caring,"
with Patrick, Ryan, & Kaplan (2007) adding that creating a classroom space where students feel
safe and cared for, by the teacher, enables them to share their thoughts, take risks, and develop a
sense of responsibility (Weinstein and Novodvorsky, p. 50). Additionally, popular research by
Carol Dweck suggests that praising students for their hard work and potential to learn and grow
instills a growth mindset that prevents foreclosures and possibility and creates an environment
where a student can achieve, develop a sense of resilience in the face of setback, and be
motivated to perform better in various aspects of their lives (Dweck, p.27). Taken in sum, we
know that school-based mentors are best able to show students the care and attention necessary o
instill in them a mindset of growth mindset that helps students achieve and discern their own
self-worth and efficacy as agents in a tremendously complex society. More simply put: good
mentors help students discover their identities and facilitate identity development.
Conclusion: A Recommendation
The research and papers of the authors that I have cited fit together to paint a very vivid
picture regarding identity development and career identity development. Identity (including lifes
work identity) starts developing at an incredibly young age. When people are quite young, their
brains are neuroplastic, and they are able to learn skills and abilities that will help them later in

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life. Krumboltz states that education begins at birth, and it only makes sense to believe that
identity development begins closer to birth than we realize. And though I propose a wholesale
rejection of neoliberal jargon and theoretical constraints, I admire and respect the work of those
who use neoliberal jargon to make powerful and observable points about identity development,
especially as it relates to identity development in childhood.
All of their research and theory leads me to conclude that there needs to be a systematic,
positive, productive, and universally accessible way for students to have space to develop their
lifes work identity. And, as one of the main goals of education is often professed to be leveling
the playing field or providing some sort of equity among students, this universally accessible
space should be created and implemented with socioeconomically disadvantaged students in
mind.
With all of that being stated, I propose developing a smart-phone, computer, and other
device based application that allows students to match their early (and constantly changing)
goals and aspirations for their lifes work to classes, community organizations, mentors, and
other resources that will enable them to learn and master the requisite skills to achieve that
dream. For example, if a student wants to become a doctor, they should be able to know the
classes they need to take in their given school and the experiences available to them in their
given community, and be pointed to mentors or other resources (within their community or
outside of it) that will help them develop the skills needed to become a doctor. What I propose,
then, is the creation of a space where students, starting at a young age, have the ability to follow
passions logically and systemically and be connected to mentors who will be a positive and
inspiring force in their lifes work identity development.

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Works Cited:
Dweck, C. S. (2010). Mind-Sets and Equitable Education. Principal Leadership, 10(5): 26-29.
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Children's Self- and Task Perceptions during Elementary School. Child Development,
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Heyman, G. D., Dweck, C. S., & Cain, K. M.. (1992). Young Children's Vulnerability to SelfBlame and Helplessness: Relationship to Beliefs about Goodness. Child Development,
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