Wednesday 6 April 2016

Rainbow Career Theory


The other day, I was reading some of the other BAPPers’ blogs and came across this one by Danni Austen. I think it has a link to the line of inquiry that I am considering. I have left a link at the bottom of this blog if anyone is interested in learning more.

She writes about the “Life Career Rainbow”. This is a concept was thought up by Donald E Super, a career theorist. His main focus has been self-concept (or self-identity) and how it develops over time due to our experiences. 





Super has five life and career development stages: Growth birth-14 years old, Exploration 15-24 years old, Establishment 25-44 years old, Maintenance 45-64 years old and Decline 65+.

Danni and I have contrasting views on this as she doesn’t believe that this is relevant to a performer’s career. Most performers don’t have a career that lasts more than a couple of years (except the lucky ones!) so will need a secondary career as a means of insuring regular income between roles. From the age of about 14 – 25/30 you are pursuing performing, however this is not a career with a stable income and isn’t physical manageable forever. From about 30+ you start to think about settling down in a suitable position with a slightly more stable income. Personally, teaching is where I see my stable future.

This chart shows how you are continually working and exploring throughout your life.It also shows the developmental tasks at these different stages.


 He took the original idea that was developed in 1951 by Eli Ginzberg, an economist, who proposed that there were three main stages of development; fantasy, tentative and realistic.





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