School toWork Transition of Non-college Bound Youth: An Integration of the Life Design Paradigm and the Psychology ofWorking Theory

Abstract

Young people, particularly those without a post-secondary education and marketable skills, encounter significant obstacles in their transition to the workforce. In an unstable world of work, it is crucial to provide youth with adequate vocational skills and adaptive psychosocial attributes (such as critical consciousness) to help them obtain decent work and adapt to the ever-changing work conditions while confronting the social injustices that impact their lives. In this chapter, we present an integrated framework for development of school-to-work transition programs based upon promising scholarship from the life design paradigm and the Psychology of Working Theory. We hope that the interventions built on this theoretical integration will inform more effective and humane educational, vocational, and public policies designed to foster access to decent and fulfilling work.