The Butterfly Model of Careers: Illustrating How Planning and Chance Can Be Integrated in the Careers of Secondary School Students

Abstract

Simple matching models of decision making are no longer sufficient as a basis for career counselling and education. The challenge for contemporary careers advisers is how to communicate some of the complexities of modern career development to their students; in particular, the apparently contradictory relationship between the need for planning and the influence of unplanned events. Deriving from the Chaos Theory of Careers, this paper outlines a practical technique currently being used in the secondary school context that illustrates how both planning and contingency can be linked, understood and utilised in career decision making. The implementation of the Butterfly Model of Careers is outlined in detail to enable others in the career counselling field to be able to use it as well.