Foundations | Grades 5-9
In Career and Technology Foundations (CTF), students plan, create, appraise, and communicate to explore interests and passions as they learn about various career possibilities and occupational areas. CTF responds to the context of the school, community, and student interests and passions, and as a result, looks different in every school. This flexibility allows teachers to design meaningful learning experiences for students.
At the heart of CTF are the four central processes: plan, create, appraise, communicate. Students engage in CTF tasks, alternating between the four central processes. These central processes span 28 different occupational areas. Occupational areas are categorized by five clusters (Human Services, Business, Communication, Resources, and Technology) and include disciplines such as foods, computing science, design studies, environmental stewardship, and construction, just to name a few. Each CTF task should align with at least two occupational areas.
Because the four central processes can be adapted to any topic of study, students are emphasizing universal skills and processes, which makes learning more meaningful and connected than ever. Hands-on, relevant, and purposeful learning is very important to the middle years learner.
