From Career Days to Career Systems: Dr. Sophia Morgan on Fixing Career Education

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Hello.

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Welcome back to Education on Fire.

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Today, I'm delighted to be chatting to Dr. Sophia Morgan, who's an educator, author, and entrepreneur whose work focuses on career literacy, academic advising, and helping students make intentional choices about their futures.

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Now she's the founder of Explore Career Academy, a platform dedicated to helping schools integrate career exploration and college planning into everyday learning.

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Dr. Morgan is the author of several career development resources, including the High Schooler's Guide to College and the Career Planning and Reflections, a college and career journal for middle schoolers.

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Now her work equips students with the tools to reflect on their strengths, explore career possibilities, and plan meaningful academic pathways.

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Originally from Jamaica, her career has taken her to the United States and now to China.

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She is passionate about helping schools ensure that every student graduates with clarity, purpose, and direction.

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Hello, my name is Mark Taylor, and welcome to the Education on Far podcast, The place for creative and inspiring learning from around the world.

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Listen to teachers, parents, and mentors share how they are supporting children to live their best, authentic life and are proving to be a guiding light to us all.

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Hi, Dr. Seville, thank you so much for joining us here on the Education on Far podcast.

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Great to chat to people from around the world.

Speaker A 00:01:41

We talk to a lot of people from the U.S. it's great to chat to someone who's all the way over in China.

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And I think we should probably just start with that story in terms of the journey, the journey from Jamaica to China and.

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And how.

Speaker A 00:01:54

I think what you're creating in terms of that sort of Explore Career Academy has that sort of global reach, I think, as well as just being specific.

Speaker A 00:02:01

So, yeah, thanks so much for being here.

Speaker B 00:02:04

Thanks, Mark, so much for inviting me.

Speaker B 00:02:07

Yes, it's an exciting story.

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As the word explore suggests, I'm an explorer.

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I enjoy traveling and teaching.

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So how did I get to China?

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A lot of people always ask me this.

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So before, as you mentioned, I'm Jamaican, so I taught and worked in Jamaica for about nine years, and then I actually left Jamaica and went to the United States, where I was teaching for about five years.

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At the end of my tenure there, I was kind of wondering, you know, what am I going to be doing next?

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Am I going to go to another country?

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Am I going to return home to my home country of Jamaica?

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And then a colleague while I was in the US Mentioned to me, he said, sophia, would you be interested in going to China?

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And then I thought about it some because I was going to be doing my doctoral degree, which is about STEM education and how what STEM looks like in schools.

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So I said, oh, China is one region where children seem to enjoy tech and science and math.

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So I thought it would be an amazing place to do my research.

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So I started shopping for a job and I ended up where I am.

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So that's how I am.

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I've been here since 2019.

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Absolutely love living in China.

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I lived in Wuhan for some time and now I'm in a small city called Yiwu.

Speaker A 00:03:36

And what's the, the culture difference from like you say, from Jamaica to the US and then to China?

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Is there a thread that sort of binds all those together or is it very much like you say, that the overarching sort of cultural differences which sort of upset the environment for you.

Speaker B 00:03:54

The cultures are very, very different.

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As you know, I'm a Caribbean person.

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Caribbean people were generally very chills, relaxed.

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You know, in Jamaica we have a phrase that we say no problem because you're always just, you know, taking it easy.

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So it's very different.

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But one of the things I've learned from living in three different cultures or leading into a culture that's different than mine, I find that people, regardless of our culture or differences, there are more things that we have in common that we, that makes us different.

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So that's the one thing I've learned from, you know, kind of hopping across the world for the last couple of years.

Speaker A 00:04:36

I love that.

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And I think, I think that idea that, that way of thinking and that way of approaching people and, and especially when you're working in like say with different colleagues in different environments, I think that's such a positive sort of momentum filling kind of approach, isn't it?

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Because so many people can flip it the other way around and then it's.

Speaker A 00:04:54

You don't have that same positivity and the same opportunities, I guess.

Speaker B 00:04:59

Yes, that is correct.

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If we always remember that I work in a very diverse environment for my full time job.

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You know, I work in a school that has 200 students from 40 different countries.

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So I've learned that one key thing, there are more things that makes us sane than those that makes us different.

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And with that we're able, as you said, access opportunities.

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We are able to talk to each other, we're able to share ideas, we're able to learn from each other if we remember that focal point.

Speaker A 00:05:34

Yeah, I love that.

Speaker A 00:05:35

Well, we could almost stop there because I think if everyone took that away then I think we'd be, we would have had a very important conversation.

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But take us into Explore Career Academy and where did that come from?

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Where did that sort of light bulb moment come and what are you trying to achieve with it?

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So Explanatory Academy is a passion project of mine.

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I started on this journey without even knowing.

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In 2023, when I graduated, I wanted to give myself a gift.

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So I wrote a workbook about something that I've always been passionate about and that is guiding young people after high school.

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You know, answering that question that everyone tends to ask, or young people, what are you going to do with your life?

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Or what's going to happen next year after high school?

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So that's how I wrote my first workbook, which is the High Schooler's Guide to Career and College Planning, or College and Career Planning.

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And when I wrote the book, I was like, okay, yeah, I did my publishing and I was actually finished with it.

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It was just a gift for myself and something that I can give the.

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I was speaking with a colleague and she mentioned the need for career education in schools.

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Then I remembered why I wrote the book.

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I wrote the book because I was thinking of myself as a young person in Jamaica and how we prepare for life after high school.

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And the educators do an amazing job, but they also are lacking some resources.

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Then I started reflecting about how I saw career planning done when I was teaching in the US and then that was further confirmed how it's done here in China.

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And so I wanted to create something that helps every young person have a plan after high school.

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What I call a post secondary planning.

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So that was the idea, or the big idea with Explore Career Academy.

Speaker A 00:07:49

And I think one of the biggest takeaways I took when I was sort of looking over everything that you've produced is the sense that I think I sort of identified with that sense of the one off workshop days, the one off career days, which are supposed to give you all the information you need in terms of where you want your life to go next.

Speaker A 00:08:07

And if you just think about that, it just seems like a completely unrealistic idea as a concept to begin with because of course, there are so many facets to it.

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There's so many skills that you need, there's so much information that you need as you go through.

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And I remember my careers day, they said, what are you interested in?

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And we filled out loads of sheets and you had a conversation.

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It's like, yes, well, as a. I was a very key musician and luckily ended up becoming a professional musician.

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But it was kind of, you can go into the army band or you can go and teach music somewhere, and that's a million miles Away from how my career is actually developed, because actually it's much more nuanced than that.

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And luckily I had the opportunities and the people around me to guide me in that way.

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But I think, I think I'm probably a typical example of kind of the sorts of support I got and information that I got just based on that kind of, sort of one size fits all idea of what is possible.

Speaker B 00:08:58

Yeah.

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And that's the problem I'm trying to solve.

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When, when I started, I wondered, you know, as, how do we support everyone?

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So there's a phrase I normally use that when I'm building, I'm building something for students, something for teachers, something for administrators, and something for parents.

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Because all these people must come together in order to support our young person when they're finished with high school.

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Every student in the building, I believe for an administrator, that is something that you worry about.

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Not some of your students are 20% or 30%, but 100% of your students.

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You want to make sure that each student has a plan after high school, and it doesn't mean that everyone needs to apply for college.

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So if you think about a parent who perhaps have a senior year student, and Maybe in year 11 or year 10, the student said, your child says, you know, I'm going to be a lawyer, I'm going to be a doctor.

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Then year 12 comes, application process starts, and the child may say, I'm not going to college.

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Imagine the bomb that has entered the parent's home.

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The parent probably will go to school to find out what's happening.

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Why doesn't Mark want to go to college?

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What am I going to do with Mark?

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So we want to be able to create a system in place that helps everyone respond, to support these young people and also for them to be able to support themselves.

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And that's why when I talk about Explora Career Academy, we emphasize helping schools move from career days to career systems, Helping the child identify, what are my skills, what are my passions, what are my competencies, and where do these overlap and give the student pathways not to say, go apply to this university or this program or go to this college.

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But these are pathways I always give my students top three.

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So if plan number one, perhaps something they can change, it's not fixed, then we know, okay, we're going to do this, then that, then that.

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And we help to support our young people so that they can have clarity that September or that first month after grade 12 is the only time in a young person's life where they're not sure.

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What's going to happen because they're finished with the K12 system still.

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So we need to help them have a plan for that day.

Speaker A 00:11:50

And I think the thing I love the most about what you said is that sense of being able to support everybody.

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It's a theme that comes up a lot here on the podcast in terms of the idea of community.

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And if you have the, the young person, the child at the center, like you said, you've got the administrators, you've got the teachers, you have the educators in whatever form that looks like, you've got your parents, you've got people without around the school that are supporting the school and people, whether it's a, a mentor or, or a football club or a music school or whatever it happens to be, everyone plays their part.

Speaker A 00:12:21

And I think to be able to sort of create something from a careers point of view where like say you're able to support everybody so they're all on the same page, even within their own sort of Runway, as it were, for their particular skill set is such an important and important thing to do.

Speaker B 00:12:39

That's what we're building because we understand that in most schools if we reflect on how careers were approached, it's usually a one off conversation, perhaps with your favorite teacher who perhaps sees some potential in you.

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That happened to me.

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I remember when I was in high school and my teacher mentioned about being an actor of scientist.

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It's the first time I've ever heard that phrase.

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He mentioned it because I liked math and I loved the science subjects and I enjoyed statistics.

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So he suggested it.

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But when he said it, it was a word I've never heard before.

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And so I needed to go find out more about it.

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But imagine if you're in a school where the conversation is continuous and the teacher doesn't need to only rely on themselves to come up with suggestions for young people.

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But instead it's built into our system in all of the learning exchanges with our young people.

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And the resources are tailored for your school based on the needs of your students and teachers.

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But that's what I'm trying to build with Expert Career Academy.

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If you notice, I've created different paths and I've been building this System for, since 2023 and in this summer I've.

Speaker B 00:14:15

After creating like the workbooks or the lessons activities, then I started thinking because I'm in China and I'm thinking about the language, you know, how do we communicate or overcome that gap?

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There are two gaps that affect what young people access in the education system.

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The geographical gap, like, you know, where am I located?

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Affects what I can access as a child in school system.

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And then the language barrier is another gap that aces.

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So for that reason I started working on what we're working on now, which is the career literacy app, because most people have access to a device and that's also a gap.

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But I'm thinking, okay, how can I reach more people and then when I reach them, how can I communicate?

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And I feel like technology can help me to solve this problem.

Speaker A 00:15:21

Yeah, no, I think that's a, it's a brilliant idea.

Speaker A 00:15:23

And I just want to step back into when we were talking about teachers, parents and the things that you're doing within the academy, how does that work in terms of, like you said, you mentioned the worksheets and that kind of thing.

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Is it, are you doing sort of online or one to one conversations with them?

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Are they learning sort of separately on like an e learning system and then bringing it in?

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Is it a combination of both?

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And how does that vary from the sort of the school standpoint as opposed to the parent standpoint or the student standards point?

Speaker B 00:15:53

It's a combination.

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So for example, schools are in maybe one of perhaps three situations.

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They could perhaps have no career education or literacy happening in the building, or they have something but it's not reaching everyone.

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Or they have something, but it's so, so specific that it doesn't benefit.

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As I said, we are not sacrificing any of our young people.

Speaker B 00:16:23

So whatever we do, it's 100% reach.

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We want to reach all students, not some, not most, but everyone need this support.

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So what we do at Explore Career Academy, if we are working with a school, like right now, we are having pilot schools so that we can learn from the users and what is it that they need.

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So say I'm working with your school, Mark.

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Let's say we're working with Mark's Academy.

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The first thing will come in to do either myself or member of my team and to do a quick audit of what career literacy look like in your school.

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And then from that information, we will tailor the resources that you need to support your students, your parents and your teachers.

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Like that.

Speaker B 00:17:13

So if you're working with the school, it can be like that.

Speaker B 00:17:17

We also have parents who perhaps want a little bit more or students who want a little bit more.

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And that's where the app comes in, because anyone can download the app and access the resources.

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We have short courses for parents.

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Some parents are more involved than others.

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So we have short courses that they can sign up at the academy and do a self paced course.

Speaker B 00:17:41

The same thing for students, the same thing for teachers.

Speaker A 00:17:46

And I think for me that's key is the fact that everyone's in a different position, aren't they?

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And context is key.

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Like I say, that might be context in terms of location, but it might be context in terms of time.

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And like you say, there's a school that has nothing going on.

Speaker A 00:18:00

Careers wise is going to need a different starting point or even a different understanding of what they're trying to do for their young, their young people than someone who thinks it's not quite, it's not quite there.

Speaker A 00:18:11

We've got a really good system in plan, we in place, we think, but we know like you said, we're only getting 80% which is great for those 80%.

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But how do we then manage to make sure that everybody's involved in having the best thing?

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And so I think that tailored idea and the context of where you are is, is a really important thing.

Speaker A 00:18:28

And I love the fact that you got the, let's say the parental side of things and they can do that in their own time as well because then whatever the conversation that the child is having, they can get the right input from the right people in the right way.

Speaker A 00:18:40

Because how your parents are going to talk to you is going to be different from the school.

Speaker A 00:18:43

But hopefully there's the, the kind of, the, the, the same, the same intensity or the same kind of focus about how that's going to go.

Speaker A 00:18:51

Even if the, the tone of the conversation is going to be different, so to speak.

Speaker B 00:18:55

Different.

Speaker B 00:18:55

Yes, that is correct.

Speaker B 00:18:57

That's correct.

Speaker B 00:18:57

We want to make sure that the children have what I call 360 support because that sometimes is lacking for our young people.

Speaker B 00:19:07

So we want to make sure that the support is 360 with the child in the center and not saying giving Mark what Matthew needs, but giving Mark what Mark needs and what aligns to Mark.

Speaker B 00:19:23

I always, when I'm speaking to schools or to parents or teachers or administrators, ask how would they like to be guided as a young person and how your pathway would have differed if you got that support that makes you feel seen, heard and understood.

Speaker B 00:19:48

And even though you may have two persons who had the similar experiences, it's never the same.

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And so we want to make sure that we are creating systems because we're not looking to add work to teachers.

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Teachers have a lot going on.

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So when I have systems in place that the workload is light.

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I always say when a teacher sits the plan.

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If they have a question, the resource should answer it for them.

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So when they're putting together their day and they're like, what are we going to do first?

Speaker B 00:20:22

The answer should be there.

Speaker B 00:20:23

How are we going to assess the answer should be there.

Speaker B 00:20:26

How would I track the answer is there.

Speaker A 00:21:09

Fantastic.

Speaker A 00:21:10

And in terms of the age range that we're talking about, you were sort of saying that sort of K through 12.

Speaker A 00:21:15

So it's going to be sort of 9, 9, 10, 11, 12 is.

Speaker A 00:21:17

People are really focusing on that.

Speaker A 00:21:19

So is that.

Speaker A 00:21:20

Is that where your aim is as well?

Speaker A 00:21:21

Or can it sort of reach a little bit further back to sort of to get the ball rolling even earlier?

Speaker B 00:21:28

Yes, I intend to get the ball rolling from kindergarten to grade 12.

Speaker B 00:21:33

And every time I say this, persons are saying, isn't the our young or babies too young to be learning about career?

Speaker B 00:21:41

But what we're talking about is career literacy.

Speaker B 00:21:44

And this is very, very important as a distinction between everything else.

Speaker B 00:21:51

What we want is to empower our young people and our students.

Speaker B 00:21:55

So in kindergarten, we're not asking our babies which college you're going to apply for or which through which career you want to do, but instead, when we created the resources, it integrates what they're already learning.

Speaker B 00:22:11

So, for example, we have a coloring book, but it's just not.

Speaker B 00:22:15

It's not just an ordinary coloring book.

Speaker B 00:22:18

It is arranged where we have a letter of the day, because that's how it usually is in kindergarten.

Speaker B 00:22:23

They have the letter of the week or the number of the week.

Speaker B 00:22:27

And so we do something very, very simple.

Speaker B 00:22:30

A is for artists.

Speaker B 00:22:32

And we are just introducing, having them learn, not having.

Speaker B 00:22:36

What happened to me, like I said, when I heard about an actual scientist, it's the first I've heard that phrase imagine throughout.

Speaker B 00:22:45

They're hearing about different.

Speaker B 00:22:46

Different careers, seeing different careers, opening their imagination so that they can imagine, okay, about these different careers.

Speaker B 00:22:57

And that's the big idea.

Speaker B 00:22:58

So we're not saying that for kindergarteners.

Speaker B 00:23:01

In kindergarten, you integrate the skills that they're already learning.

Speaker B 00:23:06

They need to learn our letters, how they sound, they need to learn their sight words.

Speaker B 00:23:11

All of that is integrated in the resources in kindergarten.

Speaker B 00:23:15

Then as they progress through the system, we expose them or give them a chance to explore a little bit more.

Speaker B 00:23:22

So in lower primary, again, the aim is different.

Speaker B 00:23:26

These are one to threes, depending on where you are.

Speaker B 00:23:29

And we are introducing careers again, having them see and understand and integrate into what we're already doing.

Speaker B 00:23:38

The focal point, of course, is at high school, because this is the exit.

Speaker B 00:23:44

At this point, we narrow down.

Speaker B 00:23:46

By now we believe our young people should be able to say, okay, these are my passions, these are my skills, these are my competencies.

Speaker B 00:23:54

What opportunities are available for me to explore based on these?

Speaker B 00:24:01

The big idea is not for them to say, apply to university or to pick a career.

Speaker B 00:24:09

Actually, what we're helping them to do is be aligned.

Speaker B 00:24:14

If you think about yourself as an adult, like for me, I'm an educator.

Speaker B 00:24:19

I enjoy teaching anything to anyone at any time.

Speaker B 00:24:24

But teaching is a very challenging profession.

Speaker B 00:24:29

Imagine you're in a challenging profession that you don't like that does not align with who you are.

Speaker B 00:24:36

It makes the tough days tougher.

Speaker B 00:24:39

But if you enjoy what you're doing, even on the most difficult day, you still have a little bit more to give because you are in alignment.

Speaker B 00:24:48

This is what you're passionate about, this is what you're good at.

Speaker B 00:24:53

And so those things help you to live a better adult life.

Speaker B 00:24:59

So that's what we're trying to get our young people aligned so that as they navigate the world, they understand that your career is not just what you do or who you are, but how you show up in the world, how you help to create a space that you'd want someone to inherit, because that's what our career is.

Speaker B 00:25:22

How do we make a difference in the space that we're in?

Speaker B 00:25:26

And it's difficult to make a difference in a space that you don't want to be in.

Speaker B 00:25:30

And you spend your entire adult life wanting to be in a different space, but you're just stuck here.

Speaker A 00:25:38

And I guess on that point as well is the fact that if you've been through that and you're thinking about your, your future life post school or, or learning in that way, even if you end up going into somewhere where it doesn't feel like you've aligned and somewhere there's a mismatch or something changes because you're aware of all of those things.

Speaker A 00:25:58

It's an easier kind of pivot then into what it.

Speaker A 00:26:02

Where life might take you after that.

Speaker A 00:26:03

So it's like say that skill set early on is really, is really key.

Speaker B 00:26:08

Yeah.

Speaker A 00:26:09

I think also that whole sort of 3, 6, 360 idea of, of how these things are put together is really important and the awareness.

Speaker A 00:26:17

And that's why I really like the fact you touched on like you say kindergarten through.

Speaker A 00:26:21

Because our recent series with Professor Dr. Gare Grouse was talking about the perceptions of young people in terms of what those jobs can be.

Speaker A 00:26:30

And he was talking specifically about sort of a deprived area here in the uk.

Speaker A 00:26:34

They were going into Manchester Airport and talking about the jobs they could see as well as the jobs that were behind the scenes.

Speaker A 00:26:41

And the young children saying, well, I can't be a pilot because people from this area don't fly planes.

Speaker A 00:26:47

They assumed it would, it would look somewhere different.

Speaker A 00:26:49

So from such a young age, the perception of what a job is that you can do, and even understanding that those jobs exist, they're sort of part and parcel of sort of that sort of social identity and, and a kind of the makeup of sort of areas and families.

Speaker A 00:27:05

And so I think the discussions that you're having early on and the exposure to all of that is absolutely incredible.

Speaker B 00:27:12

Yes, yes.

Speaker B 00:27:12

And you mentioned the key word awareness or Young people are not able to access and explore what they're unaware of.

Speaker B 00:27:24

It's just that simple.

Speaker B 00:27:25

And for us to bring awareness to them, it cannot happen by chance.

Speaker B 00:27:31

You see, the school system is so important for me and perhaps biased because I'm an educator, but everything I always say when I was visiting Jamaica and I always go back to my primary school, which is just a few steps from my home in my rural community of Williamsville, Westmoreland, and what I realized is awareness is so important.

Speaker B 00:28:01

So you can only, as a child growing up in maybe a rural area, you.

Speaker B 00:28:08

You can only see.

Speaker B 00:28:09

You sometimes feel you can only access what you can see.

Speaker B 00:28:15

Imagine if the school had a way to introduce new ideas about where your.

Speaker B 00:28:24

What your pathways could be.

Speaker B 00:28:28

Right?

Speaker B 00:28:28

Imagine that conversation is happening because it doesn't matter where you're having the conversation with young people, all you have to do is to plan the idea for them and plant it early.

Speaker B 00:28:41

And young people are more resilient and innovative and creative than we realize.

Speaker B 00:28:48

I always see that, even with my son.

Speaker B 00:28:51

Today we're doing our fingerprints, for example, when we're going through immigration.

Speaker B 00:28:56

And I couldn't see that I need to put my four fingers by the side of the fingerprinting.

Speaker B 00:29:04

I just kept putting my thumb and then insisting that I should put.

Speaker B 00:29:09

Remove my thumb and then put my hands there.

Speaker B 00:29:11

And my son, he said, mommy, put it here.

Speaker B 00:29:14

And then he mentioned to me that sometimes we, as adults, we are not able to see what children are seeing.

Speaker B 00:29:23

And we think that because they are kids, they don't know.

Speaker B 00:29:26

And that's what he was saying to me at the airport.

Speaker B 00:29:28

And I was saying, so interesting.

Speaker B 00:29:30

So I'm saying that to say that young people, they have ideas and our responsibility is to help to guide and show them the different pathways, give them options so that they can understand that the world is there for them and we can help to introduce and plant those awareness seeds for them to explore.

Speaker A 00:29:54

I love that.

Speaker A 00:29:55

And I think also like you said, there's something about the childlike view of everything, which isn't just the fact they're young.

Speaker A 00:30:02

It's the fact that they also don't have all of the layers of stuff that we've kind of got used to as we've got older.

Speaker A 00:30:09

Like I say, there's a preconceived ideas or it must look like this, or surely it looks like that.

Speaker A 00:30:13

Or like you say, I need to put my fingers here because why would that not be the case based on all those things?

Speaker A 00:30:17

But, but from a child's point of view.

Speaker A 00:30:20

No, obviously it's just like that.

Speaker A 00:30:21

And I, and I love the fact that both things are true.

Speaker B 00:30:25

Yes, yes, yes, that is true.

Speaker A 00:30:28

So having, having talked about this, if you were told when you were, let's say, between 5 and 10 that you would be working in China and you would have developed the Explorer Careers Academy and your life would look like this, what do you think you would have thought then?

Speaker A 00:30:49

Would you just thought that's complete nonsense or because of what you know now, did you inherently have that sense that anything was possible and it wasn't so far fetched?

Speaker B 00:30:58

I think perhaps I've always been a child who I could see that I had a bright future, for lack of a better word.

Speaker B 00:31:09

I felt like I would explore, but I didn't realize I would explore so far, you know, my exploration.

Speaker B 00:31:18

Perhaps I was just thinking about Jamaica because I grew up in a very small, small rural community where, you know, we didn't have access to a lot.

Speaker B 00:31:30

And that's where I went to primary school.

Speaker B 00:31:32

Elmsville All Age primary school.

Speaker B 00:31:35

All age school now they renamed it as primary school.

Speaker B 00:31:39

And then I went to high school for Prudencefield High School.

Speaker B 00:31:43

So I really didn't think a lot about my life outside of Jamaica.

Speaker B 00:31:49

When I was finished with teachers college, I remember I got a job in the US and I couldn't understand why I'd leave Jamaica.

Speaker B 00:31:59

It didn't make sense to me to ever leave the island.

Speaker B 00:32:05

So even in my early 20s, this didn't cross my mind because I always said, me, I'm staying in Jamaica, this is my home.

Speaker B 00:32:16

I'm not going to go to a foreign country where I have to eat foreign food, have foreign language.

Speaker B 00:32:23

And this was when I was finishing teachers College.

Speaker B 00:32:27

So imagine now when I left to explore, actually when I had my son, and I wanted Morgan to be able to access the world.

Speaker B 00:32:42

World.

Speaker B 00:32:43

That actually was my motivation.

Speaker B 00:32:46

I wanted him to be able to not learn about the world in a book, but learn by seeing and interacting and doing.

Speaker B 00:32:56

And I also wanted him to grow up in a space with just different people and different culture.

Speaker B 00:33:02

So that was my motivation when I left home to see for my son.

Speaker B 00:33:10

I felt like I wanted a different pathway for him.

Speaker B 00:33:14

That's what I was seeking.

Speaker B 00:33:16

And that's one of the things that I raised my son.

Speaker B 00:33:20

To travel, to interact with different people, to not be limited by just what you can see, but be an explorer and.

Speaker B 00:33:32

Yeah, and.

Speaker A 00:33:34

And that's also what you've created for everyone else through the academy, which I love.

Speaker A 00:33:37

I mean, as an educator, as someone who has the Academy on the go, I can't imagine as a mother that you've got any spare time.

Speaker A 00:33:46

But is there anything else you're planning, anything else that you're trying to put into the world to help people in different ways as well?

Speaker B 00:33:54

Yes, you know, it's a busy time, but I've enjoyed maximizing my 24 hours.

Speaker B 00:34:00

I enjoy balancing.

Speaker B 00:34:02

You know, that's a key thing in whatever you're doing to balance.

Speaker B 00:34:06

But in terms of Expert Career Academy, there's so much going on because I've spent the last six months working on alignment, vertical and horizontal alignment.

Speaker B 00:34:18

If you're an educator, you know, those phrases are so important as we create systems for students to make sure that everything is aligned.

Speaker B 00:34:29

And so right now, explore Career Academy.

Speaker B 00:34:32

We have completed our high school suite, meaning that we have everything to support a high school that wants to be more intentional about career literacy in their building.

Speaker B 00:34:47

So we have the resources for teachers, the workbook for students, the resources for administrators.

Speaker B 00:34:55

This part is very important because I'm an administrator.

Speaker B 00:34:59

I know that I want to know what is happening in Red building and also what my teachers need and what my students need.

Speaker B 00:35:08

Because sometimes you may be thinking that this is what they need.

Speaker B 00:35:12

Actually, you're not correct.

Speaker B 00:35:14

So how do we audit to make sure that everyone gets what they need and of course, what the parents need?

Speaker B 00:35:21

We have consolidated everything into our Clarity Career, Clarity application.

Speaker B 00:35:30

And right now, actually, I will hear news soon from my developer if we are finished with the approval processes for it to be available in the app stores.

Speaker B 00:35:40

So today is the deadline.

Speaker B 00:35:42

So I'm hoping if we need to make changes, no problem.

Speaker B 00:35:45

We're building.

Speaker B 00:35:46

We're educators, we're innovators.

Speaker B 00:35:48

We don't mind making changes.

Speaker B 00:35:50

So we'll learn if we need to make changes.

Speaker B 00:35:52

If not, we'll continue building.

Speaker B 00:35:55

And I'm having a leadership summit in Jamaica in the summer, in July.

Speaker B 00:35:59

The dates have been finalized as yet.

Speaker B 00:36:03

And then one thing that we're most, most excited about is being one of the startups that's going to showcase in edutech Edu Tech Asia in Singapore in November.

Speaker B 00:36:16

So we're very excited about showing the application to schools in the region and getting pilot schools.

Speaker B 00:36:28

It's important for us to get our pilot schools going.

Speaker B 00:36:31

That way we can see, okay, how can we improve the service again for our young people, for our teachers, for our principals or school administrators, and of course for our parents.

Speaker B 00:36:43

So that's what we're building, that's what we're doing.

Speaker A 00:36:47

And I guess each part of the world that you do it, it's all got a slightly different take based on the child's the same at the heart.

Speaker A 00:36:53

But maybe the types of jobs, the types of things that they're going to do are going to have to be reflected.

Speaker A 00:36:57

Like we say the context is, is kind of key from that point of view.

Speaker A 00:37:02

Now the acronym FIRE is really important to us here at Education on far.

Speaker A 00:37:07

And by that we mean feedback, inspiration, resilience and empowerment.

Speaker A 00:37:12

What is it that strikes you when you hear that from one word or, or to a collection?

Speaker B 00:37:18

Oh, this, this phrase means so much for me.

Speaker B 00:37:22

I'm thinking mostly as an educator, as an administrator, and how feedback is so important.

Speaker B 00:37:29

And one of the things that we need to be mindful or be intentional about as educators is ensure that our feedback inspire those who are receiving the feedback, help to build that resilience in them and empower them.

Speaker B 00:37:45

You see, even when we are thinking about our schools, thinking even about our children, anyone, when you're in a power, in a position to provide feedback, it's not something to take lightly, but it needs to be intentional.

Speaker B 00:38:04

Your feedback must do these three things that you've mentioned here and this is key.

Speaker B 00:38:10

It's not supposed to say if you're going to give feedback without providing inspiration or helping the person develop resilience or empowering them so that they can improve what they're getting the feedback on, then we need to make some changes.

Speaker B 00:38:27

So this is an amazing acronym as I'm looking at it and seeing how they come together to make a change.

Speaker B 00:38:37

To empower.

Speaker B 00:38:38

That word is so important.

Speaker B 00:38:40

To empower so we can know where we're going next.

Speaker B 00:38:44

Are we gonna do, you know, and I think this, this so important.

Speaker A 00:38:49

Brilliant.

Speaker A 00:38:49

You put that so well, I'm gonna have, I'm gonna go back and write that down in, in the way that you did it because it flows so beautifully and I've never heard it put quite in that way before, which is why I love people's different takes on it.

Speaker A 00:39:00

And I think that's so, so nicely done.

Speaker A 00:39:02

Thank you.

Speaker A 00:39:03

Sophia, it's been great to chat to you.

Speaker A 00:39:05

It's great to chat to someone with so much experience in all the different avenues that we've said.

Speaker A 00:39:09

Where would you like people to go in and find out more about Explore Career Academy and anything else you'd like to share with them?

Speaker B 00:39:16

With everything we're doing, again, you know me, I'm about consolidating, making sure everything is at your fingertips.

Speaker B 00:39:23

Everything.

Speaker B 00:39:24

Explore Career Academy can be found at our website, very, very simple www.explorecareeracademy.com.

Speaker B 00:39:31

You go there, you'll see all or big idea.

Speaker B 00:39:35

All the programs that we offer, how to download our act, which will be approved, and that we are able to access all the resources and also get in touch with me or any member of my team so that we can either visit your school, support young people, you know, whatever service you need as it relates to career literacy, we are here to solve that problem.

Speaker A 00:40:00

Amazing.

Speaker A 00:40:01

Keep up the great work.

Speaker A 00:40:02

I really, really appreciate it.

Speaker A 00:40:03

It's.

Speaker A 00:40:05

It's a.

Speaker A 00:40:06

Such an important thing to do.

Speaker A 00:40:07

And I think the way that you've articulated it today in terms of, like you say, the exposure, understanding what you can aspire to based on your experiences and all of the, the different steps through the different ages through is something which is really needed.

Speaker A 00:40:20

So, yeah, Sophia, thank you so much indeed.