Educational researchers have become increasingly interested in what is commonly referred to as the “school-to-work” transition. Most often, it is the high school which presents the focus for study of this transition. Nevertheless, it is appropriate to assume that the links between future career aspirations and establishing an educational pathway for attaining those goals begins at a much earlier stage. Social scientists who study identity suggest that one’s identity consists of the presentation of several different selves (e.g., Goffman, 1959). Moreover, it is during adolescence when persons attempt to integrate various selves into a single identity (Erickson, 1963). This process of “self” selection and integration is social as well as internal, with validation of these selves by significant others a salient experience in the development of identity.

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