Mapa Karier (Career Map): Career exploration

Abstract

Mapa Karier (Career Map) was created to expand the knowledge of children and teenagers in Poland about the world of professions with the goal of broadening their horizons.

The tool is a constantly updated database of over 770 professions. All data is available in two modes: Miasto zawodów (City of Professions) for younger children and Ścieżki kariery (Career Paths) for teenagers. The latter is an information browser, which helps young people find career paths matched with their expectations.

Mapa Karier is divided into three content zones for Teenagers, Educators, and Parents.

Resource overview

Website: Mapa Karier

Mapa Karier aligns with the Polish school curriculum from preschool to secondary school. It is frequently used during group lessons and as part of individual consultations.

Young learners start by exploring the City of Professions, where they learn about various jobs and the workplaces of family and people in their immediate surroundings. As students mature, they use Career Paths to investigate a broader spectrum of career opportunities, aligning their personal interests and goals with the realities of the job market. This way Mapa Karier hopes to encourage students to reflect on the labour market and discuss their preferences with the teacher.

Mapa Karier is not a one-time tool, providing teachers with over 40 lesson plans. These plans cover topics such as self-assessment, education & career planning, soft skills, applying for a job and life-long learning. Teachers are also provided with excerpts of career streams (webinars), online meetings with professionals representing various industries. These videos allow teenagers to listen to daily experiences and challenges of people doing different jobs.

Parents have access to blog articles and webinars covering topics such as how to help children find their career path and understanding the role of career counsellors in schools.

Career Paths demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AziePjxTaLs

City of Professions demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVUJWULwat8

Description of technology

Mapa Karier is an interactive web application, that uses HTML5 and adheres to a traditional client-server model to ensure smooth user interaction. The design focuses on search engine optimisation (SEO) and enhancing accessibility for all users. Content integration is embedded through iframes and rich media objects, with compatibility for the Open Graph protocol to facilitate better content sharing and visibility.

Licensed under CC BY 4.0, Mapa Karier is an open educational resource (OER), allowing free use and adaptation of its materials.

The platform has an active online presence, engaging with users on major social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn several times a week, to highlight updates, career advice, and current events.

How the resource makes career guidance more effective, efficient and/or equitable for students

The primary goal of Mapa Karier is to support Polish children in making informed choices about their future and – as a result – reduce the negative consequences of educational and cultural inequities.

It does this by offering free, visually appealing, and open educational resources. Polish schools heavily rely on them to plan and conduct lessons. Mapa Karier is viewed monthly by around 60.000 users, and used by students all over the country, regardless of their socio-economic background.

Key features of Mapa Karier include:

• describing career paths in both female and male versions with the aim to break gender stereotypes,

• linking careers to knowledge and skills obtained in school,

• suggesting professions that are likely to match users’ preferences, based on the results of a Preference filter available to users on the website,

• publishing ready-to-use resources for teachers that match the school curriculum,

• educating users about the labour market from a young age,

• no need to register.

By promoting a lifelong learning approach, Mapa Karier aims to broaden children’s and teenagers’ horizons and shows kids that career choices are not a one-time event but a lifelong process.

Challenges or potential barriers to use

Mapa Karier is an interactive website that works on both mobile and desktop devices. It works in any browser. This means its usage requires Internet access and at least a minimal digital literacy.

The tool is currently available only in Polish.

The resource is free of charge.

Support for users

Mapa Karier is designed for independent use by children and teenagers. However, younger users, particularly those in preschool and primary school, benefit from adult guidance to maximise engagement and learning outcomes.

Teenagers can also benefit from exploring the tool with an adult who can guide them and ask additional questions enabling deeper reflection.

Further advice for users

The Mapa Karier website is in Polish, but the automatic translation to English is of high quality and can demonstrate to non-Polish speakers how the tool works.

The Mapa Karier team is open to discussion on implementing other language versions.

Additional details

 

Has the resource been…	Yes or No?	Description	Link
…informed by research?	Yes	Mapa Karier is being constantly developed in line with Polish and international research in the career counselling field. Research shows that children have a very limited understanding of the labour market. Many choose jobs that are in the 10 most popular or that are similar to their parents’ jobs. This can lead to stereotypes being reinforced and an issue of lack of skilled people leaving education into the labour force e.g. 70% of companies in Poland struggle with finding people with the necessary skills. Mapa Karier regularly asks its users for feedback to learn what changes are expected. Since 2020, over 1000+ people have participated in our surveys. Before launching new features, the team tests website mockups among a dozen or so teachers/students.	OECD 2020: https://www.oecd.org/education/dream-jobs-teenagers-career-aspirations-and-the-future-of-work.htm ManPower Group 2022: https://www.manpowergroup.pl/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/INFOGRAFIKA_Niedobor_talentow_wersja_PL.pdf Poland Statistics 2018: https://stat.gov.pl/obszary-tematyczne/rynek-pracy/pracujacy-zatrudnieni-wynagrodzenia-koszty-pracy/struktura-wynagrodzen-wedlug-zawodow-w-pazdzierniku-2018-roku,4,9.html
…funded by government?	No
…recognized by peers?	Yes	In 2020, Mapa Karier was recognized as the most innovative career counselling tool in Poland by Future Time Traveller, a European competition for innovative game-based tools, which evaluated best practices from over 13 countries. The winning tools are promoted across the Euroguidance network.	https://future-time-traveller.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/FUTURE_European-Innovation-Competition_Results_EN.pdf
…evaluated?	No

This resource has been endorsed by Szkoła Podstawowa nr 13 z Oddziałami Integracyjnymi im. Króla Stanisława Leszczyńskiego w Lesznie, in Poland.

Disclaimer: This content is provided by the submitting organisation.