The field of transition—and the Division on Career Development and Transition (DCDT)—was built upon a foundation established by theories of career development that emerged in the 1950s and 1960s and paved the way for the work/study movement of the 1960s and the vocational and career education for students with disabilities movement that dominated the 1970s and, eventually, the transition services movement. Today’s leaders in vocational psychology and career guidance suggest that market and global economic forces associated with a postmodern world have created a crisis in career development models and methods. This article discusses the evolution of how career development has been understood, and the potential importance of a life design framework and its emphasis on career construction, rather than career development, for the future of transition services.

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We explored the perception and actual occupational knowledge of jobs\ud on career exploration across Holland’s categories in 60 elementary and 60 middle\ud school students. Results showed a closer relationship between career exploration\ud and actual knowledge than children’s perception of knowledge. We found higher\ud levels of actual knowledge and perception of occupational knowledge for social jobs\ud and lower levels for conventional jobs. There was no increase with age for career\ud exploration and actual occupational knowledge. A decrease emerged in the perception\ud of occupational knowledge in Social and Investigative categories. Gender\ud differences emerged in perception but not in actual occupational knowledge

In two experiments, we examined the effects of task interruption on memory for intentions. Participants studied a series of anagrams, of which they solved one-half (Exp. 1) or two-thirds (Exp. 2), whereas the solution of the remaining items was interrupted by the experimenter. Furthermore, four anagrams (prospective cue items) differed from the remaining anagrams in that the third letter of each item was underlined. Participants were instructed to decide whether a subsequently presented (target) anagram contained the same or a different third letter as the underlined letter of the cue item. The results of both experiments showed Zeigarnik-like effects in prospective memory, so that cue items that were associated with interruption in the anagram task were better reminders than were items that were associated with completion. These findings suggest that interruption of an ongoing activity facilitates subsequent prospective memory performance, possibly by increasing the level of activation of the underlying intention representation that, in turn, increases the individual's sensitivity to identify the target event.