FCS Pathways (& Programs of Study)
Montana FCS embraces four Career and Technical Education pathways which address human needs as aligned through Maslow's Hierarchy of Need--Food, Shelter, Clothing, Safety, Love and Acceptance. Commonly called the "people centered careers", they include:
Design FCS* (Interior and Fashion Industries);
Education*( preK-12, Post-Secondary, Community and Workforce Training Support and Services Industries);
Hospitality and Tourism* (Culinary, Lodging, Entertainment, Hospitality and Travel Industries); and
Human Services* (Counseling, Early Child--Infant through Preschool, Geriatrics, Social Work, Family Therapy, Credit Counseling, wellness and Nutrition related Industries)
(*Access the Montana FCS Programs of Study through the links found below.)
Education
Hospitality & Tourism
Human Services
A Discussion: FCS Careers, Life Literacy and Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
What does "people-centered" careers mean?
The answer is related to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.
Who is Abraham Maslow?
Abraham Maslow is a theorists who has shared a model for meeting human needs. Maslow shared for personal needs to be met, one must first meet basic needs before moving to meeting psychological needs and finally self-fulfillment.
The field of Family and Consumer Sciences recognizes this model when teaching "life literacy" skills--the skills needed to live and work in the complex society in which we live.
What is life literacy?
Life literacy means the ability to obtain research based information to make life decisions with the goal to be healthy--financially, socially, emotionally and physically--which can mean FCS education is a "prevention" strategy, enhancing the ability to make well informed decisions and avoid intervention needs in the future.
How is life literacy and "people-centered careers" related?
Life literacy is the foundation to all "people-centered" careers. One must understand life literacy from a personal level to understand what it means to work in a field to bring intervention support to others through the careers.
What is the skill set of the "people-centered careers"?
The skill set FCS Education builds includes high order communication, flexibility, problem-solving, life span decision-making, cooperation, and empathy. These are practiced within the context of the pathway technical skills. Human Services requires the highest level of skill set requirements of the FCS pathways.
FCS Pathway Credentials
For more information: American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences pre-professional credentialing program: AAFCS Pre-PAC
DESIGN FCS Credentials
CAD (School Specific)
AAFCS--Fashion, Textiles, and Apparel
AAFCS--Housing and Furnishings
AAFCS--Interior Design Fundamentals
EDUCATION Credentials
Child Development Associates (CDA)*
AAFCS--Early Childhood Education
AAFCS--Education Fundamentals
(*Instructional hours and lab hours can be started at age 16.)
HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM Credentials
AAFCS--Culinary Arts
AAFCS--Food Science
AAFCS--Nutrition, Food, and Wellness *
(*Class 4 limitation)
HUMAN SERVICES Credentials
AAFCS--Broad Field FCS
AAFCS--Family and Community Services
AAFCS--Leadership
AAFCS--Nutrition, Food, and Wellness
AAFCS--Personal and Family Finance
SCED Codes Used for Reporting and Pathway Recognition
COURSE CODES WITH DESCRIPTIONS*:
Overiew:
MT CTE has courses recognized by a state identified title and a five digit code (called SCED codes) with a nationally developed course description.
These codes are used for linking data reporting, pathway course identification and teacher licensure allowances. It is vital accurate codes are used for courses in MT FCS programs.
As FCS courses are established and/or added to school offerings, review the programs of study listing of recognized codes by pathway (accessed above), reading the aligned descriptions (accessed below) to determine the best fitting five-digit code.
Course Code Access Link: https://opi.mt.gov/Leadership/Assessment-Accountability/School-Accreditation/Endorsement-Course-Codes
NOTE: CTE and FCS codes are located toward the end of this document, so scroll from bottom up to access them more quickly.
(*Look under FCS Framework for Montana FCS course framework documents with codes and descriptions as well as standards by course. )
National FCS to Pathway Connections
1.NATIONAL LEADFCS FRAMEWORK: LEADFCS Education ( www.http://www.leadfcsed.org/ ) is a national organization which addresses issues that cross the US. See this box link below for more detail related to the FCS Education connections to the 16 career pathways. Yes, FCS is found in all pathways and is considered foundational to workforce success.
2. FCCLA AND PATHWAYS: FCCLA has multiple resources divided by pathway. Refer here for more information.