About This Webinar
Shape Futures, Inspire Careers: Elevating Career Literacy for Workforce Development is a professional development session designed to help educators, workforce partners, and education leaders better understand and implement career literacy as a foundational component of student success and workforce readiness. Grounded in research-based definitions of literacy and career development, the session challenges participants to reflect on how students form career awareness and whether current education systems fully prepare learners to make informed postsecondary and career decisions.
The session introduces career literacy as a continuum encompassing functional, interactive, and critical skills, and clearly distinguishes it from—but connects it to—career readiness and career management. Participants explore the characteristics of an “ideal student” who is informed about career options, understands required education and training pathways, and possesses essential employability skills. Through guided reflection and real-world examples, the session highlights how career literacy is shaped by access to information, lived experiences, and professional networks.
To ground theory in practice, the session connects career literacy to the Maritime Industrial Base and the U.S. Navy’s workforce needs, illustrating how mission-driven industries rely on a broad, skilled, and diverse talent pipeline. Participants are introduced to a wide spectrum of maritime and manufacturing careers and provided with concrete strategies for embedding career literacy into core academic subjects—including math, science, English, history, civics, the arts, and physical education. Emphasis is placed on soft skills, character development, and relevance-based instruction.
The session concludes with actionable takeaways and directs participants to free, classroom-ready resources available through BuildSubmarines.com, empowering educators to integrate career-connected learning across disciplines in meaningful and sustainable ways.
This webinar is part of Share My Lesson's 2026 Virtual Conference. Join the community or register for all sessions.
Excellent presentation. It gave me so much insights about ideas to incorporate workforce into the curriculum. Thank You