DOTS to SODI

The DOTS model, developed by UK educators, Tony Watts and Bill Law (1977) proposes four task quadrants which we must each develop; those of decision learning, opportunity awareness, transition learning, and self-awareness (read more here). Today this model has been reorganised as the SODI model, in order of where the learning is likely to arise first: self-awareness; opportunity awareness; decision-making (and - potentially - planning); and implementing plans (Graduate Careers Australia, 2023; Mi et al., 2021).

Interestingly, the four DOTS components (Watts & Law, 1977)  - opportunity awareness, self awareness, decision-learning and transition learning - were created four years before publication (Andrews, 2014, p. 33) and was not called DOTS until "someone thought about rearranging the four elements into an order that produced an easily remembered acronym" (p. 33). Earlier, DOTS was known as "the NICEC objectives" (p. 33). 

The DOTS model is now past its 45th birthday: and while the names evolve - "self-development; learning and work exploration; career planning and career management" (Andrews, 2017, p. 12) - the model's premise remains largely the same. We need to know ourselves; know when to make a move; be able to make a balanced decision, and know how to plan. 

And speaking of planning, Bill Law (co-founder of the DOTS model) thought that the model was shy of planning, and needed strengthening (Andrews, 2027, p. 12).  He also thought that we ask students "to deal with quite challenging and complex ideas before we have helped them to acquire more basic knowledge and skills", and that "we ask young people to make career choices before they have enough to go [i.e. make an informed decision] on (p. 12). True. And remains true.

What others have done - and I have been unable to find an original source for this work - is to reorganise and rename some DOTS elements so there is better 'flow'. We still lead with self-awareness, and next comes opportunity awareness; followed by decision-making and planning; and lastly, implementation (Mi et al., 2021). This is the SODI model. More straight-forward naming still is to "know yourself", "explore options", "get focused" and "take action" (p. 5), though I don't think that KEGT is going to be a winner.

New Zealanders use SODI. The Australians call it SODA (implementing becomes "Acting and planning"), which you can read a little more about here.

It would be interesting to know who did the reorganisation/renaming. If anyone knows, please message me!

Sam

References:

Andrews, D. (2017). ‘A giant from whose shoulders we might all see further’: Bill Law’s contributions to careers work in schools. Journal of the National Institute for Career Education and Counselling, 39(1), 11-15. https://hubble-live-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/nicec/redactor2_assets/files/63/NICEC_Journal_39_Oct2017.pdf

Andrews, D. (2014). Careers education: Tony’s legacy. Journal of the National Institute for Career Education and Counselling, 33(1), 31-36. https://hubble-live-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/nicec/redactor2_assets/files/80/NICEC_Journal_33_Oct_2014.pdf

Graduate Careers Australia. (2008). A Career Planning and Development Model: Using the SODI Model for Self-Assessment. https://www.graduatecareers.com.au/files/content/view/full/372/

Law, B. & Watts, A. G. (1977). Schools, Careers and Community: A study of some approaches to careers education in schools. Church Information Office.

Mi, N. D. Q., Giang, D. T. T., & Duy, P. N. (2021). Empowering learner autonomy by data-driven career development planning. In T. Dieu, N. Minh Hung, N. Xuan Huan, L. Thi Kim Hoa, L. Huu Son, D. Phu Hung, L. Hung Tien, & L. Dinh Phung (Eds.), The 1st Van Lang International Conference on Heritage and Technology Conference Proceedings 2021 (Vol. 2406, No. 1, Article 020035). American Institute of Physics. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0067047