Evolving stories of child career development

Herein, the contributions to this special issue and positions the field of child career development in terms of its past, present, and future are considered. There is an initial brief overview of past developments in the field, specifically as described in seminal reviews. The article then considers the present status of and future agenda for the field in relation to four identified themes: advances in child career development theory; innovations in practice and assessment related to child career development; child career development in diverse settings; and policy implications of child career development theory, research and practice. The article concludes by proposing seven directions for future research in child career development.