The present study was concerned with career maturity of high school gifted students. The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship of participation in three different career education programs to the career maturity of gifted students. A secondary purpose of the study was to determine the relationship of selected variables (sex, age, grade, work experience, family income, leisure, and volunteer involvement). The three career programs in which the students participated were: The Alternative (internship), the Gifted (mentorship), and the Traditional. The Gifted and Alternative Career Programs provided classroom learning experiences and experiential activities which extended beyond the Traditional classroom approach and utilized the resources of the metropolitan community. The Traditional Career Program was taught in collaboration with the English and vocational classes within the school environment. Career decision-making skills, interviewing, assessment of career interest, resume writing, high school program planning, seminars, guest speakers, occupational research, and career fairs constituted the career experiences of students in the Traditional Career Program. The significance of the difference between the groups on the Career Maturity Inventory was determined by analysis of variance using the .05 level of significance. The location of existing differences were determined by the Duncan's Multiple Range Test. An analysis of the data revealed: (1) Gifted program respondents had higher attitude maturity than the Alternative and Traditional Program respondents; (2) Alternative and Traditional Program respondents know less about occupations and career decisions than those respondents in the Gifted Career Program; (3) No differences were found for sex and grade; (4) A difference with family income on total competence scores; and (5) The variables age, sex, grade, income could be viewed independently when the scores of the respondents were considered with program interaction. / Ed. D.

In response to the need for data on the post-high school experiences of graduates from special education programs, this follow-up study of the 1983 graduates of a special education program for severely learning disabled students sought the patterns of post-high school employment, and education/training and the status of independent living of the graduates. In order to obtain a profile of the sample population, school records were reviewed. A telephone survey of graduates obtained employment history and experiences, identified types of frequency of education/training sought, and assessed the status of independent living. All data were analyzed descriptively and conclusions and implications identified for future educational programming during the high school years. / Ed. D. / incomplete_metadata

The present study was concerned with career maturity among black high school seniors. The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship of career maturity to locus of control, academic achievement, socioeconomic status and sex. The population from which the sample was taken consisted of black high school seniors in one high school in Central Virginia. Data were gathered during the Winter, 1983 using a personal data questionnaire, Crites' Attitude Scale and Rotter's I-E Scale. Students responded to the three instruments in one sitting. The significance of the relationships was determined by correlation coefficients and multiple regression analysis. The analysis of the data revealed that: (1) Academic achievement was the most highly significant predictor of career maturity for the 302 subjects in this investigation; (2) Socioeconomic status was a significant factor in the career maturity of participants in this study; (3) The participants differed by sex in their levels of career maturity, and sex was a significant predictor of their career maturity; (4) Locus of control was not a significant predictor of their career maturity. The findings of the study and related literature suggest that there is a need for more study with black adolescents from a variety of settings involving several age, grade and socioeconomic levels, and there is a need for longitudinal studies involving only black adolescents to affirm their career development process. / Doctor of Education

Based on the social cognitive view of the school-to-work transition proposed by Lent, Hackett and Brown (1999), the study presents a comprehensive conceptual framework for career counselling, with special emphasis on enhancing adolescents' career-exploration behaviours and work-related motivations and attitudes. The career readiness model proposed in this study deals with interactions among a number of variables that affect career decision-making self-efficacy, career decision-making outcome expectations, career decision-making intentions, career-exploration behaviour, vocational identity and performance goals. It explains and illustrates the paths and factors that play a significant part in the development of career readiness. / The findings of this study may be used to develop individual and group interventions that will nurture students' school-to-work transitions. / The purpose of this study is to explore the relationships among students' performance goals, vocational identity and career-exploration behaviours and to examine the effects of their personal attributes on these variables. / The results support the hypothesis that career decision-making self-efficacy in plays a significant role in career decision-making outcome expectations, career decision-making intentions, exploration behaviour, performance goals and vocational identity of secondary school students. Most of the structural paths in the model were found to be significant. / The study also shows that a strong intention to develop one's career decision-making capacities may significantly enhance exploration behaviour, which Phillips and Blustein (1994) have found to be a vital element of career readiness and job choice. Exploration behaviour is directly correlated to the development of realistic career expectations (Stumpf & Hartman, 1984) and it enables individuals to determine the suitability of certain work environments (Stumpf et al., 1983). The process of career exploration should therefore be essential preparation for students' job searching. / The study concludes that students' self-efficacy in career decision-making is a crucial factor, which, together with outcome expectations, significantly affects performance goals and exploration activities, and strengthens subsequent effort. Students develop an affinity for career-exploration and decision-making activities when they have sufficient self-efficacy and expect positive outcomes. They normally establish goals for sustaining or increasing their involvement in these activities and maintain high performance goals, which, turn, increase the likelihood of active engagement. / The target population was secondary fourth form and secondary sixth form students in Hong Kong. A total of 1216 students from 14 secondary schools participated in this study. Gender had a more significant impact on scores than the effects of different backgrounds. Male respondents generally had lower mean scores than female respondents in most variables. It was also found that the standard deviations of the male students' scores from were greater than those of female students. Apart from gender differences, there were no significant differences among students from various grade levels and streams of study. / Chui, Yat Hung. / Adviser: Alvin Leung. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-02, Section: A, page: 0584. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 224-246). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree in Master of Technology: Nursing, Durban University of Technology, 2012. / Background : Work Integrated Learning is an educational approach that aligns academic and workplace practices for the mutual benefit of students and workplaces. Work Integrated Learning like in any other nursing course is essential in primary health care as required by the South African Nursing Council. In the clinical setting, students develop clinical and diagnostic reasoning; they also learn how to make the appropriate clinical decisions which they need as qualified primary health care practitioners. This is achieved through instruction and guidance by lecturers, mentors and clinical staff. However it has been noted that the clinical learning environment confronts students with challenges that are absent from the classroom situation. So this study seeks to explore and describe the experiences of post basic nursing students in primary health care clinics so as to address the challenges that are faced within the clinical settings. Aim of the study The aim of the study was to explore and describe primary health care post basic nursing students’ experiences during clinical placements. Methodology : A descriptive exploratory qualitative approach was used to guide the study. In-depth interviews were conducted with ten primary health care post basic nursing students who were allocated for Work Integrated Learning at the clinics in District A and District B in 2011. The main research question for this study was asked: ‘What are the experiences of primary health care post basic nursing students regarding Work Integrated Learning?’ Results : The findings of this study revealed that Work Integrated Learning is vital for the development of clinical skills amongst primary health care post basic nursing students. However, shortage of staff, inadequate material/ non-human resources, lack of supervision in the clinical facilities, distant clinical facilities and insufficient practice in the clinical skills laboratory were identified as challenges that students experience during Work Integrated Learning placement.

The School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 provided seed monies to educational institutions, if they were willing to form collaborative partnerships with members of the business and employer communities. The goal was to build learning opportunities for students that would facilitate their seamless transition from the public school system into adult work-settings and/or places of post-secondary education, training, and skills acquisition. An historical case study of school reform was conducted, using qualitative research methods that included extensive field observations, participant interviews, document analysis, narrative inquiry strategies, phenomenological reflection and data reduction. The lived experiences of 23 students and 14 community partners were juxtaposed against the recollected memories of the teacher-researcher, and analyzed in the context of complex change theory (Ambrose, 1987). The point was to distill the essential themes that could shed light on the research question. Those factors that were deemed to be influential in the development, delivery, or efficacy of the learning opportunities that were created as curriculum interventions, in support of this one piece of federal legislation, are discussed analytically, so as to make recommendations for similar practical programs with a career-education or work-based learning focus.

M.Ed. / With the introduction of Curriculum 2005, which was followed by the National Curriculum Statement and later on by the Revised National Curriculum Statement, a whole new world was opened for all the learners in the RSA. Life Orientation became a compulsory subject up to Grade 12. One of the focus areas of Life Orientation is careers and career guidance. Unfortunately very few educators are properly trained to handle this very important educational domain. Learners in the rural areas have a bigger drawback than their peers in the urban areas, seeing that they very often don’t have access to electricity and therefore the electronic media and facilities, such as computers and internet to improve their career knowledge and their knowledge of the world of work. The challenge to open the world of work and tertiary education to these learners is a very real one. This study focused on the evaluation of the implementation of a career guidance programme in a rural area of Mpumalanga. A qual-quan mixed method methodology was used to gather raw data from various sources. The quantitative raw data was gathered through a pre- and post-test of Grade 10 learners from four rural schools with the Career Development Questionnaire. The statistical analysis of these data had limitations, such as the small number of control school participants as well as the problem of English language proficiency. The qualitative data was derived from feedback from Life Orientation educators after they had been trained, semi-structured interviews with open ended questions with Life Orientation educators and Grade 10 learners, observation and field notes and a reflective journal from the researcher. The findings from the results reflected firstly on the outcomes of the career programme in terms of achievement of career maturity as measured according to the sub-scales identified by Langley. The conclusion was that the experimental group did increase their scores from the pre- to the post-test. The increase was however very small and all the participants still ended on the scale where they still needed to improve their knowledge and skills on all the sub-scales. A number of themes referring to LO educators, the school community environment and English language proficiency provided information about the implementation of the programme. Although the results of the outcomes in terms of career maturity were not substantial, the qualitative data provided findings about the positive impact of the training of LO educators for career guidance teaching, their experience of empowerment, the creation of a positive attitude and the positive impact of the CPAWs to learners and educators. Barriers that were identified through the emerging themes were the lack of English language proficiency and a school community environment that was not conducive to career exploration and career decision-making and planning. In reflection, the general consensus among the Life Orientation educators was that the continuation of the program should get the highest priority. They believe that if it can continue, it will have a positive impact on the Grade 12 results and through this a positive impact on the lives of many learners, especially in the rural areas. Recommendations were made about the improvement of aspects of career maturity through exposure to career information and the improvement of conditions at schools to facilitate the implementation of career guidance and effective LO teaching.

M.A. / School leavers are faced with the need to study further in an attempt to increase their chances of finding employment. However, school leavers are rarely equipped with all of the necessary skills, information and self-knowledge necessary to make the "right" career decision and study-path choice. The cost of tertiary education is high, and a school leaver who makes an unsuitable study-path selection could be trapped in an unsuitable career for life or drop out of the tertiary education sector due to boredom or failure. This further decreases their chance of finding employment. It is against this background that this study was conducted. In an attempt to assist potential students applying to the largest private education provider in South Africa with their choice of study-path, a career-counselling workshop was offered which included psychometric testing. Essentially this study had two main objectives. The first was to validate the suitability of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Self-Directed Search as careercounselling tools in a South African tertiary environment. The second objective was to quantitatively assess the suitability of the career guidance workshop designed to assist school leavers to make the most suitable choice of a field of study, subjects and a career. The results of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Self-Directed Search were compared using straightforward Pearson's product-moment correlations and an interbattery correlation. The results indicated the need to continue to use both of the instruments simultaneously, as they appeared to be measuring different underlying constructs. In addition, each instruments was able to supplement the information provided by the other, which allowed the career counsellor to give the students additional information to assist them with their studies and their lives. The research around the career-counselling workshop involved the use of the developmental research design methodology. which stipulated the appropriate methodological procedures to follow. The workshop was developed utilising an understanding of career-counselling theories and practices, as well as an understanding of the various Myers-Briggs types and Holland types (as determined understanding of the various Myers-Briggs types and Holland types (as determined by the Self-Directed Search) that would attend the workshops. The workshop was, therefore, designed to appeal to a wide audience, and to give as many different "types" of students the experience which they required to make an informed and realistic course, subject and career choice. The success of the workshop was evaluated by means of a questionnaire completed by the students, a comparison of the failure rates of students who attended the workshop and those who did not attend it, and an analysis of the pass/fail statistics between those who attended the workshop and those who did not. The findings of this study indicated that the workshop was well received by the students and that it had sufficient internal and face validity for use with this group of school leavers. The research group was a convenience sample that consisted of 73 students who had applied to the largest South African private education provider. These students were from four major campuses in South Africa, they had very different academic and cultural backgrounds and they were interested in different academic fields of study. The one similarity was that all of the courses offered by this private education provider are business-orientated, and only students who were interested in business studies would apply. This study established the validity of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Self- Directed Search in a career-counselling context. The validity of the careercounselling workshop was also established. As this research group cannot be said to be representative of the general population, it is not possible to generalise these findings beyond this group. However, as the results do match those found in other similar international studies, it could be deduced that if this study were repeated with a representative sample the results would be replicated.

A Educação para a Carreira é compreendida, neste estudo, como um esforço do sistema educativo e de toda a comunidade para inserir nos conteúdos escolares atividades destinadas a ajudar os alunos a: (1) estabelecerem relações entre os conteúdos das disciplinas e as exigências de diferentes ocupações/profissões; (2) fazerem do trabalho, como esforço contínuo, consciente, remunerado ou não, dirigido a produzir benefícios socialmente aceitáveis para si mesmo e/ou para os outros, uma parte significativa do seu estilo de vida e (3) adquirirem competências-chave para um positivo desenvolvimento da carreira. Este estudo, de caráter exploratório, de natureza quanti-qualitativa, teve como objetivos compreender as representações sociais de professores do ensino fundamental e médio sobre a Preparação para o Trabalho no contexto da educação básica e, a partir das representações sociais, sugerir subsídios para a elaboração de Programas de Educação para a Carreira no contexto educacional brasileiro. Os participantes foram 77 professores de três escolas, duas particulares e uma pública, de uma cidade de porte médio de Minas Gerais. O grupo focal foi a técnica utilizada para obtenção dos dados, precedido de uma atividade de evocação de palavras com o termo-disparador Preparação para o Trabalho. Os dados foram tratados pelos softwares EVOC-2000 e NVivo 8 e submetidos à análise de conteúdo temática. Os resultados evidenciaram que os professores concebem a Preparação para o Trabalho como preparação para a tomada de decisão da carreira. Na base desta concepção estão as representações sociais do trabalho como ganha-pão, do profissional bem preparado como: o apaixonado pelo que faz, de vocação como algo que vem do coração e da Preparação para o Trabalho como maneira abrir o leque de possibilidades de carreiras. Tais concepções se ancoram nos ideais liberalistas, de igualdade de oportunidades e liberdade de escolha e na concepção da Orientação Vocacional tradicionalmente voltada para a adequação do indivíduo às exigências profissionais. Os professores referem conversas com seus alunos sobre atitudes e habilidades necessárias ao trabalho e questões relativas à escolha profissional, evidenciando a importância da sistematização de tais intervenções. Conclui-se que há possibilidades legais e necessidades de inserção da Educação para a Carreira no sistema educacional brasileiro, pois ela contempla, com seu enfoque educativo, a possibilidade de abranger um número expressivo de crianças e jovens, atualmente desprovidos de intervenções que o ajudem a articular educação, trabalho e carreira fundamentada no princípio de orientação ao longo da vida. Assim, se concebe, neste estudo, a inserção da Educação para a Carreira no sistema educativo, de forma infusiva, aditiva ou mista, objetivando a preparação dos jovens para um engajamento democrático, ativo e crítico em todos os aspectos da sua vida. Isto pode contribuir para o crescimento pessoal e, ao mesmo tempo, que colaborem para a construção de uma sociedade mais justa e inclusiva. / Career Education is considered in this study the effort of both the educational system and the community to include in schools syllabuses activities aimed to help students to (1) establish relationships among the curses content and the requirements of different occupations; (2) consider their work, whether it is paid or not, a continuous and conscious effort, focused on producing socially acceptable benefits for themselves and/or others and a significant part of their lives and (3) acquire key competencies for career development. This quantitative-qualitative exploratory study aimed to understand the social representations of primary and secondary schools teachers concerning Preparation for Work programs in the primary and secondary school context and, based on these representations, make suggestions for Career Programs in the Brazilian educational system. Participants were 77 teachers from three schools, two private and one public, in a mid-sized city in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Data were collected through focus groups preceded by a free-word association activity triggered by Preparation for Work. Data were processed by the software EVOC 2000 and NVivo8 and analyzed according to thematic content analysis. The results showed that the teachers consider Preparation for Work to be a preparation for career choice. Underpinning this idea are social representations of work such as earning a living, of competent worker as someone who is in love with what s/he does, of vocation as something that comes from the heart, and Preparation for Work as a way of expanding the range of potential careers. These concepts are anchored on liberal ideals, such as individualism, equality of opportunities and freedom of choice, and the concept of Career Guidance traditionally focused on fitting individuals to meet career demands. The teachers reported talks with their students concerning work attitudes and skills and issues related to career decision-making, which points to the importance of systematizing teachers interventions. We conclude that there are legal possibilities and the need to include Career Education in the Brazilian educational system. It would reach a great number of currently unsupported students, helping them to articulate education, work and career based on the principle of guidance throughout life. Therefore, we advocate the inclusion of Career education in the Brazilian educational system as an infusive, additional or mixed strategy, aiming at preparing students for an active and critical democratic engagement with all aspects of their lives, enabling their individual growth and, at the same time, enabling them to collaborate to the construction of a more inclusive and fair society.

The purpose of this study was to determine the sustainability of professional development teacher utilization of the Science-in-CTE pedagogical model and science enhanced CTE lessons one year following the Science-in-CTE Pilot Study. This study included 27 teachers (15 experimental CTE and 12 science) who participated in the Pilot Study in 2009-2010. This study was a partial replication of the Math-in-CTE Follow-up Study and data were collected using a mixed methods approach. Quantitative data were obtained from online questionnaires and qualitative data were collected from personal and telephone interviews. Data found that a majority of the CTE and science teachers voluntarily incorporated portions of the seven-element pedagogical model and 15 science-enhanced lessons into their curricula one year later. Findings suggest that collaborative professional development is an effective method of integrating science content into CTE curricula to enhance student CTE course achievement without reducing the intent of the CTE program.