Thesis (MDEV.) --University of Limpopo, 2016 / The aim of this study is to assess the impact of career guidance for career choice in the secondary schools of Sepitsi Circuit in Lebowakgomo District, Limpopo Province. The total number of secondary schools in the Circuit is twelve (12), with 20 Life Orientation Educators (LOEs) and 275 Grade 12 Learners (GR12Ls). All schools are public schools having the same features of rural and previously disadvantaged communities’ context. The study was conducted during examination time and therefore co-operation both in the part of learners and educators was not at the maximum as expected. The research is evaluative in nature as the researcher sought to assess the effectiveness of Career Choice (CC) as influenced by the implementation of Career Guidance (CG). The primary data were collected by means of two categories of questionnaires for mostly close-ended questions and open-ended questions for Grade 12 Learner (GR12L) respondents and Life Orientation Educator (LOE) participants respectively. The findings show that CG is not given the necessary attention at secondary schools as GR12Ls and LOEs struggle to understand obvious CG concepts. This research project focuses on the value of such a study both to explain how Career Guidance need to be taken as the mother of all subjects in schools as it is the nucleus in the realization of the main aim of every country’s education system, participating fully in the world of work for socio-economic growth. The study’s recommendations concluded that Career Guidance, which is part of Life Orientation (LO), should be given the status of a full subject in our schools.

Teachers are motivated by different factors to choose teaching, including mathematics education as a career. Before 1994 career guidance was not often used to inform career choice, especially in the rural schools of South Africa. During that period, a shortage of mathematics teachers was prevalent. After 2007, the government introduced the Funza Lushaka Bursary to recruit mathematics teachers. The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that influence teachers to choose mathematics education as a career. An explanatory sequential mixed methods approach was utilised to collect quantitative data through a survey and then qualitative data through interviews. To achieve this, this study was framed by a pragmatic paradigm. Two theoretical lenses, the existence, relatedness and growth (ERG) theory and Factors Influencing Teaching Choice framework (FIT-CF), were blended to guide the study and to address the research question, “Why do teachers choose mathematics education as a career?” Convenient sampling was used to select participants (n=57) for the survey, from whom 9 participants were later interviewed using stratified random sampling. The sample was constituted by three cohorts of mathematics teachers who started teaching on or before 1994; after 1994 to 2007; and after 2007. The conclusions drawn from the small sample were that teachers were mainly influenced by altruistic factors, followed by intrinsic factors. In addition, female teachers were influenced more by altruistic and intrinsic factors than their male counterparts. Variation in terms of the influence of altruistic, extrinsic and past events factors across the three cohorts was revealed. Generally, altruistic factors were the most influential factors across the three cohorts. Understanding the factors that influenced the teachers to choose mathematics education as a career could provide insight on how recruitment, retention and effectiveness of mathematics teachers could be optimised in South Africa. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / MEd / Unrestricted

Den här studien är en kvalitativ jämförande fallstudie med syftet med att jämföra hur det stöd olika aktörer ger motsvarar deras deltagares behov och förväntan när de befinner sig i en omställningsprocess. Studien utgår från individernas och aktörernas perspektiv och intervjuer har genomförts med hjälp av en semistrukturerad intervjuguide. Intervjuerna, totalt nio stycken, har genomförts via videosamtal med varje enskild respondent. Resultatet visar att de stödverktyg som deltagarna får tillgång till hos aktörerna är relativt lika. Däremot finns det tydliga strukturella skillnader i hur stödet är planlagt hos aktörerna. Vidare är deltagarna generellt nöjda med stödet men upplever inte att det påverkar deras arbetssökande i någon större utsträckning. Det framgår också tydligt från samtliga respondenter att det egna ansvaret är viktigt för att stödet ska fungera. Däremot finns det viss kritik från deltagarna mot hur individanpassat stödet är. Således är det svårt för en enskild aktör att helt kunna möta deltagarnas behov fullt ut. / This study is a comparative case study with the aim of comparing how the support provided by different career support services corresponds to the individual's needs when in a change process. The study is based on the individuals and the career support services perspectives and interviews have been conducted with the help of a semi-structured interview guide. The interviews, a total of nine, were conducted via video call with each individual respondent. The results show that the support tools that the participants have access to, from the career support services are relatively similar. On the other hand, there are clear structural differences in the approaches of the career support services. Furthermore, the participants are generally satisfied with the support but do not feel that it affects their job seeking to any great extent. It is also clear from all respondents that personal responsibility is important for career support to work. However, there is some criticism from the participants about how individualized the support is. Thus, it is difficult for an individual career counsellor to fully meet the needs of the participants.

This thesis provides an overview of Czech astronomy education both inside and outside of school environment and develops methods to explore its possible influence on science career decision. A mixed approach was chosen for the research. Based on the first qualitative part, hypotheses and specified research questions were formulated. Consequently, the hypotheses were examined using questionnaires distributed to students of several Czech universities. However, the data analysis showed a variable stronger than involvement in astronomy education - the breadth of science interest. Possible practical outcomes and recommendations for future research are discussed.

In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird eine Lernsequenz für das FabLab des Ars Electronica Centers entwickelt und in der Folge im Berufsorientierungsunterricht erprobt.

The aim of the thesis on the topic of Self-concept in adolescence is to clarify the construct of self-concept from the perspective of personality psychology, because self-concept is an individual specific characteristic of human personality and its meaning is unquestionable. In the course of human ontogenesis, self-conception gradually develops, and forms based on acquired knowledge about itself and has its differences in each developmental period. The work is focused on the period of adolescence and therefore also presents typical features of self-concept in adolescents. The end of compulsory schooling is an important milestone in the life of adolescents, which relates to the process of choosing a profession that his work is associated with school success. The empirical part focuses on finding out whether there is a relationship between the self-concept of school success and the choice of future profession in adolescents. In this respect, it is essential that the way in which adolescents experience and evaluate their own school success can affect the career choice process. The objectives and research questions were set for the quantitative research. A standardized SPAS questionnaire examining the self-concept of school success was used as a diagnostic tool to obtain data, as well as a...

This thesis primarily includes a study on whether companies can develop a mathematical activity that supports students' motivation in mathematics. The work was done together with Midroc Electro, a company that pays attention to the difficulty of recruiting and therefore was interested in investigating how the business world would be able to contribute. The thesis can be divided into three stages. The first part comprised by a exploration into research on student motivation regarding mathematics as well as numerous interviews with engineers to see how the research findings did fit with Midroc Electros reality. In these studies it became clear that the student who aims for a profession whose education or work requires math belongs to the group of students who primarily manage their studies in mathematics, that is, those that have the greatest motivation to work hard and complete their studies. Research information and interviews were compared and resulted in the thesis second part, Midroc Challenge. An activity where students primarily came to learn about the engineering profession and secondly how mathematics can be used in the engineering profession. Student’s had to plan, build and program a robot to complete a two-dimensional path. At the end of the day, in form of a contest, the student’s calculations were tested and the winners were those that completed the whole path, they that had counted correctly when they programmed the robot. The third stage of the thesis investigated whether students who participated in Midroc Challenge showed some indications that they had been affected by the activity. Students gave the day the score nine out of ten, where ten was the top rating. A tendency that students had become motivated to study engineering could also be traced, with the consequence that some students may have been more motivated to study mathematics. / Detta examensarbete innefattar i huvudsak en studie på om och hur företag kan utveckla en matematisk aktivitet som stödjer elevers motivation för matematik. Arbetet skedde tillsammans med Midroc Electro, ett företag som uppmärksammat svårigheten med kompetensförsörjning och därför är intresserade av att undersöka vad företagsvärlden skulle kunna bidra med till skolan. Examensarbetet kan delas in i tre skeden. Först skedde en djupdykning i forskning angående elevers motivation beträffande matematik samt ett flertal intervjuer med ingenjörer för att lära sig mer i detalj om ingenjörsarbetet samt se hur forskningsresultat passade med Midroc Electros verklighet. Det som framförallt uppdagades var att den elev som siktar på ett yrke vars utbildning eller arbete kräver matematik tillhör den grupp elever som främst klarar sina matematikstudier, det vill säga de som har störst motivation för att kämpa och klara sina studier. Forskningsinformationen och intervjuerna jämfördes och resulterade i examensarbetets andra del, Midroc Challenge. En aktivitet där elever främst kom att lära sig om ingenjörsyrket och i andra hand om hur matematiken kan användas i ingenjörsyrket. Eleverna fick i liten skala testa på att arbeta som ingenjörer då de skulle planera, bygga och programmera en robot till att klara en tvådimensionell bana. I slutet av dagen, i form av en tävling, testades om eleverna räknat rätt då de programmerat hur roboten skulle röra sig. I det tredje skedet av examensarbetet undersöktes om eleverna som deltagit i Midroc Challenge visade några tendenser på att ha påverkats av aktiviteten. Eleverna gav dagen betyget nio av tio där tio var toppbetyget. En tendens att eleverna blivit motiverade att studera till ingenjörer kunde också spåras varvid några elever kan tänkas ha blivit mer motiverade att studera matematik.

Concern over teacher shortages has become a perplexing and persistent problem in schools. Teachers are constantly leaving the profession and new entrants into the teaching profession have decreased in recent years, creating a need for recruiting qualified individuals to become teachers and to retain those who are already in classrooms. The purpose of this study was to identify factors that best predict whether high school students are considering teaching as a career and factors that predict whether students' parents would encourage their children to become teachers. A review of the literature revealed potentially influential factors on teacher recruitment and a survey instrument was developed using those factors. All 41 school districts in Utah were invited to participate, with 9 giving permission to administer surveys to parents and juniors and seniors in high school. In all, 285 high school juniors and seniors and 495 parent surveys were analyzed. The survey of high school juniors and seniors focused on two research questions: 1) which factors predict whether high school students are willing to consider teaching as a career and 2) which factors predict whether high school students feel teaching is the best career option for them? Results indicated that high school students were more likely to consider teaching when they had confidence in their ability to be good teachers, when family members and others outside their families encouraged them to become teachers, and when they felt their community supported teachers. The survey of parents addressed two research questions: 1) what factors predict whether parents will encourage their children to consider becoming a teacher, and 2) which factors predict whether parents believe teaching would be the best career option for their children? The results of the analysis indicated 4 factors that are statistically predictive of a parent's willingness to encourage their children to consider teaching. Parents are more likely to encourage their children to become teachers when people outside the family had encouraged the children to teach, if the parents believed their child would be a good teacher, and if parents thought that expectations placed on teachers were reasonable. Results also showed, however, that when considering other professions, parents were much less likely to encourage their children to become teachers in favor of other professions.

The subject of this research, namely career choice of high school graduates, has been considered from the position of moral reasoning. Qualitative analysis of data collected from interviews carried out with 32 graduates identifies career choice to be a significant factor determining the identity of each graduate. The research is based on assumption that moral reasoning is nourished by each one's identity and loyality to oneself, respectively. The basis of this career identity is formed by so called "inveteracy", reflected by various ways in individual's attempt to make a choice that is authentic. Categorically speaking, there exist "plots", that make career selection process complicated, as well as "problematizations", that make any authentic choice virtually impossible. Career choice is interpreted by means of three domains throughout which it becomes apparent both how this process fosters the individual's relationship with the outside world, with those closest to him/her and with himself/herself and what kind of affect this relationship has on his/her very identity. During the research, career choice turns out to be a continual and complex process that far surpasses the actual period of submitting a college application.

Magister Curationis - MCur / The nursing profession is the backbone of the healthcare system glob-ally. However, due to the ongoing shortage of nurses there is a growing demand for nurses across the world. This demand puts pressure on the continued recruitment of new nursing students. The factors that influence students’ reasons for entering nursing vary and require investigation to improve recruitment practices