A mini dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts in partial in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology at the University Of Zululand, 2017 / Career guidance and counselling services are an important and essential starting point in career development. In the South African context, career guidance services are often under-utilised by high school learners, as a result, a large proportion of matriculants leave school with uncertainty about what careers they want to pursue. Much focus has been placed on improving matriculation results but it is almost counterproductive when career guidance is given minimal attention. The college and career-readiness agenda seems to be given very little attention and this weakness results in a number of challenges which negatively affect society, as the normative expectation in today's society is for a person to complete high school and acquire skills which will contribute to the improvement and rebound of the economy and for people to give back to the communities in which they live and thrive. There are presently limited trained personnel in South Africa to provide career guidance services and the Department of Higher Education and Learning has observed this problem and is currently reviewing the competency framework of career guidance services. The general aim of this study was to investigate the role and impact of formal career guidance and counselling, and the absence thereof, during high school. The study sought to unveil whether recipients of formal career guidance and counselling during high school had more career insight than non-recipients. Further, the study looked into the roles played by career guidance material and informal sources utilised by learners during high school before making career choices and also assessed the level of satisfaction which the participants experience in their current careers. The study was conducted at the University of Zululand main campus in KwaDlangezwa in northern KwaZulu-Natal. The target population was 50 academic staff from all four faculties at the University of Zululand. However, due to circumstances beyond the researcher’s control, only 34 questionnaires could be used at the time of the data collection. Stratified random sampling was employed in the study. The data was collected using a self-developed questionnaire by the researcher and data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 10.0 computer programme. Descriptive statistics (frequency tables, percentages, cross tabulations, graphs and charts) were used in data analysis. The study revealed that the majority of the participants left school without career guidance. As a result, they stumbled in finding suitable careers post matric. It was also observed that learners from all school types faced a similar problem regarding the lack of career guidance services, career material and other sources of information regarding careers. The limitation of this study was that the sample was not a large sample due to time and budget constraints and the results were only from the study area.

Syftet med vår uppsats är att undersöka om de gotländska studie- och yrkesvägledarna arbetar med genus-, klass- och etnicitetsfrågor. Vi vill ta reda på vilka metoder som används och om något samarbete sker runt dessa frågor. Utöver detta är vi intresserade av att ta reda på om verksamhetscheferna tar ansvar för detta uppdrag och formulerar hur man har tänkt sig att arbetet skall gå till. Intresset har väckts under vår tid på studie- och vägledarutbildningen i Stockholm och främst som ett resultat av vår B-uppsats, då vi granskade vilken kunskap rektorerna hade om studie- och yrkesvägledarnas kompetens och i vilken mån studie- och yrkesvägledning hade tagits upp i rektorsutbildningen. Vi fann att rektorerna hade mycket liten kunskap om vägledning och att rektorsutbildningen inte hade berört detta område alls. Vi har sänt ut postenkäter till 24 vägledare, verksamma inom grundskolan, gymnasieskolan, särskolan, komvux, folkhögskolan, högskolan och arbetsförmedlingen. Även friskolorna har tillsänts enkäter. 16 vägledare har svarat. Det resultat vi har fått fram visar att en majoritet av vägledarna inte har uppfattat att de har fått ett uppdrag att arbeta med genus-, klass- och etnicitetsfrågor. Trots detta är det en del vägledare som arbetar med detta, i individuella samtal och vid gruppvägledning. Genusfrågor är det område som flest arbetar med, därefter kommer klassfrågor och då det gäller etnicitetsfrågor är det endast en vägledare som har arbetat med detta under det senaste året. Inget samarbete sker vägledare emellan, men i vissa fall med övrig personal. Uppsatsen visar att vägledarna sannolikt behöver ett formulerat uppdrag av sina chefer för att arbetet skall initieras, men också att fortbildningsinsatser krävs för att kunna utföra uppdraget. Vi anser att det är ett angeläget uppdrag, som om det uteblir får till följd att människor begränsas i sina studie- och yrkesval på grund av genus, klass och etnicitet. Om inte vägledarna arbetar med detta, vem är det då som tänder stjärnorna? / The purpose of this essay is to examine whether or not career guidance counselors in Gotland work with consideration to gender, class and ethnicity.  We wish to find out which methods are employed and whether or not there is any collaboration among counselors concerning these issues. As well, we are interested in finding out if the directors take responsibility for these tasks and have a framework for how the work is to be executed. Interest has been raised during our guidance counselor education and particularly as a result of our B-essay in which we examined the level of knowledge principals had concerning the competence of guidance counselors and to which extent guidance counseling had been a part of the principal's education. We found that the principals had very little knowledge of guidance counseling and that their education had not even touched on the subject.  We have sent questionnaires to 24 guidance counselors working in comprehensive schools, upper secondary schools, schools for handicapped children, adult education schools, university and the employment office.  Even independent schools received questionnaires. 16 guidance counselors have responded.  Our results show that a majority of the counselors have not comprehended that their task includes working with questions of gender, class and ethnicity. In spite of this, there are a number of counselors who work with these issues, in individual conversations and in group discussions. Gender issues are most frequently taken up followed by class issues. During the past year there was only one counselor who had worked with questions of ethnicity.  There occurred no collaboration between counsellors. However, in certain cases, there was collaboration with other staff members. The essay shows that counselors likely require a framework from their directors in order for this process to get under way but that continued education is required in order to follow through with this task. We consider this a mission of urgency, the lack of which will result in students being limited in their choice of study and vocation as a result of gender, class and ethnicity. If guidance counselors don't work with these issues then who will light the stars?

Studie-och yrkesvägledning är något som enligt skollagen alla elever utom förskolebarnska erbjudas för att kunna göra väl underbyggda framtidsval. Skolans vägledningska även vara frivillig, vilket innebär att det ofta är elevernas eget ansvaratt söka upp vägledaren för att få prata om sina tankar och funderingar.Grundskolan är en plats där eleverna utökar sin kunskap, men även utvecklar sinidentitet samtidigt som de utsätts för stereotyper och könsmässiga fördomar. Dennaundersökning har fokuserat på pojkarna i grundskolan. Fyra kvinnliga och fyramanliga studie- och yrkesvägledare inom grundskolan har intervjuats för attsöka svar på deras upplevelser av vägledning av pojkar inom grundskolan. Resultatetvisar ambivalenta svar då den generella upplevelsen är att pojkar och flickorsjälvmant uppsöker vägledning i samma utstäckning, för att sedan visa attpojkar är överrepresenterade i att inte komma till de bokade samtalen och attflera vägledare känner sig tvingade att hämta in främst pojkar till samtal. Resultatetvisade också att vägledarna generellt har en tydlig bild av hur en pojke ”är”och hur en flicka ”är”, samtidigt som de har en oreflekterad inställning tillhur deras eget kön påverkar vägledningssituationen. Studien tillför enförståelse för studie- och yrkesvägledarnas upplevelser av att vägleda pojkarinom grundskolan samtidigt som den visar på brister i forskningen när detkommer till studie- och yrkesvägledares vägledningssituation med pojkar. / The availability of career guidance counselling to pupils in the Swedish grundskola (mandatory school years covering ages 7-16) is stated in law, with the aim of giving them the tools needed to make well-informed choices regarding their future. Career guidance in schools is also volontary, meaning the responsibility of seeking it out often falls on the pupil. School is a place where pupils expand their knowledge and form their identities, while at the same time being exposed to stereotypical expectations based on gender. This study focuses on boys in the mandatory school years. Four female and four male career guidance counsellors are interviewed in an attempt to describe their experiences of career guidance with boys in school.   The results are ambiguous. On the one hand, the career guidance counsellors experience that boys and girls seek career guidance to the same extent. On the other hand the results indicate that more boys than girls fail to show up to booked appointments and are more often coerced into sitting down to talk with the career guidance counsellor. The results also show that the career guidance counsellors generally have a clear picture of how boys and girls "are", while not reflecting to the same extent on how their own gender affect the counselling. The study improves knowledge on how career guidance counsellors experience counselling with boys in the mandatory school years, while at the same time showing the need for further research.

This study wants to investigate internal driving forces of employees who want a career change, what type of career-related support they need to move forward, and how this support can be made available, as well as their thoughts on the potential of career-interventions supporting the career-health of employees. Peavy’s socio-dynamic counseling theory, Antonovsky’s SOC and previous studies on career-counselling and health build the theoretical framework for the study. The CIP-theory was used as a methodological tool to generate empirical evidence. Eight semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with an interview guide built on SOC’s comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness. Results show that these employees experience some negative health-effects and difficulties to proceed on their own, hence describes a need for support at different stages of the process. All participants mention meaningfulness as an important driving-force and they express a wish for conversational support to investigate what could be meaningful for them. / Syftet med studien är att undersöka drivkrafter hos anställda som önskar en karriärrelaterad förändring, vilket karriärrelaterat stöd dessa anställda upplever sig ha behov av för att komma vidare och hur stödet kan tillgängliggöras, samt deras tankar kring karriärvägledningens potential för främjandet av karriärhälsa. Peavys konstruktivistiska vägledningsteori och Antonovskys KASAM har använts som teoretiskt ramverk tillsammans med tidigare forskning kring vägledning och hälsa. CIP-teorin har använts som metodologiskt verktyg för att generera empiri i denna kvalitativa intervjustudie. Åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med hjälp av en intervjuguide skapad utifrån KASAMs tre begrepp begriplighet, hanterbarhet och meningsfullhet. Resultaten visar att anställda som önskar förändring kan uppleva negativa hälsoeffekter och svårigheter att på egen hand ta sig vidare och beskriver behov av stöd under olika faser av beslutsprocessen. Samtliga deltagare nämner meningsfullhet som en drivkraft och de önskar samtalsstöd i utforskandet av vad som skulle kunna vara meningsfullt för just dem.