This research is an investigation into the factors that influence the decisions of grade 12 learners from Grahamstown East disadvantaged communities to pursue higher education. Research on learner aspirations has largely focused on access to higher education and little or no attention has been has been paid to the enabling or limiting factors and what can be done to increase the numbers of learners from disadvantaged communities who enrol at higher education institutions. This study aims to fill that gap. The research was a qualitative case study located in the interpretive paradigm. The data was gathered using questionnaires and focus group interviews for grade 12 learners. Individual interviews were conducted with the parents of the grade 12 research participants, educators and the school management team. Observation and documentary evidence from school documents were also used for data collection. The data were analysed using systematic patterning, were interpreted, and given meaning linking it to the literature surveyed. The main findings indicate that a number of enabling factors that influence grade 12 learners to pursue higher education co-exist with limiting factors. Recommendations arising from the main findings are presented and the limitations of the research are identified. Areas for possible further research in strengthening learner support so as to increase the numbers of learners who qualify for higher education and to enable the learners from disadvantaged communities to realise their aspirations, are suggested.

Industrial design is recognised for the value-oriented benefits it offers to businesses. Industrial design ensures that new products are more efficient, usable, convenient and safe to use within the evolving business environment. One of the important factors for the continuous achievement of high product quality and general economic growth and stability in countries such as West Germany, Korea and Japan is their sound industrial design base. Industrial design programmes can be instrumental to ignite an entrepreneurial and innovation spirit to assist in curbing the high unemployment rate and very low levels of entrepreneurial intentions in South Africa. The core of tertiary industrial design students has unique capabilities that can assist the South African economy to stimulate manufacturing, job creation and economic growth. The purpose of this study was to investigate the entrepreneurial intentions among industrial design students enrolled for the programme in Three-Dimensional Design, at Universities of Technology in South Africa. In addition, this study investigates the relationship between entrepreneurial intentions and actual business formation by graduates of the programme. Studies have been carried out in South Africa on entrepreneurial intentions, but not on the formation, occurrence and implementation of entrepreneurial intentions amongst industrial design students, specifically. To test the links between business education and entrepreneurial intentions, a research model based on Ajzen’s (1985) Theory of Planned Behaviour was adopted and tested using quantitative empirical data collected from students in industrial design at two Universities of Technology. Quantitative data were collected from a sample of 161 participants using a validated self-administered questionnaire. IBM SPSS and STATA were used to conduct descriptive statistics, Chi-square tests, factor analysis, reliability and structural equation modelling on the primary quantitative data. The empirical evidence partially supports the effectiveness of the Theory of Planned Behaviour in predicting entrepreneurial intentions. Although perceived social norms and self-efficacy is positively related to entrepreneurial intentions, results failed to reach statistical significance. However, personal attitude was found to mediate the relationship between these variables and entrepreneurial intention. Whilst business education is positively related to self-efficacy, entrepreneurial knowledge is positively related to higher levels of personal attitude and self-efficacy. The transformation of entrepreneurial intentions into actual business start-ups were investigated using qualitative empirical data collected from past graduates of the Three-Dimensional Design programme. Qualitative data were collected from a sample of 22 graduates through structured interviews. ATLAS.ti version 7.5.9 was used to analyse the qualitative data. The researcher provided evidence that there is a relationship between entrepreneurial intentions and the actual start-up of a business, as 45.5 per cent of graduates started businesses. Furthermore, business education positively influenced the actual start-up of businesses. However, graduates experienced many challenges to business start-up, with implications for the teaching of business subjects and for policy makers. / Business Management / D. Com. (Business Management)

In a rapid changing environment mining companies have to change the way in which they do business, while employees have to manage their careers and ensure they are multi-skilled. Organisations are looking to employ individuals who are career driven, highly adaptable and flexible and display the necessary employability skills. The main purpose of this study was to determine if any relationship exists between the different factors of graduate employability and work performance in the mining industry in South Africa. A cross-sectional quantitative research approach was followed. A simple random sample was drawn from graduate male and female employees between the ages of 18 – 30 years with any post-matric qualification employed in the mining industry in South Africa. Through the process of exploratory factor analysis, six graduate employability factors and four work performance factors were identified. The graduate employability factors included career self-management drive, cultural competence, career resilience, emotional literacy, career literacy and self-efficacy. The work performance factors included the supervisor role, employee role, recognition and organisation support. Correlation and regression analyses were conducted. The results indicated a relationship between graduate employability and work performance. Strong, positive correlations were found between graduate employability and work performance with career self-management drive being the strongest predictor of work performance. Recommendations for the mining industry focused on how employability could be enhanced to improve work performance. / Human Resource Management / M. Com. (Human Resource Management)

Despite the feminisation of the workplace as one of the key developments of this domain, the meaning of work for women is little understood. A phenomenological approach was adopted in this study to gain in-depth understanding of the meaning ascribed to work by a sample of ten South African, women graduates. Literature was used to generate three models - a male-centred, stereotyped and contemporary conceptualisation. Unstructured interviews were conducted and the protocols analysed using the modified Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen method (Creswell, 1998; Stones, 1985; 1986). Themes illustrated that the meaning of work for women is multifaceted and comprises a number of components including sense of identity and self-worth, meeting instrumental needs, social relatedness, serving others, intrinsic satisfaction and the exercise of power and authority. Findings suggested that the meaning women ascribe to work changes when they experience autonomy. Recommendations were made for future research and organisational practices. / Indust and Org Psychology / MA(IND AND ORG PSYCHOLOGY)

The general aim of the study was to assess the relationship between the graduateness, employability and satisfaction with retention factors of individuals and whether graduateness moderates the relationship between employability and satisfaction. The study used a quantitative, cross-sectional research design on a purposive, non-probability sample (N = 100) of predominant black (93%), male (49%) and female (51%) trainees between the ages of 17-29 years (early career). Presenting/applying information skills significantly and negatively predicted compensation while ethical/responsible behaviour significantly and positively predicted satisfaction with job characteristics and organisational commitment. Graduateness related positively to self-perceived general employability. General employability did not significantly predict the participants’ satisfaction with retention factors. Graduate skills and attributes did not significantly moderate the relationship between self-perceived employability and satisfaction with retention factors. Males had significantly stronger perceptions of employability compared to females while females had higher levels of work–life balance satisfaction compared to males. Overall, the results suggest that general self-perceived employability is more a function of graduateness than of retention, while graduateness positively relates to retention factors. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

In my thesis I deal with the issues related to disabled young people work opportunities in the job market. The extent of movement disability significantly affects the quality of human life, not excepting working integration. If handicapped people cannot realize their potential in an employment, it may impair their self-confidence and self-respect. Considering their specific needs and conditions resulting from the given handicap, such as wheelchair access to the workplace, lower education, bad accessibility of the workplace by public transport, slow working tempo, worsened ability to express oneself etc., such people may be qualified by the state as people endangered by social exclusion. The aim of this practical part of the thesis is to explore the employability of secondary school graduates from the Jedlička´s Institute and Schools in the job market and to monitor the expectations and barriers of employability of the students in the last year of secondary schools in the Jedlička´s Institute and Schools. On this basis the following hypotheses were formulated: 1. Students from the Jedlička´s Institute and Schools have unrealistic expectations in connection with their actual employability. 2. Students and Graduates from Jedlička´s Institute and Schools tend to continue to study so that they could postpone solving problems associated with their employment. The research proved the confirmation of the first and the second hypotheses. To test the validity of the hypotheses, the quantitative research was selected. The data were collected by means of a questionnaire, an analysis of documents and an structured interview.

This dissertation thesis deals with the use of full-time Masters' graduates of the Physical Education and Sport study program at Faculty of Physical Education and Sport at Charles University on the labor market. In the theoretical part a review of the current state of knowledge about the use of graduates on the labor market was completed, especially university graduates. On the basis of this review the construct of the use of Charles University Faculty of Physical Education and Sport graduate was operationalized and the main tool of the survey, the electronic questionnaire, was compiled. The basic set of the survey was formed by the graduates of the full-time Masters' studies program between the years 2010 and 2015 in the fields of Secondary School Teaching (double-subject), Physical Education and Sport (single-subject), Military Physical Education and Sports Management. 346 responses from 671 questionnaires were obtained (52% return rate). In the result part collected data was first analyzed by the chi-square test on the basis of 3 identification variables (gender of the respondents, field of study and year of graduation) and subsequently individual results of the survey were presented. These results were mainly related to respondents' transition to the labor market after having finished Masters'...

The present research seeks to analyze the conceptions about CTS (Science-Technology-Society) and about the teaching in this perspective, of graduates in Chemistry of an IES of the state of Sergipe (Institutions of Higher Education) of the private network (Association of Education and Culture Pio Tenth), relating such conceptions to relevant aspects of their initial formation. This IES is located in the city of Aracaju, located in the state of Sergipe.. The research was developed through a qualitative approach. For this, the data collection was divided in three moments. In the first collection, there was the analysis of the curricular matrix of the course of Degree in Chemistry offered by the IES. This analysis was not an in-depth analysis, since the objective of this stage was to analyze the existence or not of subjects that contemplate the CTS conceptions, as well as to analyze the philosophical line that this curricular matrix seeks to follow. Type of state of the art, that sought to select works that already exist in the academic environment that approach or resemble the subject of the research. In the second stage of the research, an investigative questionnaire was applied, consisting of two parts: the first one was the application of the Portuguese version abbreviated by Canavarro (1999) containing 14 questions from the VOSTS (Views on Science-Technology-Society) questionnaire. The second part of the questionnaire was composed of 06 open questions about C-T-S teaching and the initial training of subjects related to this teaching paradigm. In the third moment of the data collection, there was the application of a focal group with 06 of the 07 subjects of the research. For the analysis of the data collected through the VOSTS questionnaire, a categorization of the responses was chosen considering the categories that were established by Canavarro (1999) in his adapted version of the VOSTS questionnaire. For the analysis of the second stage of the questionnaire and the data collected through the focus group, we used the Discursive Textual Analysis, proposed by Moraes and Galiazzi (2011). The results obtained in the research allow to show that the CTS conceptions that the subjects possess, in their majority, are in agreement with the already defined categories in the literature as realistic and acceptable on Science and Technology and its influences in the Society. Therefore, the members of the research have CTS conceptions acceptable to their formation. / A presente pesquisa busca analisar as concepções sobre C-T-S (Ciência-Tecnologia-Sociedade) e sobre o ensino nessa perspectiva, de formandos em Química de uma IES do estado de Sergipe (Instituições de Ensino Superior) da rede privada (Associação de Ensino e Cultura Pio Décimo), relacionando tais concepções a aspectos relevantes de sua formação inicial. Esta IES encontra-se localizada na cidade de Aracaju, situada no estado de Sergipe. A pesquisa foi desenvolvida por meio de uma abordagem qualitativa. Para tal, a coleta de dados dividiu-se em três momentos. Na primeira coleta, houve a análise da matriz curricular do curso de Licenciatura em Química ofertado pela IES. Essa análise, não foi uma análise aprofundada, pois o objetivo desta etapa foi analisar a existência ou não de disciplinas que contemplam as concepções CTS, bem como analisar a linha filosófica que esta matriz curricular busca seguir, ainda nesta etapa, foi realizado uma pesquisa do tipo estado da arte, que buscou selecionar trabalhos que já existem no meio acadêmico que se aproximam ou assemelham-se ao tema objeto da pesquisa. Na segunda etapa da pesquisa houve aplicação de um questionário investigativo, composto por duas partes: a primeira constituiu-se na aplicação da versão portuguesa abreviada por Canavarro (1999) contendo 14 questões do questionário VOSTS (Views on Science-Technology-Society). A segunda parte do questionário compôs-se por 06 questões abertas sobre ensino de C-T-S e a formação inicial dos sujeitos relacionada a esse paradigma de ensino. No terceiro momento da coleta de dados, houve a aplicação de um grupo focal com 06 dentre os 07 sujeitos da pesquisa. Para a análise dos dados coletados por meio do questionário VOSTS, optou-se por uma categorização das respostas tendo em vista as categorias que foram estabelecidas por Canavarro (1999) em sua versão adaptada do questionário VOSTS. Para a análise da segunda etapa do questionário e dos dados coletados por meio do grupo focal, foi utilizada a Análise Textual Discursiva, proposta por Moraes e Galiazzi (2011). Os Resultados obtidos na pesquisa permitem evidenciar que as concepções CTS que os sujeitos possuem, em sua maioria, são consentâneas com as categorias já definidas na literatura como realistas e aceitáveis sobre Ciência e Tecnologia e suas influencias na Sociedade. Sendo assim, os integrantes da pesquisa possuem concepções CTS aceitáveis a sua formação.

This master thesis on the theme Educational activities of a chosen company deal with the program for graduates called ČP Naděje which is organized by Česká pojišťovna. The thesis is divided into five chapters. The first one explains the terms of human resources and human capital and characterize the concept of personnel work. There is also derived from knowledge of organizational structures how important human resources are for organizations. The second chapter is about adult education. This chapter consists of learning process characterization and determination of position of corporate learning and development in the educational system. The third chapter deals with the corporate training and development. There are mentioned personnel planning, recruitment and selection of new workers because these come before training and development of human resources. The fourth chapter focuses on the company Česká pojišťovna and its human resources department. The fifth chapter discusses the program for university graduates ČP Naděje. This chapter describes the form and development of the program. There are discussed the results of questionnaire survey performed among the program participants. The final chapter includes also comparison of the program ČP Naděje with program for graduates organized by competing company.

The paper examines the status of selected disadvantaged groups in the Czech labour market in 2005-2012. The main goal of this paper is to test the hypothesis that these disadvantaged groups respond to changes in Czech GDP more sensitive than the general unemployment rate. This thesis describes the development of general unemployment rate and selected disadvantaged groups in studied period. The main hypothesis is verified using regression analysis performed on the time series. Empirical investigation, realized in this work, confirm this hypothesis in a group of graduates and persons at age 15-24. For persons with disabilities and persons at age 50-74 failed to confirm the hypothesis.