Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 696-718). Also available on the Internet.

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Entering a new environment is challenging for everyone, including engineers. Despite national efforts to improve graduates' competencies, managers and other critical industry stakeholders consistently describe new hires as underprepared for practice. Nonetheless, as engineers move into their new organizations, they learn to participate in and contribute to their communities of practice. This period is the school-to-work transition, and the goal of this research is to gain a deeper understanding of the salient learning events that characterize individuals' trajectories from engineering student to engineering practitioner. Using a multi-case approach, this study leverages weekly journals and semi-structured interviews to explore the experiences of recent engineering graduates as they enter the workplace and learn to engage in professional practice. Journal entries probed newcomers' perceptions of challenges, accomplishments, and significant learning events during the first 12 weeks of their jobs. Interviews expanded on journal findings and elaborated on participants' experiences. Analysis entailed the development and application of two complementary workplace learning frameworks from Jacobs and Park (2009) and Chao et al. (1994) that describe both the setting and content of salient learning experiences. Cross-case analysis enabled exploration across participants to examine trends and patterns within participants' experiential trajectories. Findings point to several contributions and implications. First, the codebooks developed in this study were contextualized and operationalized for engineering workplaces, and have been refined to enhance descriptive precision and clarity. Second, journals provided thick, rich descriptions of events in ways that hold promise for future exploratory studies as well as formative assessment. Finally, results indicated that newcomer engineers engage in a wide range of learning environments throughout the school-to-work transition and describe learning along myriad socialization dimensions. In particular, workplace learning takes place in unstructured environments through routine tasks and along both technical and sociocultural dimensions. Given this learning, both industry and academic professionals should consider these dimensions as they design experiences and assess learning across organizations. Newcomer learning is challenging, but if we can gain a better understanding of how and what happens during it, we can more effectively develop efforts to enhance the transition—and therefore, practice—for future generations of engineers. / Ph. D.

Brytpunkten från gymnasiet kan förstås som ett avgörande vägskäl med ett överflöd avvalmöjligheter för ungdomar. Syftet med denna studie var att genom en kvantitativenkätundersökning kartlägga hur gymnasieelever i år tre på naturvetenskaps-,samhällsvetenskaps-, och ekonomiprogrammet i Stockholms län planerade och motiverade sittval inför tiden efter gymnasiet och att se hur detta skilde sig åt utifrån bakgrundsfaktorerna kön,etnicitet och bostadsort, samt att få en översikt för hur gymnasieeleverna upplevde brytpunktenfrån gymnasiet och hur de såg på sin egen handlingshorisont. Resultatet analyserades sedanutifrån Hodkinson & Sparkes Careershipteori (1997, 2008) och visade att etnicitet såväl sombostadsort till viss del gjorde skillnad i hur elever planerade sina studie- och yrkesval. Valen attstudera vidare, arbeta eller ta sabbatsår motiverades främst av intresse, behov av paus frånstudier och att fundera på nästkommande val. Resultatet av studien visade även att majoritetenav respondenterna upplevde brytpunkten som halvt osäker men med en majoritet som vartillfredsställda med sina planerade val. Den främsta begränsningen vid det planerade valet somrespondenterna uppgav var betyg. / The turning point from upper secondary school can be understood as a definitive crossroadswith an abundance of choices for young people. The purpose of this study was to, through aquantitative survey, study how students in year three of the science, social sciences andeconomics program in Stockholm County planned and motivated their choice for the next phasein life, and to see how this differed based on the background factors gender, ethnicity and placeof residence, as well as to get an overview of how upper secondary school students experiencethe turning point from upper secondary school and how they see their own horizons for action.The results have then been analysed based on Hodkinson & Sparkes Careership Theory (1997,2008). The results showed that ethnicity as well as the students' place of residence to someextent made a difference in how the students planned their educational and career choices. Thechoice to study, work or take a sabbatical was mainly motivated by interest, the need for a breakfrom studies and to further plan for their future. We also concluded from the results of the studythat the majority of respondents experienced high to some satisfaction with their plannedchoice. Grades were what the students experienced as most limiting in planning for their future.

This thesis reports a five year longitudinal study of 300 Scottish school leavers. The research used quantitative and qualitative techniques to intensively investigate the relationship between personality type and achievement and explore the transition from adolescence to adulthood. The researcher devoted considerable effort to ensuring that participants and schools could benefit from involvement in the study. The thesis includes the researcher's reflection on the role of her own subjectivity within the research process. The distribution of personality types was ascertained using the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) based on Carl Jung's Theory of Types. The MBTI was administered to 298 4th year pupils and 72 teachers from two schools. The research findings indicate that extraverted participants were more likely to leave school earlier and with poorer qualifications than those who were introverted. Sensates were also more likely than intuitives to leave school at the end of their period of compulsory education with poorer qualifications. Thus the educationally most vulnerable group consisted of the young people who were both extraverted and sensing. A subgroup at particular risk was subjected to closer scrutiny and a case study provided. No type group was more likely than any other to become employed or unemployed. Participants were occupationally oriented even at the age of 14 with the young people in general fearing unemployment but still aspiring to a work identity. However, stable employment or unemployment were seldom reported after leaving school. Rather young people tended to report moving frequently between jobs, training and unemployment. 80 depth interviews conducted at 18 years indicated that the majority still did not regard themselves as adults, which was seen as characterised by assumption of responsibilities and the end of "fun". The thesis ends with recommendations for enhancement of the educational process.

Under de senaste åren har det blivit tydligt att de ungas övergång från skola till arbete, “school-to-work transition”, har förändrats. Det innebär att övergången idag är längre och mer komplex jämfört med tidigare. Samtidigt som en del har svårt att träda in på arbetsmarknaden finns det andra som har möjlighet att få anställningstrygghet men som själva väljer en längre övergång bestående av flera olika sysselsättningsstatus och arbeten. I denna studie har vi valt att fokusera på målgruppen som själva valt en längre övergång för att få en inblick i hur de upplever den förändrade övergången mellan skola och arbete. Syftet med studien är att beskriva hur övergången mellan skola och arbete skildras av personer som av eget val haft flera olika sysselsättningsstatus samt undersöka vad de upplever som ett attraktivt arbete. Vi har utifrån en kvalitativ metod intervjuat tio kvinnor 30–35 år för att ta del av deras berättelser. Studien har sökt svar på hur intervjupersonerna upplever sina erfarenheter och värderar sina val, vilka faktorer som har påverkat valen samt vad som är viktigt för att ett arbete ska upplevas som attraktivt. Det har resulterat i en fördjupning av valmöjligheter, upplevelser av övergången och attityder till arbete. Studiens resultat visar att målgruppens övergång till stor del har präglats av olika sysselsättningar, brytpunkter och val som påverkats av både inre och yttre faktorer. Respondenterna upplever att de själva har kunnat påverka sina val även om andra faktorer såsom; personer i omgivningen, utbildning- och arbetsmarknad, ekonomi, sjukdom, intressen och personliga egenskaper samt tidigare arbetslivs- och studieerfarenheter också har haft en påverkan.
 Respondenterna har till stor del haft positiva upplevelser av övergången men även tuffare perioder med osäkerhet och tvivel har präglat deras övergång.
 Trots att respondenterna upplevt intensiva perioder där de hoppat runt mellan flera olika sysselsättningsstatus kan de ändå blicka tillbaka och se en “röd tråd”. Viktiga faktorer för att trivas på en arbetsplats är kollegor, arbetsuppgifter och flexibilitet. Även bra chefer, ett gott ledarskap, god kommunikation och att visa uppskattning är av stor betydelse. Få av respondenterna upplever att de har nått sina yrkesmål trots att majoriteten av respondenterna idag arbetar med det yrke som de utbildat sig till.

Job creation remains a critical challenge for South Africa. Despite strong achievements in macro-economic stability and increases in employment, the growing labour force has outstripped the capacity of the labour market to absorb young people. The state of the country’s skills base, rendered inadequate by the legacy of apartheid, contributes to sustained inequalities in the labour market. This impacts on the capacity of the economy to grow in an increasingly competitive global environment. In this context, Vocational Education and Training (VET) is viewed as an important mechanism for building the necessary intermediate technical skills to support key sectors of the economy. However, international experience demonstrates that expanding the VET system and developing human capital more broadly will not in itself lead to increased job creation. The alignment of skills supply and demand can only be achieved through a well-developed understanding of the factors that support or inhibit the transition of young people into the labour market. This study investigates these factors through the lens of social capital theory. Through tracing 1,532 individuals who graduated from FET Colleges in the Gauteng province in 1999, the study interrogates the role of bonding and bridging social capital in supporting the transition into colleges and from colleges into the labour market. The findings show support for the three hypotheses: 1) Poor socio-economic family contexts appear to offer little information from which to make effective educational choices. Young people generally make such choices on the basis of perceived long-term value of post-school education rather than short-term economic considerations. 2) FET colleges are ineffective agents of bridging social capital and therefore have limited impact on the rate of employment, in particular the rate of relevant employment. 3) Personal networks are critical, but in impoverished environments are ineffective for finding meaningful employment on initial entry into the labour market. Therefore, restricted social networks have the potential to further entrench social inequality. The study contributes to a greater understanding of the challenges facing youth in navigating through the transition from school to work and the implications for FET policy in pressurising colleges to create access to effective social networks for their students and thereby meaningfully contribute to job creation.

Thesis advisor: Laura M. O'Dwyer / As the nature of work continues to evolve and diversify in the 21st century, issues related to the attainment of high-quality work are paramount. Initially defined by the International Labour Organisation [ILO], Decent Work exists as a standard for the expected quality of work to which all should have access in modern society. Central to the definition of Decent Work is the guarantee that “women and men enjoy working experiences that are safe, allow adequate free time and rest, take into account family and social values, provide for adequate compensation in case of lost or reduced income, and permit access to adequate healthcare” (ILO, n.d.). While issues of work quality are relevant to all members of the workforce, young adults are at heightened risk of not securing work that is Decent, if they are able to secure work at all. Using nationally representative data from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 [ELS:02], this study investigates Decent Work attainment among young adults through the lens of their experiences as high school students ten years prior. The Psychology of Working Theory (Duffy et al., 2016) guides this investigation, explicitly accounting for both individual (student-level) and contextual (school-level) characteristics in the prediction of future Decent Work attainment and overall employment status. Results from a series of multilevel analyses indicate that most of the variability in Decent Work attainment and employment status exists at the individual level, as opposed to the high school level. Structurally, this suggests that schools are not the primary drivers of students’ contextual influences when it comes to their work outcomes. Furthermore, the collection of school- and student-level predictors found to be significantly associated with the various facets of Decent Work and employment status varies widely from model to model. This suggests that the Psychology of Working Theory is far from a one-size-fits-all theory, and that the predictors of work attainment are highly complex. Implications for education policy and future research are discussed in Chapter 5. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Research, Measurement and Evaluation.

<p>Tron på den egna förmågan (self-efficacy) och upplevelsen av kontroll (locus of control) påverkar människors agerande och bedömningar av sina möjligheter. Syftet med undersökningen var att öka förståelsen för hur studenter från psykologlinjen i Stockholms Universitet bedömde sina chanser att få ett arbete direkt efter utbildningen. Fyra studenter deltog i undersökningen och data samlades genom kvalitativa halvstrukturerade intervjuer. Resultatet visade att möjligheterna till att få arbete efter examen ansågs vara goda men att den praktiska tjänstgöringen för psykologer, PTP, sågs som en flaskhals. Erfarenhet, kontakter, ålder, kön och utbildningsinriktning ansågs kunna påverka möjligheterna till att få en PTP-tjänst och påverkade också deltagarnas bedömning av sina chanser. Vidare visade resultatet att studenterna upplevde glädje för att börja arbeta med sitt yrke men också osäkerhet inför att lämna det trygga studentlivet. Med teorierna om self-efficacy och locus of control ökades förståelsen för deltagarnas bedömning av sina möjligheter. Med den kognitiva strategin optimism tolkades deltagarnas känslor inför övergången till arbetslivet.</p>

Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, Australian Centre for Educational Studies, Institute of Higher Education Research and Development, 2007. / "2006" Bibliography: p. 167-173.