This master thesis researches a social identity of social workers. It deals specifically with a perception of this identity based on the age of the workers. The aim of the work is to compare the perception of social identity by social workers in two age categories and find out if there exist any signifiant differences between them. The theoretical part explains the key terms of identity and social identity, the definition of social work and the role of a social worker. The thesis refers to both Czech and international qualified literature, articles, fundamental documents and some experiments that have been done so far. The parctical part describes the research focused on the perception of social identity of two age groups of social workers. It analyses the collected data.

The school and the workplace often characterize two diverse cultures in terms of what is treasured as important skills and values. The role of vocational teachers is to ensure that the students are surrounded by both these cultures. Because the way vocational education and vocational teaching is valued in the courses enclosed to the area of construction and painting field, the students miss a lot of knowledge to become an conscious citizen. However, because of significant differences between the school and the workplace, this positions a professional challenge and a potential for value conflicts. This reflects in the way teachers value such things as critical thinking and the way characters for employment tend to be organiseed in the education. Some values change with the help from schooling to become an educated teacher, some do not. Because years of practice in one profession tends to give a person a strong identity, and this identity follows them, until they take a constructive side too see things from additional side, with the knowledge from those around them.

Thesis advisor: David L. Blustein / This study aimed to illuminate a piece of complexity behind vocational identity development in emerging adulthood. While identity development involves changes across various areas within one’s life, the establishment of a vocational identity is thought to be among the most vital and daunting tasks to manage during the transition from adolescence to adulthood (e.g., Erikson, 1959). For those fortunate enough to experience positive developments in this aspect of their identity, a plethora of positive life- and career outcomes are associated with them (Diemer & Blustein, 2007; Hirschi, 2011a; Hirschi, 2011c; Klotz et al., 2014; Luyckx et al., 2010). While this form of identity development is historically understood to be among the most challenging, evolving changes in “macrostructural conditions” (i.e., technological innovation and AI) have further complicated things, leading some to feel discouraged from taking an “active engagement in the exploratory process,” likely followed by a delay in making an occupational choice (Mortimer, 2002, p. 442). Despite the prominent role that establishing a vocational identity has in a young person’s maturation process (Erikson, 1959), this phenomenon has yet to be introduced and examined in a modern career development theory, and more specifically, within psychology of working theory (PWT; Duffy et al., 2016). The current study postulates that both original and new PWT career variables: economic constraints, marginalization, work volition, career adaptability, and psychological flexibility, interact and contribute to the overall development of an emerging adult’s vocational identity. The purpose of the present study was to demarcate how specific paths of PWT (Duffy et al., 2016) were connected to vocational identity development for those within emerging adulthood (ranging in ages 18-25). Broadly, it was hypothesized that work volition and career adaptability would predict vocational identity development and that these relationships would be moderated by psychological flexibility. Additional exploratory models, which placed psychological flexibility in two other locations, were also assessed. These relationships were examined by surveying 283 emerging adults via an online survey tool. These participants responded to questions about their vocational identity, levels of psychological flexibility, work volition, career adaptability, experiences of macro-level barriers, and demographic characteristics. Data were analyzed using hierarchical linear regression. Findings revealed that the primary hypothesized model describing work volition and career adaptability to predict vocational identity was an excellent fit to the data. Additionally, the model results indicate that psychological flexibility did not moderate these relationships. However, it does play a significant role in overall vocational identity development, career adaptability, and work volition independent of other variables. Among demographic variables, SES differences were found within the sample. These results are discussed and grounded in their unique contribution to the existing literature on vocational identity development, psychological flexibility, and career development. Theoretical, policy, and practical implications are discussed. Future directions and limitations of the study are also considered. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

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Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology / Kenneth F. Hughey / This study examined the impact of two career interventions on the dysfunctional career thoughts (DCTs) and vocational identity (VI) of 55 high school seniors. Research has shown an inverse relationship between levels of DCTs and VI. One intervention was based on the Cognitive Information Processing approach (Peterson, Sampson, & Reardon, 1991; Peterson, Sampson, Lenz, & Reardon, 2002; Peterson, Sampson, Reardon, & Lenz, 1996; Sampson, Reardon, Peterson, & Lenz, 2004) and incorporated Improving Your Career Thoughts: A Workbook for the Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI workbook; Sampson, Peterson, Lenz, Reardon, & Saunders, 1996c) and the Self-Directed Search (SDS; Holland, 1994). The second intervention employed only the SDS. A control group used neither activity. Levels of DCTs and VI were assessed pre-intervention and post-intervention using the Career Thoughts Inventory (Sampson, Peterson, Lenz, Reardon, & Saunders, 1996a) and the Vocational Identity scale of My Vocational Situation (Holland, Daiger, & Power, 1980a). Earlier studies indicated improvements in levels of dysfunctional career thinking after CIP-based interventions (e.g., Kilk, 1998; Morano, 2005; Reed, 2006), but no previous studies employed the complete CTI workbook. Additional studies (e.g., Loughead & Black, 1990; Mau,1999; Wiggins, 1987) indicated that levels of vocational identity could be increased by using the SDS as an intervention. The combined use of the CTI workbook and SDS produced significant improvements in all five measures of DCTs and VI. It was also shown that use of the SDS as a stand-alone intervention did improve levels of VI, but not to the extent of the improvements shown by combined use of the SDS and CTI workbook. Use of the SDS as a stand-alone intervention did not produce improvements in levels of DCTs. The control group, which employed neither the CTI workbook nor the SDS, unexpectedly showed significant improvements in scores for two CTI scales which may have been due to the influence of confounding variables.

This study attempts to understand the creation of identities, especially focusing on vocational identities within the vocational education and training (VET) for hairdressers. To be trained for a vocation like hairdressing means that more has to be learnt other than to do nice haircuts or other treatments. The handicraft is one part of the vocational knowing of hairdressing, but to be a hairdresser is about something more besides handicraft. Identity in this study is understood from a sociological perspective influenced by Richard Jenkins’ (2004, 2008) theoretical model of social identities. This is used together with the Bourdieu-inspired concept of vocational habitus (Colley, James, Tedder, & Diment, 2003). The method is inspired by ethnographic research and the empirical material consists of interviews and observations. Based on this material personal portraits have been created of four students. The intention is to focus on the students’ perspective about the everyday activities in school and their experiences of being trained for a vocation in school. The analyse shows that students are trained to develop a vocational habitus, to look, move, talk and feel like a hairdresser is expected to. The students encounter these expectations differently, depending on their identities as hairdressers, students or identities established in other contexts. A main finding of the study is that student identities and vocational identities sometimes are in conflict with each other. The contribution of the study is an increased understanding of identity creation in vocational education. It also contributes to a better knowledge of young people in vocational education and their relationship with their vocational education and upcoming vocation.

Successful formation of a self-chosen, purposeful identity in personal, social, educational and vocational areas is a primary task for emerging adults, with failure to do so often resulting in cycles of substance use, unemployment, and delinquent/criminal behavior. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine relationships between vocational identity, substance use, and criminal thinking within the population of emerging adults. The expectancy value theory of motivation, which states that identity may be a motivational construct between self-efficacy and subjective self-values, provided the foundation for the study. The online inventory platform PsychData was used to garner data from a sample of 78 emerging adults measuring vocational identity (using the Vocational Identity Status Assessment [VISA]), substance use (using the CAGE-AID questionnaire), and criminal thinking (using the General Criminal Thinking-GCT scale of the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles). A bivariate correlational analysis using SPSS allowed for comparison of the 6 vocational identity statuses of Achieved, Searching Moratorium, Moratorium, Foreclosed, Diffused, and Undifferentiated, against the CAGE-AID scores and the GCT scores for possible relationships. The study did not result in significant correlations between variables; however, poststudy analysis revealed that the Diffused level of vocational identity, which is generally associated with the most negative life patterns, was strongly reflected in the responses of 25-year-old participants. Further research on the significance of vocational identity among older emerging adults may serve both the individual and society through encouraging successful transition to stable and healthy adult roles.

The purpose of this examination was to find how supervisors interpreted the terms vocational identity and vocational culture, found in the diploma goals in workplace-based learning at the Child- and Recreation Programme. To reach the purpose, I formulated questions that I answered through a qualitative study. I made six interviews with pre-school teachers who had been supervisors for students at the Child- and Recreation Programme. The informants answered the same questions and the answers were recorded. The result of the study showed that the supervisors made a fairly consistent interpretation of the terms. The conclusions in the study were that supervisors interpreted vocational identity as who you are at work, including issues of responsibility and security. The supervisors strengthened the vocational identities of their students by treating them in a positive way and they were able to see practical signs that the students had developed their vocational identity as they began to take responsibility in their work and dared to question the activities. The supervisors interpreted the concept of vocational culture as teamwork and the ability to have a holistic approach for children. The supervisors mediated the vocational culture by showing pride in their work and talking with the students. They were able to see concrete signs that the students had developed an understanding of vocational culture when the students weaved learning into everyday routines by talking with the children. / Syftet med mitt examensarbete var att ta del av hur handledare tolkar begreppen yrkesidentitet och yrkeskultur, som finns angivna i examensmålen för det arbetsplatsförlagda lärandet på barn- och fritidsprogrammet. För att uppnå syftet formulerade jag frågeställningar som jag sedan besvarade genom en kvalitativ undersökning. Jag intervjuade sex handledare för elever på barn- och fritidsprogrammet. Alla informanter svarade på samma frågor och svaren spelades in. Undersökningens resultat visade att handledarna gjorde en relativt samstämmig tolkning av begreppen. Några av de slutsatser som jag drog av min undersökning var att handledarna tolkade yrkesidentitet som vem man är på jobbet och i detta ligger även de båda begreppen ansvar och trygghet. Handledarna stärkte yrkesidentiteten hos sina elever genom att bemöta dem på ett positivt sätt och kunde se konkreta tecken på att elever utvecklat sin yrkesidentitet när de började våga ta ansvar och vågade ifrågasätta. De intervjuade handledarna tolkade begreppet yrkeskultur som arbetslagsarbete och helhetstänkandet kring barn. Handledarna förmedlade yrkeskulturen genom att de visade upp en yrkesstolthet och samtalade med eleverna och kunde se konkreta kännetecken på att eleven utvecklat förståelsen för yrkeskulturen när eleven vävde in lärandet i de vardagliga rutinerna genom att samtala med barnen.

This study attempts to understand the creation of identities, especially focusing on vocational identities within the vocational education and training (VET) for hairdressers. To be trained for a vocation like hairdressing means that more has to be learnt other than to do nice haircuts or other treatments. The handicraft is one part of the vocational knowing of hairdressing, but to be a hairdresser is about something more besides handicraft. Identity in this study is understood from a sociological perspective influenced by Richard Jenkins’ (2004, 2008) theoretical model of social identities. This is used together with the Bourdieu-inspired concept of vocational habitus (Colley, James, Tedder, & Diment, 2003). The method is inspired by ethnographic research and the empirical material consists of interviews and observations. Based on this material personal portraits have been created of four students. The intention is to focus on the students’ perspective about the everyday activities in school and their experiences of being trained for a vocation in school. The analyse shows that students are trained to develop a vocational habitus, to look, move, talk and feel like a hairdresser is expected to. The students encounter these expectations differently, depending on their identities as hairdressers, students or identities established in other contexts. A main finding of the study is that student identities and vocational identities sometimes are in conflict with each other. The contribution of the study is an increased understanding of identity creation in vocational education. It also contributes to a better knowledge of young people in vocational education and their relationship with their vocational education and upcoming vocation.

Abstract My doctoral thesis is a narrative study in which I examine the art experiences told in six teachers’ interviews and their meanings from childhood to the threshold of middle age. I have collected my research data in two stages in 2002 and 2014. The theoretical starting points of the study are in the hermeneutic, phenomenological, pragmatist and narrative research traditions. The data analysis is narrative. Because of their basic nature, the stories of art experiences differ from the descriptions of experiences in our everyday environment. They are characterized by complexity and difficulty of conceptualization, which is manifested both in the interviewees’ narration and in the conceptual examination in this study. My study introduces a new viewpoint on the examination of identity and meaning-making related to arts. In the results section of the study, I examine and interpret stories related to visual arts as abridged narratives, constituents of a biography and special events in life. In the interpretation of individual art experiences, I explore the meanings told in art as personal factors related to human existence and situations in the life-world. The results of my study show how art is manifested in the stories as a subjective, intentional and diverse opportunity for being in the world, reflection on meanings and forming a relationship with the world. The meanings associated with the interviewees’ experiences make visible the importance of art from the viewpoints of identity, vocational identity, reflection of experiences, and the examination and establishment of man’s relationship with the world. My study also takes a stand on the significance and status of art education in our education system. I present my study as a contribution to the debate on art education, its status and significance for growth as a human being. / Tiivistelmä Väitöskirjani on narratiivinen tutkimus, jossa tarkastelen kuuden opettajan haastatteluissa kertomia taidekokemuksia ja niiden merkityksiä lapsuudesta keski-iän kynnykselle. Tutkimusaineistoni olen kerännyt kahdessa vaiheessa: vuosina 2002 ja 2014. Tutkimuksen teoreettiset lähtökohdat ovat hermeneuttisessa, fenomenologisessa, pragmatistisessa ja narratiivisessa tutkimusperinteessä. Aineiston analyysi on narratiivinen. Taidekokemuksien kertomukset poikkeavat arkisen kokemusympäristöstämme kuvauksista perusluonteensa vuoksi. Niille on ominaista käsitteellistämisen vaikeus ja kompleksisuus, joka ilmenee sekä haastateltavien kerronnassa että tutkimuksen käsitteellisessä tarkastelussa. Tutkimukseni tuo taiteeseen liittyvän identiteetin ja merkityksenannon tarkasteluun uuden näkökulman. Tutkimuksen tulososassa tarkastelen ja tulkitsen kuvataiteeseen liittyviä kertomuksia lyhennettyinä narratiiveina, elämänkerran muodostajina ja erityisinä elämäntapahtumina. Yksittäisten taidekokemuksien tulkinnassa tuon tarkasteluun taiteessa kerrottuja merkityksiä ihmisenä olemiseen ja elämismaailman situaatioihin liittyviä henkilökohtaisina tekijöinä. Tutkimukseni tulokset osoittavat, kuinka taide ilmenee kertomuksissa subjektiivisena, intentionaalisena, monimuotoisena maailmassa olemisen, merkityksien reflektoinnin ja maailmasuhteen muodostamisen mahdollisuutena. Haastateltavien kokemuksiin liittyvät merkitykset tekevät näkyväksi taiteen tärkeyden sekä identiteetin, ammatillisen identiteetin, kokemuksien reflektion ja ihmisen maailmasuhteen tarkastelun ja muodostamisen näkökulmista. Tutkimukseni ottaa kantaa myös taidekasvatuksen merkityksellisyyteen ja asemaan koulutusjärjestelmässämme. Esitän tutkimukseni puheenvuoroksi keskusteluun taidekasvatuksesta, sen asemasta ja merkityksestä ihmisenä kasvamisessa.