D.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / Career orientation is a developmental process that can be facilitated by career development programmes. One of the most recent developments in these programmes was the introduction of computerized career orientation which enables the user to explore career activities independently. An experimental investigation in which the MENTOR computerized vocational guidance system was used, was conducted at the Rand Afikaans University in an attempt to determine whether the MENTOR could be a useful aid for career orientation in South Africa. Standard nine high school pupils were randomly assigned to one of two groups according to the pre-test post-test experimental design. Subjects completed a biographical questionnaire, an evaluation questionnaire concerning the use of MENTOR and the Career Development Scale (CDS). Goal and aid orientated criteria were applied to evaluate the MENTOR programme. The main hypothesis, namely that there would be a statistically significant difference between the mean posttest scores on the Career Development Scale (CDS) of the experimental and control groups, was tested according to the integrated statistical procedure suggested by Spector (1981): It was determined during the first phase of the experiment that there were no statistically significant differences between the average pretest results of the experimental and control groups. During the second phase it was determined that the mean post-test results differed statistically significantly from that of the control group. In the last phase it was determined that the mean post-test results of the experimental group were statistically significantly higher than the mean pre-test results. Furthermore the average follow-up test results indicated that there was a statistically significant higher score regarding self-knowledge, career information, as well as the integration of self-knowledge and career information. The research results showed that there was a statistically significant increase in the career readiness of pupils after they had used the MENTOR system, compared with pupils from the control group. It could be predicted with 95% certainty that a person who used the MENTOR programme would show an increase in career development.

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The problem with which this study is concerned is to determine if the System of Interactive Guidance and Information (SIGI), which is a computer-based career guidance system that is employed with non-handicapped individuals, can be adapted to serve the needs of physically handicapped individuals. One hundred forty eight career and guidance professionals responded to a survey instrument, which was designed by the investigator, indicating their perceptions of the limiting effects of twelve specified handicapping conditions on the SIGI-programmed occupations. These respondents also listed their specific occupations, average time spent in career counseling with each handicapped individual, resources used in career counseling, incidence of use of SIGI, and opinions of needed changes to SIGI to make it a viable instrument in counseling the handicapped.