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Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Education in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Zululand, 1997. / South Africa faces massive unemployment. The two major employers are the government and commercial enterprises of the private sector. Owing to restrictive fiscal policies, government has little leeway to create major employment opportunities. Greater emphasis is being placed on the commercial sector to fulfil this need. Vocational guidance counsellors ought to help a child acquire work-related knowledge in the classroom, thus saving them time, and sometimes the pain, of learning the hard way. By directing this research specifically at vocational guidance, much could be done by the guidance counsellor to help children towards embarking on a career in commerce. The aims of this study are: * To pursue a study of relevant literature on school guidance counselling. * To undertake an empirical investigation into the school guidance counsellor's role pertaining to a career in commerce. * To provide certain guidelines and recommendations regarding the school guidance counsellor's role with regards to a career in commerce. Research with regard to this study was conducted as follows: * A literature study of available, relevant literature. * An empirical study comprising structured questionnaires completed by guidance teachers of secondary schools. A Likert type scale questionnaire with three response categories; viz. Agree, Disagree and Uncertain, was constructed. The three response categories ensured that the respondents' selections fell into one of the categories enabling the measurement of the direction and intensity of their perceptions of the school vocational guidance counsellor's role pertaining to a career in commerce. Fifty -one respondents, representing guidance teachers and guidance counsellors were randomly selected from 14 secondary schools in Southern KwaZulu-Natal. With the aim of administering questionnaires in schools, it was necessary to first obtain permission from the Department of Education in KwaZulu-Natal. Only after such permission was granted, was the researcher able to conduct this study. The primary data was in the form of a response to one of the three response categories (Agree, Disagree, Uncertain). Scores of the responses to each of the three categories were calculated. The descriptive technique was employed for the quantitative analysis of the data. This investigation has the following value: * It will provide an image of school vocational guidance counsellors' perceptions of their role pertaining to a career in commerce. * Certain guidelines can be formulated to encourage the support of the school vocational guidance counsellor's task. Anticipated dissemination of the research findings: * The research findings will culminate in articles (of accredited journals) and will be submitted to the relevant Education Department for possible implementation. * Findings from the research can be useful in planning of suitable methods (workshops, videos, etc.) to assist school vocational guidance counsellors and teachers of school guidance to meet the future vocational needs of their pupils. The topic lends itself to further research by interested stakeholders.

M.Ed. (Psychology of Education) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

The following study is an attempt to discover some of the possible values that may have come to certain groups as a result of a short guidance course given to ninth grade Junior High students. Many studies will need to be made in this field if the real values are to be determined. After all, there are so many guidance factors that enter into the life of the average Junior High student, it is difficult to say with assurance, "this is the direct influence of a particular course." We can only hope that the more subtle and often the more lasting values have been impressed upon the youth today whether we can measure them or not. This kind of study must of necessity deal with the more obvious results of "exposure" that can be measured objectively. "Helping young people to develop ability for efficient self-guidance" is the writer's definition of the aim of guidance in the education program today. Throughout all the activities in connection with this study, this aim has been the key note.

The purpose of this thesis was to develop a drafting core curriculum that could be successfully implemented at any middle school in any state.

This study described undergraduate guidance and counseling training programs in the United States in terms of the number of programs available, their growth trends, and the degrees and courses offered. Selected characteristics of the participants' programs were compared. A model curriculum was developed for training guidance and counseling personnel at the undergraduate level.

D.Litt. et Phil. / A career guidance training workshop based on a taxi ride metaphor was developed to train teachers to offer an indigenous career guidance programme to students in disadvantaged communities. The innovation comprised a trainee's handbook as an adjunct to the workshop, structured workbooks for students in the classroom, and trainers' manuals for independent trainers. Principles of developmental research ensured that each phase was completed sequentially and successfully with the necessary material prerequisites and methodologies; this guided the process of workshop design and development through the problem analysis, design, developmental, and evaluation phases. Theories of career development and planning, and integrative life planning influenced the psychology behind the taxi ride model, whose objective was to help students gain a sense of mastery over the process of career decision-making and problem solving, thereby learning a life skill. The workbook was pilot-tested on two occasions, and four training workshops were pilot-tested with modifications made after each one. Group work principles ensured the workshops were experiential and educative. Workshop evaluation questionnaires further improved the innovation. Knowledge, Attitude and Self-efficacy scales, formulated in semantic differential form, were developed and refined to measure the success of the workshops by pre- and post-testing. Three more workshops were run with no revisions. Two hypotheses were formulated to measure the impact of the study; results revealed statistically significant changes in the knowledge and attitude scales, and positive changes in self-confidence levels in offering career guidance. There were no significant pre- and post-test differences between the groups for the biographical factors, except educational qualifications which did influence the findings. In addition, an observation schedule revealed that trainees had acquired great skill in applying the workbook. Limitations of the study included the absence of a control group, and an impact evaluation of the interactive dialogue between teacher and student. Future research in turn could focus on the impact the workbook has on the student. The contribution to psychology is that the indigenous South African practice model incorporates a rational and emotional process of career decision making, which can be applied by trained teachers and community leaders, rather than solely by professionals.

This project grew from a desire to help students draw meaningful connections between education and future career aspirations.

This project addresses the integration of a career and technical (vocational) construction curriculum with academic curriculum. Career and technical (vocational) curriculum in the past has been developed to address specific content. This construction curriculum inegrates inherent academic aspects.

University of Macau / Faculty of Education