This is an exploratory study to compare the vocational interests of Black and White school-leaving boys in South Africa. The aim of the study is, first, to test the hypothesis that the samples hold similar stereotypes of vocations and that they structure interest fields in a similar way; and, second. to test the hypothesis that the vocational interests of the samples are different. The samples comprise four hundred and ten matriculants from schools in Johannesburg and Soweto. The methodological requirements for conducting cross-cultural research are adhered to as far is practically possible. The main findings provide general support for the hypotheses. It is found that the Black and White samples have similar vocational stereotypes and that they structure interest fields similarly, and in a way which closely approximates the reported structures characteristically found in Western culture. The Black and White samples differ in their vocational interests, although there are also similarities.

The foundational principles of Holland’s (1985b, 1992, 1997) vocational theory state that career choice is an expression of personality, in that individuals with specific personality types seek out work or learning environments that match their personality types. Furthermore, interest inventories such as the Self-Directed Search (Holland, Powell, & Fritzsche, 1994) can be regarded as personality inventories and used to ensure that individuals find themselves in a working environment that is best suited to their interests and personality type. In addition to instruments that measure interests, Holland also developed dictionaries of occupations coded according to the characteristics and interests of different occupations and working environments, such as the Dictionary of Holland occupational codes (Gottfredson & Holland, 1996). The level of congruence between personality types and occupational types is linked to career satisfaction, stability and achievement. This premise only holds true, however, if the codes for the occupational environment suggested by Holland (1985c) are, in fact, valid. In other words, do the codes suggested by Holland match the personality types of individuals entering or who are already employed in a particular work or learning environment? There have been many studies conducted with regard to the validity of Holland’s prescribed interest typology codes. Spokane, Meier and Catalano (2000) located a large number of empirical studies published since 1985 that relate directly to the validity of Holland’s codes, many of which have suggested that the existing codes may not be valid. There is a scarcity of such research in South Africa, especially with regard to vital and growing occupational fields, such as the ecotourism industry, that are so important to the economic well-being of the country. Consequently, the overall aim of the present study was to explore and describe the interest codes of male and female South African student and working field guides in order to discuss the appropriateness of the occupational codes prescribed by Holland for the field guiding profession. The quantitative design of the study was exploratory-descriptive in nature and made use of the Self-Directed Search Questionnaire (Holland, Fritzsche, & Powell, 1994). The total sample consisted of 100 participants (68 male and 32 female), constituting 40 working field guides and 60 field guide students. Descriptive analyses were conducted with the use of frequency tables, charts, means and standard ix deviations. In addition, Independent sample t-tests were computed in order to describe and compare the mean scores of the interests for males and females, and to compare the mean scores of the interests for student and working field guides. The results of this study suggest that the prescribed occupational code (SRI; Social, Realistic, Investigative) for South African field guides may not be appropriate and that an interest profile such as SREI AC may be more appropriate. These results, in combination with the findings of the research review, suggest the need for a more extensive, cross-cultural study to determine the appropriateness of Holland’s occupational codes for South African occupations, which may lead to a revision of the South African Dictionary of Occupations (Taljaard & von Mollendorf, 1987).

D.Litt. et Phil. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

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

International research highlights conflicting results regarding factors that could play a role in the development of occupational aspirations and occupational gender stereotyping of primary school children. Some of the variables that have been identified are age, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status and societal influences. There has been some research emphasis on the career development of South Africans. However, studies that have been conducted have focused mainly on adolescents and adults. Furthermore, the majority of this research has focused on programme intervention and not on acquiring baseline information. There has been no research to date on the career development of South African Xhosa-speaking senior primary school children. The lack of career research on South African Xhosa-speaking children indicates the need for the present research. This study aims to describe and compare the occupational aspirations and occupational gender stereotyping (in terms of Holland’s occupational and status level typology) of male and female Xhosa-speaking senior primary school learners. The study also describes the possible gender stereotypical perceptions preadolescent children hold regarding certain occupations. A non-probability sample of 274 Xhosa-speaking children between the ages of 10 and 14 years was drawn from two primary schools in townships in the Nelson Mandela Metropole. An exploratory and descriptive research framework was utilised, with descriptive statistical procedures employed to summarise and report the data in a meaningful manner. The major findings of the present study indicate that Xhosa-speaking senior primary school children’s favourite occupational aspirations fit into Holland’s Investigative typology and high status level. Some gender differences were evident, with slightly more boys aspiring to Investigative occupations than girls. Both boys and girls demonstrated gender stereotypical perceptions regarding xiii which occupations were suitable for both genders, with boys more willing to accept girls into traditional male occupations than girls willing to accept boys into traditional female occupations. The results of the present study emphasise the need for further exploration of the occupational aspirations and occupational ge nder stereotyping of Xhosa-speaking senior primary school children. Future research needs to include other cultural and age groups in order to explore how personal and situational variables may differentially influence children’s occupational aspirations and occupational gender stereotyping.

M.A. / With recent socio-political changes in South Africa, it was considered important to review the career expectations of black South African youth, given the reported poor state of career guidance within certain schools. The literature review revealed that South African youth, particularly those from an Afrocentric culture, also tend to be unrealistic in their perceptions of job availability once they left school, with low self and occupational knowledge. Compromise was included as an important factor when considering the perception of job accessibility and the possibility of having to adjust aspirations to meet the realities of the world of work. The aim of this study, therefore, was to assess the occupational choices made by the grade 10 and 12 pupils at RAUCALL high school. The study attempted to determine the degree of congruence of the pupils' occupational choices in comparison to their occupational expectations and how this congruence correlates with academic performance. The results of the correlational analysis indicated that there was no statistically significant relationship between congruence and academic performance. From the findings of this research it was possible to conclude that students with low vocational identity may not experience any more academic difficulty than do students with high vocational identity. An additional finding was that John Holland's concept of congruence, Il` • his theory as a whole, needs to be validated to incorporate the South African context with its various cultures and language groups. The knowledge of self for black South African adolescents must be placed within the framework of a black identity if vocational guidance programmes are to be seen as meaningful and relevant.

Increasingly, developmental psychology has emphasized that childhood career development should be viewed as holistic and comprise all aspects of a child’s maturation. This would include an emphasis on the career development of children which is considered vital to the complete education of the child (Brown, 2002). Career development refers to the process of developing beliefs, values, skills, aptitudes, interests, personality characteristics and knowledge of work (Zunker, 2006). Research has indicated that early societal factors and personal preferences associated with gender influence the child’s later occupational aspirations (Stockard & McGee, 1990). There are many ways in which individuals learn about gender roles and acquire “gender-appropriate” behaviour during childhood, some of which manifest in the occupational aspirations of children. As children grow up they learn, through reinforcement and modeling, that society has different expectations and standards for the behaviour of males and females. While family and friends are often the most important agents of socialization in young children, television and other popular media have also played a vital role in gender stereotyping, resulting in children forming perceptions regarding which occupations “belong” to which gender (Taylor, Peplau, & Sears, 2006). The present research aims to explore, describe and compare the occupational aspirations and the occupational gender stereotyping of male and female South African and Australian senior primary school learners. The research approach for the study was descriptive and exploratory in nature and was conducted within a quantitative framework. A survey-type questionnaire, the Career Awareness Survey xiii (McMahon & Watson, 2001), was used as the data collection measure as part of a larger international study. The sample comprised of 511 South African and 372 Australian participants from Grades 6 and 7. Responses to the occupational aspirations questions were coded according to Holland’s (1985) interest typology and status level coding for occupations. For descriptive purposes, frequency counts were computed for the coded typology, status level and occupational gender stereotyping data. The z-test and chi-square test for independence were computed in order to test whether gender groups differed in terms of their occupational aspirations and occupational stereotyping. The chi-square test was also used to compare the occupational aspirations and gender stereotyping of South African and Australian senior primary school learners. The results of the present research indicate that male and female South African and Australian female children tend to aspire towards more Investigative and Social type occupations in the high status level category. The Australian male children, however, tend to aspire towards more Social and Realistic type occupations in the high status level category. Across nation and gender, the majority of the children believed that both males and females could perform certain occupations, with senior primary school children tending to limit the range of occupations which they believe to be predominantly suited to either male or female. Cross-national comparative results yielded interesting findings with few significant differences emerging on occupational aspiration typology, status level and the occupational gender stereotyping of occupations. The results of the present research emphasise the need for further cross-national comparative studies on the occupational aspirations and occupational gender stereotyping of senior primary school children.

South Africa provides a rich and challenging socio-political context in which to conduct career development research. South African children face a unique range of social, cultural and economic challenges such as poverty and the impact of HIV/AIDS on the family system which influence their career development. Internationally there has been a call for research that explores children’s career development as the majority of extant career research focuses its attention on the career development of adolescents and adults. The focus in South Africa is no different and despite the introduction of career education into the most recent school curriculum (Curriculum 21), there remains a void in South African child career development research. As such children’s career education and guidance has not been guided by local research findings. The findings of the present research will provide important baseline information relating to the career development of rural Xhosa-speaking senior primary school children. With this in mind, the present research aimed to explore and describe the occupational aspirations of male and female rural Xhosa-speaking senior primary school children. The present research also aimed to explore and describe the ways in which children assign gender-based stereotypes to different occupations. In order to provide a rich theoretical foundation for the present research, child developmental theories and developmental theories of career development as well as post-modern constructivist theories of career development have been used. The present research is quantitative in nature and makes use of the Revised Career Awareness Survey, a self-report questionnaire, which was originally designed to explore children’s knowledge and understanding of the world of work and to gain insight into the way in which they form gender-based occupational stereotypes. Three rural schools in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa were selected using a non-probability, purposive sampling method. From these schools, a non probability, convenience sample of 292 grade 6 and 7 learners was asked to complete the measure. The information gathered was then coded into nominal categories and analysed using descriptive statistics. Results from the present research indicate that rural Xhosa-speaking senior primary school children tend to aspire towards more Social and Investigative type occupations in the high status level category. The findings showed that rural Xhosa speaking senior primary school children tend to limit the range of occupations which they believe men and women can do. Here it was found that Social type jobs and household chores were most frequently named as jobs that women can do. The children in the present research listed Realistic type occupations most frequently as jobs that men can do, and least often as being jobs that women can do. It was also established that housework activities and other ‘domestic’ jobs are not seen by the participants as jobs that men can do. The results of the present research should not only inform the field of child career development in South Africa, but can also be meaningfully applied to the development of future career education programs at the primary school level in South Africa.

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

M.Ed. (Subject Didactics) / In a formal education situation pupils are accompanied to reach proper adulthood. On their way to adulthood new demands are continually made and adults-in-the-making are expected to conform. For example a standard seven pupil is expected to choose his final study course, a selection of subjects and the grade or level on which the effects to take his chosen subjects. This situation in which the standard seven pupil of necessity finds himself, in which he has to make these choices, is such that he is forced to make a decision and that there is no other way out. As a result of the far-reaching implications this decision has on the future of the pupil, it is of imperative that pupils should be able to weigh all the possible alternatives. Only then the actualisation of their choice will be significant and could be justified educationally. In view of the fact that most standard seven pupils find themselves in adolescence, the point of departure of this study is that pupils will also be, as far their choice of subjects is concerned,' in need of assistance and support. Because of the fact that pupils will most probably be influenced by a great many factors, it might pose a problem taking a decision as to their choice of subjects. Consequently, specific determinants which might have an influence in the opting of pupils for Biology have been identified and will be explored in this study.