Diante das velozes transformações no mundo do trabalho em um contexto de instabilidade e incertezas na carreira, tornam-se imperativas iniciativas de políticas que despertem nos indivíduos a capacidade de gerenciar o seu próprio desenvolvimento profissional. Nesse contexto, estratégias de Educação para a Carreira podem colaborar no desenvolvimento de carreira dos indivíduos ao longo da vida. Visando levantar pistas para esse tipo de intervenção, o presente trabalho objetivou analisar interesses profissionais e maturidade vocacional de estudantes do ensino médio regular e técnico, em função da procedência escolar, sexo e nível socioeconômico familiar. Investigaram-se também as principais necessidades de Educação para a Carreira desses alunos e possíveis relações entre o Teste de Fotos de Profissões (BBT-Br) e o Questionário de Educação para a Carreira (QEC). Participaram da pesquisa 220 adolescentes, entre 16 e 20 anos, sendo 147 do sexo feminino e 73 do sexo masculino, provenientes do último ano de duas escolas públicas de ensino médio, uma regular e outra técnica, de uma cidade do interior do estado de São Paulo. Os instrumentos, a saber, o BBT-Br, o QEC, o questionário de identificação e o Critério de Classificação Econômica Brasil (CCEB) foram aplicados coletivamente em sala de aula. Os dados foram inseridos em bancos de dados e submetidos a testes de estatística descritiva e inferencial (t de student). Com relação à maturidade vocacional, não foram encontradas diferenças significativas em função do sexo, procedência escolar e nível socioeconômico. Em relação às necessidades de Educação para a Carreira, verificou-se que os alunos pareceram necessitar de mais informações sobre mercado de trabalho e algumas questões de pesquisa e conservação de emprego. As principais fontes de informação profissional são os pais e a internet. Discutiu-se a necessidade de incluir os pais nos programas de Educação para a Carreira e de desenvolver ferramentas na internet que forneçam informações profissionais relevantes. Outras fontes de informação profissional são menos utilizadas e futuras intervenções devem incentivar a busca por fontes mais variadas. Dentre as atividades que podem auxiliar no desenvolvimento de carreira, os resultados indicam que têm sido pouco exploradas. Com relação aos interesses profissionais, foram encontradas diferenças entre homens e mulheres que evidenciam questões de estereótipos de gênero. Entre as mulheres houve diferenças significativas nos índices de produtividade entre as alunas do ensino médio regular e do ensino técnico e a principal diferença foi a preferência dessas últimas pelo radical V possivelmente relacionada à escolha pela formação em carreira técnica. Para o sexo masculino também houve diferença no radical V na estrutura primária negativa e nos radicais W e Z com médias maiores entre os alunos do ensino médio regular. Não houve diferenças significativas dos interesses em função do nível socioeconômico. Foram encontradas relações entre os índices de produtividade do BBT-Br e o nível de maturidade. Alunos com maior maturidade realizaram mais escolhas positivas e menos escolhas negativas e neutras, denotando que o nível de maturidade influencia no processo de escolha do BBT-Br. Por fim, são sugeridas algumas pistas para auxiliar em intervenções em Educação para a Carreira. / Given the fast changes in the world of work in a context of instability and uncertainty in career, it becomes mandatory policy that initiatives stimulate individuals in their ability to manage their own professional development. In this context, strategies for Career Education can collaborate with career development of individuals throughout life. Aiming to discover clues to this type of intervention, the current study is focused on analysing professional interests and career maturity of students in regular secondary and technical education, in relation to their school of origin, sex and family socioeconomic status. Investigations were also carried out in regards to the main students needs of Career Education and possible relationships between Berufsbilder Test (BBT-Br/ Teste de Fotos de Profissões) and the Career Education Questionnaire (QEC/ Questionário de Educação para a Carreira). Participated in the survey 220 adolescents between the ages of 16 and 20, 147 females and 73 males, selected last year from two public high schools, one regular and another technical, based in a city in the state of São Paulo. The instruments, BBT-Br, QEC, the identification questionnaire and Brazil Economic Classification Criterion (CCEB/ Critério de Classificação Econômica Brasil) were applied collectively in the classroom. The data were entered into databases and subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics tests (t -student). With regard to vocational maturity, no significant differences by gender, socioeconomic status or school origin were found. To the needs of Career Education, it was found that students seemed to demand more information about the labor market, research issues and pursuing employment. The main sources of professional information are from parents and the internet. Therefore, the need to include parents in Career Education programs and to develop tools on the internet that provide relevant professional information was discussed. Other sources of professional information were less used and future interventions should encourage the search for more varied sources. The results indicated the activities that can assist in career development have been little explored. With respect to professional interests, differences between men and women are related to gender stereotypes. Among women there were significant differences in productivity levels between the students of the regular high school and technical education and the main difference was the preference of the technical students for the radical V, possibly related to their choice for technical careers. For males, there was also a difference in the radical V in the negative primary structure and the W and Z radicals with higher averages among students from the regular high school. There were no significant differences of interests depending on socioeconomic status. A relation between productivity ratios BBT-Br and maturity level were also found. Students with greater maturity choices made more positive choices rather than negative or neutral choices, indicating that the level of maturity has influences on the choice of the BBT -Br process. Finally, some evidences are discovered to assist in future interventions for Career Education.

Thesis (MA(Industrial Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / Organisations have come to exist for a definite purpose, which is to combine and transform scarce factors of production into products and services with maximum economic utility. They strive to attain the highest possible output of need satisfying products and/or services with the lowest possible input of production factors. In order to achieve the level of growth and development required to enable it to compete in a climate of fierce international competition from other developed countries, post – apartheid South Africa needs a focused, motivated and skilled workforce. Yet, the current reality is often that of South African companies’ being handicapped by an under-skilled and, frequently, under-performing workforce. In addition, tertiary institutions experience low pass rates and high attrition rates among previously disadvantaged students, despite efforts to provide extra academic support and enrichment programmes. In this study, it is believed that one aspect of the difficult that many disadvantaged students have to achieve either in tertiary study or in the workplace, can be attributed to the lack of career maturity of such learners to make optimal career choices. The main objective of this study was to perform an audit of levels of career maturity of a sample of disadvantaged learners from the Western Cape. Another goal of the research was to attempt to investigate some envisaged determinants of career maturity in an effort to isolate those that presented as having the strongest influence on career maturity levels. A model was developed to illustrate these determinants and their envisaged effect which was tested among previously disadvantaged learners in the Western Cape.