Thesis (D. Min.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 1999. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 203-224).

This thesis explores thoughts, observations and theoretical research associated with work-related career shifts, adult learning and education. In contemporary society, work-related values are changing. Workers need to be flexible, adaptive and in terms of skills, up-to-date. Since an individual may experience a variety of career shifts during the course of her working adult life, learning and education are essential. But how should work-related learning occur and what avenues are available for those who require it? Workplace learning occurs in many forms and settings, and since learning is a personal process, it is difficult to ascertain ideal learning situations for each employee. The purpose of this study was to reflect on and analyze the just-in-time learning experience of one individual who underwent a career shift in the high tech industry. This thesis recounts the learning journey of the author, a high school English teacher and graduate student, who embarked on a new career as an education consultant. It is a multifaceted and multidisciplinary narrative that explores three distinct areas: the narrative and personal observations central to the author's learning and work experience; theoretical perspectives relating to the contemporary workplace and adult learning; the characters, themes and metaphors from The Tempest that illuminate the author's learning journey. Principles of adult education and theory pertaining to workplace and other settings for learning, along with characters from The Tempest, are invoked to deepen the author's understanding of what occurred during her high tech adventure. The author highlights contradictions between corporate jargon and educational theory, and dwells on dilemmas problematic for protean workers and others destined for corporate education and training. Concepts relating to knowledge management, organizational learning and elearning are challenged in conjunction with issues of power and knowledge. Caught between the demands of the continuously changing corporate world and protected realm of academia, the narrator is forced to combat a storm. Her survival is testimony to her capacity to learn, adapt and rely on previous skills garnered from years as a graduate student and English teacher. Survival does not come easy—there are fumbles, frustrations, and follies along the way. This narrative provides a personal account of what it means to learn and work in the high tech industry. Although this is one person's story, the insights developed and theory invoked have utility that extends to other workers and settings. / Education, Faculty of / Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of / Graduate

Many professional musicians change careers, and yet there is little research on this topic. The experiences of post-professional musicians are largely unknown, their stories untold and uncelebrated. Informed by phenomenology, this dissertation explores the experiences of professional musicians who leave successful careers as performing artists. It looks at the challenges, beauty and complexity of their musical life stories. Out of this phenomenological inquiry, the mystery of composing a new life story emerges. Guided by hermeneutic phenomenology, this inquiry centers on story-crafting as a means of allowing meaning to reveal itself, while affirming the role of the inquirer in the story crafting process. Central to this study are the ways in which encounters with its insights occur and are held in a state of wonder. The semi-structured phenomenological interview serves as the primary source of data collection. A digital journal functions as a secondary source. The role of the researcher is accounted for through movement within the hermeneutic circle. It is here that the effect of both the inquirer’s fore-sights / fore-conceptions, ranging from personal biases to knowledge of the literature, and presence (Dasein – being there) are addressed. Data exploration (analysis) and reflection (synthesis) are approached through nuanced readings for apparent insights in which the essence of the phenomenon might reveal itself. Study findings are rendered through five musical life stories. In addition, a general narrative forms a composite description of all five stories, and a general description relays the structure of the composite experience. Findings reveal that all five participants experienced successful careers as professional musicians, while simultaneously maintaining interests in other endeavors. Considerations that moved them toward a decision to leave their music careers varied: from health or physiological challenges to the desire to increase earning potential or from a growing sense of fatigue relative to the effort required to remain competitive to a sense of having accomplished everything anyone in a music career could reasonably expect to accomplish. Another consideration for some of them centered on a sense of restlessness and no longer feeling sufficiently challenged. Once established in a new career, all became once again successful, as evidenced by fast career trajectory and increased earning potential. All participants have made a new post-performance life defined largely by music-listening and inter-arts engagement. For the most part, they no longer play their primary instrument. With one exception, when they do make music, it is on their secondary instrument, and it is non-performative, meditative, participatory or for leisure. They have lived their dreams of becoming and being a professional musician and find themselves now living out the realization of a new dream. Summary reflections consider the costs of building, maintaining and leaving a music career and the benefits of setting clear intentions in the context of leisure music making. Recommendations center on questions for music educators and topics for related future study. They imagine a more dynamic role of composing a musical life story throughout a music educative experience.

No description available.

The role of work in one's life, especially as it is represented by experienced workers, has been the focus of many studies; the role of education in relation to the traditional college age student's life has also been studied extensively. However, there is limited research concerning the role of education in relation to the career development of the more mature graduate student who is a member of both the educational and the work community. The primary purpose of this study was to determine if graduate students were mature in their career development and whether there was a difference in the career maturity stages of students who attended graduate school with the intention of changing their occupations as compared with those who intended to enhance them. A secondary purpose was to determine whether age, gender, major field of study, or years worked in current occupation had a relationship to the career maturity of these graduate students. A descriptive design was used in the study. Instruments used to collect data were demographic data sheets and the Adult Career Concerns Inventory of Super, Thompson, and Lindeman (1988). The subjects were 200 randomly selected graduate students from one private and one public university in the Washington metropolitan area. Data were collected by survey and analyzed by descriptive statistics, chi-square analysis, t tests, and regression. The results showed a statistically significant difference between Career Enhancers and Career Changers in the Exploration Stage of the ACCI. Age in relation to career maturity was found to be statistically significant. No statistically significant relationships were found between gender, major field of study, or years worked in current occupation and the career maturity of graduate students. / Ed. D.

A conceptual model examining the antecedents and outcomes of occupational self-efficacy among the older workforce is presented. Proposed antecedents to occupational self-efficacy included self-perceived stereotypes and work demands.

Thesis (PhD (Sport Science))—University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / This study was designed to gain a better understanding of the way in which the quality of the sport-career termination is quantitatively affected by athletic and non-athletic factors. A further objective of this study was to contribute and broaden the knowledge base on the athletic careertermination process and endeavour to add new information to the existent body of knowledge on the career-ending process in the world of sport. This study is a sport-specific view on South African track and field and road running athletes’ retrospective views on their retirement. In line with the relevant literature, the influence of athletic (voluntariness and gradualness of sport-career termination, subjective view of athletic achievements, postsport life planning, and athletic identity) and non-athletic factors (e.g., age, educational status) on different aspects of sport-career difficulties was investigated. In phase 1 of the research, 104 retired track and field athletes completed an adapted version of the Cecic-Erpic’s (2000) Sports Career Termination Questionnaire II (SCTQ II). These athletes had been retired for no less than one year with an athletic career at national and international level and were asked to describe in retrospect their experiences and reactions to their athletic career termination. The SCTQII was developed to evaluate the characteristics of the sport-career termination process, the characteristics of the active sport-careertermination transition to post-sport life, and adaptation to post-sport life. In phase 2 of the study, 23 retired South African elite athletes were individually interviewed. An interview guide was developed which probed the sport career of the athletes in depth, from the initial start to the sport career to the process of disengaging from elite sport. The data from the interviews were content analysed.

This phenomenological study investigated the transition experiences of clinical respiratory therapists who pursued second careers as respiratory faculty. Situated Learning Theory and Workplace Learning Theory were the frameworks for interviews with 11 second career respiratory faculty who had taught fewer than five years in baccalaureate degree programs. The goal of this study was to identify the major themes of their experiences. Thematic analysis revealed five common experiences: under-preparation, challenges, overwhelmed feelings, personal responsibilities, and rewards. The common theoretical framework for all participants was the critical need to understand their communities of practice within their organizations. From this study, respiratory department chairs and administrators may better understand the challenges and needs of clinical therapists as they transition into faculty positions. Positive experiences such as improved orientations and continued effective faculty support may promote a more rewarding and long-term practice.

Studien syftar till att undersöka orsakerna till kvinnors karriärbyten genom akademiska studier. Med undersökningen försöker vi ge ett nytt perspektiv på samhällsvetenskaplig forskning om kvinnors karriärvalsprocesser. I studien används både en kvantitativ och en kvalitativ metod i syfte att besvara våra forskningsfrågor. Den kvantitativa metoden med enkätundersökningar riktas till kvinnliga studenter vid Stockholms universitet. Den kvalitativa studien baseras på intervjuer med sex respondenter från enkätstudien. Analys och slutsats baseras på de resultat vi fått från enkätundersökningen och de enskilda intervjuerna med stöd i lämpliga karriärvalsmetoder och teorier. Resultatet visar att orsakerna till kvinnornas karriärbyte är brytpunkter av såväl frivillig som påtvingad karaktär. Kvinnornas handlingshorisont och de brytpunkter och rutiner som de utsätts är påverkade av kvinnornas habitus, tidigare erfarenheter och var i livscykeln de befinner sig vilka styr deras beslut och deras handlingar. Vår slutsats är att kvinnornas studie- och yrkesval framför allt är ett intresse och en karriärstrategi samt en strävan att öka livskvaliteten. / The study aims to investigate the reasons underlying women's career changes through academic studies. We try to give a new perspective on women’s career choice processes in social science research. Both a quantitative and a qualitative method were used in order to answer our research questions. The two methods complement and reinforce each other while providing a more nuanced picture of the problem area. The quantitative method consisting of a questionnaire addressed a number of selected female students at StockholmUniversity. The qualitative study is based on interviews with six respondents selected from the survey. Processing and analysis are based on the results from the survey and the individual interviews with the support of appropriate career choice methods and theories. The results show that the causes of women's career changes are the turning points of either a volunteer or forced character. Women's action horizon, the turnings points and routines are influenced by their habitus, previous experiences and were they are in life. Our conclusion is that women's educational and career choices primarily are an interest and a career strategy as well an effort to increase the quality of life.

Thesis (M.S.W.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-70).