M.Ed.

D. Litt. et Phil. / The empirical aim of this study is the validation of a career guidance intervention, i.e. the SNUG-guide to career choices. Scheepers (1996) developed this guide for socio-economic deprived learners. An investigation will also be undertaken to ascertain whether the SNUG corresponds at a structural level with the SDS. If this assumption is validated, then the SNUG can replace the SDS as a measuring instrument in South Africa. The learners in the sample come from disadvantaged, socio-economic deprived backgrounds, and therefore Chapter One contained a discussion about the problems that face such communities in the career decision-making realm. The necessity of program development and validation to address these challenges was highlighted. It was determined that the focus should be on empowerment, in order to facilitate sustainability and to ensure that the community can regain control over their lives and future. The theoretical base was formed on Super (1990) and Bandura's assumptions and principles. The intervention was based on Holland's (1985) structural-inter-active model -just like the SDS. To meet the empirical aim of the study, a research method, namely the developmental research method, was utilized. The focus was on the evaluation phase, as this study focused on the validation of an intervention. Due to rationalization and other after-effects of the Apartheid era, there is a shortage of trained guidance personnel in disadvantaged communities. Applying the SNUG-guide can fill this gap, because both facilitators and learners can easily understand it. It was found that the SNUG-guide corresponded with the SDS on a structural level. The results of the research also revealed that most learners like their parents, still preferred Social and Conventional career fields. There is a welcome inclination towards the Investigative careers, which should be encouraged, because few disadvantaged people were historically represented in these careers. There was an absence of interest in the Enterprising fields, which should be investigated further. Learners also indicated that they have an aversion to Realistic careers, because of its historic negative connotation. The learners seemed to view the Artistic field as an extra-mural activity, rather as a career field. In the evaluation, most learners indicated that they had found the program beneficial and that they would be able to make and implement a career decision, due to the help that they have received. An empowerment program, like the SNUG - guide, proved to be a powerful tool to uplift and empower socio-economic deprived communities. It enhances their self-efficacy and leads to feelings of being in control of their lives. With the implementation of the SNUG-guide in this study, the intervention was validated as being an adequate tool to address the career decision-making difficulties of disadvantaged learners, and to empower the community.

Knowledge workers need to understand, leverage and capitalise on the new world of work to progress their careers through accumulating career competencies. Career capital is the concept of cumulative career competencies that are of value to the field of the individual’s work. A need exists for greater understanding of career path opportunities available and a possible sequence of accrual. This research adopts an exploratory approach and aims to probe rather than answer questions arising out of the need for more understanding. A qualitative methodology was used through a series of semi-structured but in-depth interviews on a sample of knowledge workers of engineers and information technology workers. The roadmap of career capital accrual for knowledge workers (Figure 5) transpired from empirical research findings founded from within the literature. The model concludes that career capital is accumulated along a recognisable path and sequence and that career gates generally act as reflection opportunities for workers. Not all workers enter these career gates, but value creation and career capital formation is possible for both workers entering and staying behind to specialise and optimise. The outcome of this research could support knowledge workers in unlocking value from their careers, making them more sufficient in creating careers with knowledge that is sought after by organisations. The research outcome could also facilitate organisations to retain top talent by understanding their career capital accrual approach. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Knowledge workers build their career capital through learning experiences throughout their careers. How this occurs for the R&D knowledge worker has not been previously documented. The loss of key R&D personnel in the hightechnology (high-tech) industry contributes to a loss of tacit knowledge and increased costs. A greater understanding of why and how career capital is accumulated by R&D knowledge workers will facilitate the design of career management practices that could reduce voluntary employee turnover. A qualitative investigation into the applicability of eight widely recognised career capital components revealed a new component that is relevant to the high-tech R&D environment. These applicable career capital components and associated accumulation methods were used to build a quantitative questionnaire that measured the perceptions of 59 knowledge workers in the R&D environment. This research has, for the first time, explicitly defined tangible career capital constructs that are relevant to knowledge workers in the high-tech R&D environment. The findings have been used to develop a model to help organisations understand the career needs of the R&D knowledge worker within the context of the business environment. Recommendations are presented to allow organisations and R&D knowledge workers to leverage off this research. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

M.Comm. / Changes in society, the nature of work, workplaces and employer-employee relationships have made traditional approaches to career development in organizations inadequate with powerful impacts on the employees. New concepts of career and life planning will be needed if such changes continue to take place. This study aims to obtain an overview of how career development is related to traditional human resource systems in organizations, discuss the protean career as a contemporary approach to careers and to explore the implications of the prQtean approach to career development for organizations. The study comprises an analysis of the literature relevant to the protean career concept, career development practice and human resource systems. In order to understand the implications of the protean career, an overview of how career development relates to traditional human resource systems is first undertaken. The fundamental interdependence between an individual's career plans and an organization's human resource plans is illustrated by considering the essential career-oriented human resource systems characteristics, namely organizational-level activities, the individual-level activities and the matching process. The study focuses in particular on the features of the protean career concept as a contemporary approach to career development in organizations. The protean person's own personal career choices and self-fulfilment are the unifying and integrative elements in the person's life. This implies a relational approach to the career development practice in human resources systems. Pursuing a protean career means, therefore, the development of a new psychological contract. Whereas in the past, the contract was with the organization, in the protean career, the contract is with the self. The protean career is therefore a process that the person and not the organization is managing with the criterion for success being internal (psychological) and not external.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / This study provided an evaluation of a career development program called the Health Education and Careers Network (HECN). Designed for inner city high school students with and without disabilities the program has been in existence since 1991, focusing on preparing students for education or careers in the allied health care industry. The program's overall goal was to increase the rate of positive high school outcomes, in particular for students at risk for high school drop out, unemployment and other negative post-high school outcomes. Based on anecdotal reports, the program appeared to facilitate successful student outcomes. However, no systematic analysis of the outcomes had been conducted. The researcher collected outcome data on 111 students with disabilities who had participated in the program since 1993 and who had left high school since 1995. She disaggregated the data and performed statistical analyses to evaluate whether there were any differences in outcomes based on race or type of disability. Additionally, she used case profiles of six randomly selected students to offer more insights about the complexity of providing transition services to inner city students with disabilities and the kinds of strategies that might be most effective. The analysis revealed that students with serious cognitive impairments had the highest rate of employment as compared to students with other disabilities, and that white students had the highest rate of achieving a certification and employment in an allied health care field as compared to students from other racial groups. Overall, data from the study revealed that students who participated in the program surpassed the local and national rates on the graduation of students with disabilities, and that independent of race or disability, the program's strategies effected positive transition outcomes for all students. / 2031-01-01

This research endeavor contributes to a better understanding of the career development of adolescent mothers by (a) highlighting the contextual considerations; (b) examining the existing body of literature; (c) contributing to the research on adolescent mothers' career adaptability, resiliency, and obstacles; and (c) proposing ways to bridge the research to practice gap. An ecological examination of the contextual considerations associated with adolescent pregnancy and motherhood provided pertinent information on which to base a culturally sensitive framework to examine the career development of adolescent mothers using the concepts of career adaptability and resiliency and an assessment of obstacles that may impede their career development. The culturally sensitive framework was used in two studies conducted to better understand the career development of adolescent mothers. The first was a content analysis designed to provide a better understanding of the published literature and to direct a research study. Content analysis findings revealed the need to develop and implement comprehensive programs for adolescent mothers that are strength-based, responsive to areas of need, and foster career development skills/knowledge and resiliency. Using the results of the content analysis, a study was designed to examine the relationships among career adaptability, resiliency, and perceived obstacles to career development with a convenience sample of adolescent mothers. Results indicated that these adolescent mothers were similar to non-mothering peers in the planning and decision making dimensions of career adaptability but lower in exploration. Traits of personal resiliency and emotional reactivity were comparable to non-mothering peers, but relational resiliency was lower. Obstacles most often cited as impeding career development were pressing immediate needs and educational/career related concerns. Finally, the need to bridge the research to practice gap is discussed including considerations related to practitioners, organizations, and communication. In an effort to bridge the research to practice gap, the Interactive Systems Framework (ISF) is proposed as a model for communicating with practitioners through Synthesis and Translation, Support, and Delivery systems. The model is presented as an example for sharing with practitioners a culturally sensitive framework on the career adaptability of adolescent mothers supported by dissemination and implementation of research findings. / Ph. D.

As the instructional leader, principals must engage in on-going professional development training for their learning and to aid in improving student achievement (Grande, 2012). This quantitative study examined the present baseline of professional development offerings in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The research questions that were explored are as follows: What professional development programs do school divisions provide for principals in the Commonwealth of Virginia? What topics are included in the professional development programs? In what format are the topics delivered? What types of professional development programs are offered to support new principals in their role as the instructional leader? What types of professional development programs are offered to support veteran principals in their role as the instructional leader? To what extent are the professional development training/programs offered in the Commonwealth of Virginia aligned to the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) standards? How do the professional development offerings vary by superintendents' region, urbanicity and division size? Once the data were collected by surveying professional development coordinators or equivalent personnel, the researcher assessed the alignment of the school divisions' professional development offerings with the ISLLC Standards. These standards were designed to provide guidance to state policy makers as they worked to improve educational leadership preparation, licensure, evaluation, and professional development (CCSSO, 2008). The findings were: (1) professional development offerings for principals across the Commonwealth of Virginia are aligned with national standards; (2) school divisions in the Commonwealth provided professional development opportunities for principals with heavy emphasis on instruction as well as shared vision and school culture; (3) there is a low level of differentiation of professional development offerings for principals based on interest or individual need; (4) the professional development training sessions in the Commonwealth mostly consisted of "one shot" sessions with a few on-going learning opportunities; (5) the majority of the professional development sessions offered to principals were provided either by external or in-house presenters with few examples of internal and external partnerships;(6) school divisions across the Commonwealth of Virginia that provided professional development training sessions to principals relied heavily on face-to-face interaction and minimally utilized technology to transform the format of professional development opportunities; and (7) not all divisions maintained records of professional development for principals. / Ed. D.

School leaders are charged with the articulation of a clear vision for bringing about school change and providing students with an instructional program that promotes optimal learning (ISLLC, 2015). The purpose of this study was to examine secondary school principals' perceptions of professional development to achieve and/or maintain school accreditation. The study used a quantitative non-experimental research method along with simple descriptive statistics to analyze professional development experiences of principals and principal perceptions. The study included Virginia secondary schools in Region 2. Region 2 consists of 16 different school divisions with a total of 63 middle schools and 53 high schools. The research measured alignment of professional development to national ISLLC standards revealed in the literature review. Further examining relationship among relevance, quality, duration, format and differentiation of professional development for principals and variables such as school accreditation status. The research findings identified professional development experiences that were grouped by the following administrative themes: administrative, culture, data analyzing, instruction and technology. Approximately 99% of the professional development experiences were presented to principals face-to-face. All (100%) of the professional development experiences were aligned with the national ISLLC standards. Principals in the research study participated in only four online professional development experiences. Principals assigned to fully accredited schools accounted for 54.5% of the professional development experiences. Principals assigned to schools rated conditionally accredited reconstituted accounted for 28.7% of the professional development experiences. Implications for practice for improving the work of principals in secondary schools are recommended, as well as suggestions for future research. ' / Ed. D.

The purpose of this study was to examine (a) the ways in which employed feminist mothers of adolescent daughters share information about the world of work, and (b) how daughters are influenced by the communication they have with their mothers about careers. The research was conducted in a series of qualitative interviews with eight mother-daughter dyads and two mother-daughter triads. The mothers and adolescent daughters lived in one of two communities in the Southeastern United States. Mothers and daughters were interviewed together and separately. In the process of analyzing data from the interviews, 30 themes emerged. The themes in the category of "Mothers' Attitudes" were: 1) earlier career goals, 2) barriers to occupations, 3) sex discrimination at work, 4) sexual harassment, 5) positive professional experiences, 6) balancing work and family, 7) expectations of others, 8) something to fall back on, 9) division of labor at home, 10) influencing daughters' choices, 11) assessment of daughters' strengths and struggles, 12) workplace challenges daughters may face, 13) definitions of feminism, 14) comfort level with feminist label, 15) developing a feminist consciousness, and 16) feminism and child rearing. "Daughters' Attitudes" were coded: 1) dream job, 2) roads not to be taken, 3) career goals and objectives, 4)attitudes toward subjects in school, 5) influence of teachers and others 6) perceptions of mothers' expectations, 7) perceptions of mothers' work life, 8) career awareness and exploration, 9) fifteen years from now, 10) projected division of labor at home, 11) definitions of feminism, and 12) comfort level with feminist label. "Mother-Daughter Interaction" yielded two themes: 1) frequency and location of communication, and 2) advice and support for daughters' career choices. Recommendations for action included (a)that school personnel recognize mothers' contributions to career development, and (b) that schools and parents work together on eradicating sexism in schools. Some suggestions for areas for future research were (a) math teaching strategies, (b) parents and daughters in extra-curricular activities, (c) mothers in nontraditional careers, and (d) mothers and daughters in different cultures. / Ph. D.