M.Ed. / With the introduction of Curriculum 2005, which was followed by the National Curriculum Statement and later on by the Revised National Curriculum Statement, a whole new world was opened for all the learners in the RSA. Life Orientation became a compulsory subject up to Grade 12. One of the focus areas of Life Orientation is careers and career guidance. Unfortunately very few educators are properly trained to handle this very important educational domain. Learners in the rural areas have a bigger drawback than their peers in the urban areas, seeing that they very often don’t have access to electricity and therefore the electronic media and facilities, such as computers and internet to improve their career knowledge and their knowledge of the world of work. The challenge to open the world of work and tertiary education to these learners is a very real one. This study focused on the evaluation of the implementation of a career guidance programme in a rural area of Mpumalanga. A qual-quan mixed method methodology was used to gather raw data from various sources. The quantitative raw data was gathered through a pre- and post-test of Grade 10 learners from four rural schools with the Career Development Questionnaire. The statistical analysis of these data had limitations, such as the small number of control school participants as well as the problem of English language proficiency. The qualitative data was derived from feedback from Life Orientation educators after they had been trained, semi-structured interviews with open ended questions with Life Orientation educators and Grade 10 learners, observation and field notes and a reflective journal from the researcher. The findings from the results reflected firstly on the outcomes of the career programme in terms of achievement of career maturity as measured according to the sub-scales identified by Langley. The conclusion was that the experimental group did increase their scores from the pre- to the post-test. The increase was however very small and all the participants still ended on the scale where they still needed to improve their knowledge and skills on all the sub-scales. A number of themes referring to LO educators, the school community environment and English language proficiency provided information about the implementation of the programme. Although the results of the outcomes in terms of career maturity were not substantial, the qualitative data provided findings about the positive impact of the training of LO educators for career guidance teaching, their experience of empowerment, the creation of a positive attitude and the positive impact of the CPAWs to learners and educators. Barriers that were identified through the emerging themes were the lack of English language proficiency and a school community environment that was not conducive to career exploration and career decision-making and planning. In reflection, the general consensus among the Life Orientation educators was that the continuation of the program should get the highest priority. They believe that if it can continue, it will have a positive impact on the Grade 12 results and through this a positive impact on the lives of many learners, especially in the rural areas. Recommendations were made about the improvement of aspects of career maturity through exposure to career information and the improvement of conditions at schools to facilitate the implementation of career guidance and effective LO teaching.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:8649 |
| Date | 07 June 2012 |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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