Indigenous Fijian female pupils and career choice: explaining generational gender reproduction

This paper examines aspects of the school-to-work transition process for high-achieving indigenous Fijian young women using selective data from a wider study of school-to-work transitions conducted in 2005. It appears that traditional and colonial understandings of the role of Fijian women still shape even high-achieving girls' career and life options; these are expressed through their subject choices at school and their narrow career aspirations. While the social reproduction mechanisms of schools are evident, families and communities are also implicated. High-achieving girls still tend to emulate the career choices of older women in their families and communities, even in the current context of a marked lessening of labour market opportunities for the time-honoured “white-collar” occupations of teaching, nursing and public service work. Some provisional interpretations, looking towards productive interventions at school, community and church level, of this phenomenon are offered.     

Game-based career learning support for youth: effects of playing the Youth@Work game on career adaptability

Choosing a career is one of the most important decisions that youth has to take but many young people find this a hard issue to engage with. Current career counselling practice does not appear very compelling or motivating to young people. Professional games could provide a more engaging and motivating way of acquiring professional awareness and competence for career decision making and learning. We present the design and effects of playing a game that aims to increase career awareness and adaptabilities in youth (13–19 years). In a Randomized Controlled Trial, 93 high school students from Iceland and Romania were asked to carry out career-oriented activities, with half playing an interactive game and the other half performing a paper-and-pencil version of the same activities. The students were compared on career adaptability, career learning and career awareness scores before and after these interventions. Main results show that engaging players in these career-oriented activities has short term effects on outcome scores for career adaptabilities and for perceptions of career learning competences. Students who played the game report significantly faster growth on career adaptabilities that deal with “concern”, “control” and “confidence”. It can therefore be concluded that introducing game-based learning in career decision support for youth is a promising endeavour.     

An extension of the realistic preview concept to various career transitions

A model is presented in which the realistic preview concept is extended beyond the job and organization choice situation for which it was originally suggested. Realistic previews are suggested for two major career transitions: the entry from high school to college and university and the transition from university to the world of work. The differences between high schools, universities and workplaces are discussed to highlight the need for realistic previews which pertain to aspects of the occupational field which a student pursues, as well as aspects of college or workplace environments. It is reasoned that realistic previews will soften those entry transitions in the same way that a realistic preview for job choice has been shown to be beneficial.     

Students’ career concerns: challenges facing guidance providers in higher education

The study reported here examined higher education career guidance at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland. In a survey (N = 880), students were asked to describe how much thinking they had done about their future career and forthcoming transition from university to working life. The use of different sources of guidance and counselling service providers was examined from the perspective of a student-centred holistic model of guidance. On the basis of the empirical findings, challenges facing career guidance in higher education are discussed.     

Facilitating engagement in new career goals: the moderating effects of personal resources and career actions

Goal engagement in young adults is variable. We recruited university students to test whether general personal characteristics (educational ability, core self-evaluations, and well-being; study 1, N = 195) and career adaptive variables (career confidence, exploration, and planning; study 2, N = 152) facilitated career goal engagement. Goal engagement was associated positively with goal disengagement in study 1. Moderating effects showed that the positive relationship between engagement and disengagement was stronger when core self-evaluations and well-being (satisfaction) were high, and when career confidence, exploration, and planning were high. Results are discussed in the context of transitions and promoting adaptable career goals.     

STEM Professionals Entering Teaching: Navigating Multiple Identities

In this qualitative study, we identify the complexity of the transitioning identities of four STEM career changers to better inform teacher education programs on how to be more mindful of the needs of this population as they return to the life of a student again on their path toward a new career in teaching. Findings suggest the career changers relied upon their identities from their previous careers to engage students in science; however, support is needed, both in terms of the coursework and returning to be a student again. Additionally, support is necessary for intervening in difficult placements and work situations as these STEM career changers make the transition to their newly chosen career of teaching science.     

Stimulating resources to cope with challenging times and new realities: effectiveness of a career intervention

A career intervention based on life design approach was devised for a group of young adults at risk for the process of career construction. It was aimed at fostering a series of resources useful to cope with career transitions, to encourage reflection on the future, to identify one’s own strengths, and to plan future projects. Results of the study provided evidence for effectiveness of the career intervention across at several methods of change assessment (statistical significance, clinical significance, and social validity) and highlighted the potential of the career intervention.     

Conceptualising institutional support for early,mid, and later career teachers

In this paper we argue that institutions need to support early career teachers to learn to teach in much the same way that students who are new to higher education are supported: through integrated and intentionally designed transition strategies. We take a published student transition typology and adapt it to identify ways of supporting early career teachers. We argue that strategies within each conception of our adapted typology are necessary to support a diverse cohort of higher education teachers, not only those who begin teaching each year, but those who are in their mid and later careers.     

The career plans of women

The impact of environmental forces and the interaction of occupational and family roles on career plans were explored in interviews with female vocational clients. Twenty unemployed women in career transitions were interviewed over a three-year period. The women were asked about their career plans at age 18, for the immediate, and the long-range future; the life events that happened and the effects these events have had on career directions. In addition, the women were asked whether they feel they are stuck or moving in their current job situation. Themes from the interviews affirm that role priorities for family and work have been shaped by socialization and changing opportunities. Many of the women, who felt unprepared previously to integrate occupational behavior in their lives, now report that the need for adaptability to work roles has become a priority.This research was partially supported by an award to the first author by the Canada Employment and Immigration Commission.     

Students’ perceptions of career conversations with their teachers

Internationally, schools acknowledge their responsibility in guiding students not only in their academic growth, but also in their lifelong career development. In relation to this development, vocational schools in the Netherlands are implementing integral career guidance in which teachers receive a new task in guiding students in developing their own learning and career paths. A questionnaire was developed to investigate students’ perceptions of career guidance by teachers during career conversations, and data involving 28 teachers were collected from 579 students. The study identified four different teacher guidance profiles. Remarkable is that teachers spoke very little about career issues, and school issues were mostly on the agenda. The results indicate that teachers struggle with the transition towards becoming a career guide of students, and aspects influencing the transition into this new role need to be considered.     

Facets of adaptability in career decision-making

International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance - We investigated the conceptual similarity and empirical overlap between the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS) and the career...     

Gender study on the relationships between science interest and future career perspectives

Gender disparities in STEM fields have been under extensive study, the focus of which has been on future career aspirations. However, the primary phases in gender differences are still ambiguous when examined from this perspective, possibly due to the fact that most of the studies have targeted samples of upper secondary school or college students. As such, in this study we examined the transient period to lower secondary school; our aim was to discover to what extent relationships between factors of students’ science interest and career perspectives differ between male and female. Based on previous studies and analyses, we selected three future career perspective variables – outcome, personal time, and innovation orientations – and three defining features of interest – personal value, enjoyment, and cognitive aspect. The sample was conducted in Finland and comprised of 401 grade 7 students aged 13, using a multi-group structural equation modelling. This study found that during the transient period there were clear gender differences regarding interest and preferences of science subjects, as well as their relationship towards future career perspectives. To be specific, biology was preferred by females, and males preferred physics and chemistry. With regard to future career perspectives, female students’ science interest was positively correlated with personal time- and innovation-oriented career perspectives; an outcome-oriented career expectation was negatively related to their interest. Interpretation and implication that might possibly arise from the results were also discussed.     

Zum Konzept des Beruflichen Übergangs – Eine Theoretische Erörterung unter Bezug auf Supers Ansatz zur Erklärung der Laufbahnentwicklung

On the concept of career transition – a theoretical discussion with regard to Super's theory of career development.The aim of this article is to promote a differentiated concept of career transitions. First, Super's theory concerning this topic is analysed. The conclusion is that Super considered career transitions as being processes that occur every time an individual is destabilised by socio-economic and/or personal events. In this respect, transitions from one life-stage to the next are not to be regarded as something special. Second, a general career transition model is outlined based on Super's approach and including theory elements developed by other researchers. Some dimensions of transition strategies are discussed using cases from an ongoing study. Finally, some implications for research and career counselling practice are formulated.     

玛丽亚?卡拉斯经典歌剧唱段演唱艺术特点探析

歌剧是音乐和戏剧相互融合的高级形式，在艺术领域有着深远的影响。在歌剧的发展历史中，先后出现了很多艺术大家，马丽亚?卡拉斯就是其中的代表人物之一。本文着重研究了卡拉斯的艺术经历，并分析了她经典歌剧的演唱艺术特点，以期古为今用，学习借鉴，促进歌剧事业的繁荣。     

Transition systems and non-standard employment in early career: comparing Japan and Switzerland

Even though Japan and Switzerland are characterised by comparatively low youth unemployment rates, non-standard forms of employment are on the rise, posing a risk to the stable integration of young labour market entrants. Drawing on the French approach of societal analysis, this paper investigates how country-specific school-to-work transition systems stratify the risk of non-standard employment in early career differently in Japan and Switzerland. Our results reveal that in Japan, young entrants who completed university education are least at risk of becoming employed in non-standard work. On the contrary, it is the highly educated university graduates who mainly enter the labour market via non-standard employment in Switzerland, where vocational education promotes smooth transitions into standard employment relationships. Our findings suggest that the transition systems of the two countries differ in the way they revert to non-standard forms of employment. However, while job insecurities may not endanger labour market integration of highly skilled university graduates holding good career prospects in Switzerland, they may go hand in hand with social exclusion processes for the low-educated young entrants lacking bargaining power in the segmented Japanese labour market.     

Gender and career optimism—The effects of gender‐specific perceptions of lecturer support,career barriers and self‐efficacy on career optimism

Female university graduates tend to have less career success than their male counterparts. Career optimism is considered a crucial predictor of future career success, but little is known about predictors of career optimism. Based on Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), we hypothesised that both perceived lecturer support and perceived career barriers impact career optimism via students’ self‐efficacy, and differentiated the model along gender lines using a subgroup path analysis. Two hundred and thirty‐two undergraduate psychology students from German universities answered an online questionnaire. Results revealed that the expected indirect effect of perceived lecturer support and perceived career barriers on career optimism via self‐efficacy was only identifiable in women. For men, we found a direct connection between perceived lecturer support and career optimism, as well as that an increase in perceived career barriers reduced males’ self‐efficacy. We were unable to identify any sex differences in career optimism.     

The creation of coherence in the transitional career. A narrative case study of the woman entrepreneur

This article analyses the career narrative produced by a woman working as a small-scale entrepreneur. Career and career transitions are analyzed in two ways: The sub-stories told in the interview have been analyzed using William Labov’s structural analysis of personal stories; career management competencies are used in the analysis of creating coherence in the career narrative. The characteristics of career created in the narrative, the transitions included in the career and how the entrepreneurial self is created in the narrative are explored.

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Résumé. Créer de la cohérence en transition de carrière: Une étude de cas de récit de femme entrepreneur. Cet article analyse le récit de carrière produit par une femme travaillant comme entrepreneur dans une petite entreprise. La carrière et les transitions de carrière sont analysées selon deux axes: les épisodes recueillis au cours de l’entretien ont été analysés en utilisant l’analyse structurale des histoires personnelles de William Labov; on a eu recours aux compétences de gestion de carrière pour analyser la fa?on de créer de la cohérence dans le récit de carrière. On explore les caractéristiques de la carrière créées dans le récit, les transitions incluses dans la carrière et la manière dont le soi entrepreneurial est créé dans le récit.

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Zusammenfassung. Die Schaffung von Koh?renz beim Berufsübergang. Eine narrative Fallstudie mit einer Unternehmerin. Dieser Beitrag analysiert die Berufslaufbahn, narrativ berichtet von einer Frau, die als Kleinunternehmerin arbeitet. Berufslaufbahn und Berufsüberg?nge werden in zweifacher Hinsicht analysiert: die im Interview erz?hlten Einzelberichte wurden an Hand von William Labov′s Strukturanalyse der pers?nlichen Geschichten untersucht und die Berufsmanagement- Kompetenzen werden in der Analyse daraufhin analysiert, wie Koh?renz innerhalb der Berufslaufbahngeschichte erzielt wird. Es werden die in dem narrativen Bericht gebildeten Merkmale der Berufslaufbahn, einschlie?lich der Berufsüberg?nge untersucht sowie die Art und Weise, wie das Unternehmer-Selbst in dem narrativen Bericht gebildet wird.

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Resumen. Creando coherencia en la transición de la carrera: Un estudio de caso narrativo de la mujer empresaria. Este artículo analiza las producciones narrativas de una mujer empresaria que trabaja en una compa?ía peque?a, en relación con su carrera. La carrera y las transiciones son analizadas de dos formas: las sub-historias contadas en la entrevista han sido analizadas usando la técnica de William Labov de análisis estructural de historias personales; las competencias para la gestión de la carrera se utilizan en el análisis de cómo crear coherencia en la narrativa sobre la carrera. Se exploran las características de la carrera creada en la narrativa, las transiciones incluidas en la carrera, y cómo se crea el ser empresarial en la narrativa.

     

A horizontal approach to school transitions: a lesson learned from Finnish 15‐year‐olds

Various school transitions provide both challenges and opportunities for pupils. The ways in which pupils cope with these transitions can have a significant impact on their everyday lives and futures. This study focuses on exploring the kinds of transitions pupils face during their comprehensive school path. The aim is to gain a better understanding of horizontal and vertical school transitions faced by Finnish ninth graders (n = 518) who are 15‐ to 16‐years‐old during their school careers. These transitions are empirically examined through two complementary aspects: (1) determining the horizontal and vertical transitions in the pupils’ school career; and (2) identifying the challenges faced by the pupils in these transitions. By introducing a horizontal and vertical school transition model and exploring the transitions in this framework we aim at contributing to breaking down the complexity of the transfer process.     

Uncovering important 21st-century skills for sustainable career development of social sciences graduates: A systematic review

BackgroundTeaching 21st-century skills is widely recognized as an important task of higher education. However, an overview of which skills students need to obtain a sustainable career is missing. Using the Framework for 21st Century Learning (P21, 2019a) and the model of sustainable careers (de Vos et al., 2020), we aimed to take stock of current knowledge on which 21st-century skills are considered important for social sciences students’ sustainable career development and how these skills contribute to their career sustainability.MethodsFor this systematic review, we searched EconLit, ERIC, International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS), PsycINFO, Scopus, Sociological Abstracts, and Web of Science on May 28, 2021. We selected peer-reviewed empirical articles that were published between 2003 and 2019 and addressed graduates' and employers' perspectives on the skills needed for social sciences graduates’ career sustainability. Twelve articles met all our selection criteria and were included for a thematic analysis after quality appraisal.ResultsThe included articles operationalized the career sustainability of social sciences graduates mostly in terms of finding a job and maintaining employment, to a lesser extent as high job performance, job satisfaction, and work engagement. Communication and problem solving skills were most frequently reported by both social sciences graduates and employers as crucial for a sustainable career. In addition, critical thinking, initiative and self-direction, and social and cross-cultural skills were also reported as important skills. None of the studies investigated mechanisms that would explain how these skills would exactly contribute to social science graduates’ career sustainability.DiscussionThe results of this review showed that studies to date have addressed only a limited number of career sustainability indicators. Moreover, explanatory mechanisms have largely been ignored. This is an important gap in the literature that future studies would need to address by building on the existing sustainable career development models.     

A comparison of career success between graduates of vocational and academic tertiary education

This paper analyses whether tertiary education of different types, i.e., academic or vocational tertiary education, leads to more or less favourable labour market outcomes. We study the problem for Switzerland, where more than two thirds of the workforce gain vocational secondary degrees and a substantial number go on to a vocational tertiary degree but only a small share gain an academic tertiary degree. As outcome variables, we examine the risk of being unemployed, monthly earnings, and variation in earnings (reflecting financial risk). We study these outcomes at career entry and later stages. Our empirical results reveal that the type of tertiary education has various effects on these outcomes. At career entry, we observe equal unemployment risk but higher average wages and lower financial risk for vocational graduates. At later career stages, we find that these higher average wages disappear and risk of unemployment becomes lower for vocational graduates. Thus, by differentiating the tertiary system into vocational and academic institutions graduates face a variety of valuable options allowing them to self-select into an educational type that best matches their individual preferences.