Barriers experienced by male office management students in a traditionally nonmale environment: a comparative study

Abstract

Males are still underrepresented in the office management environment and this article pertains to the tendency to discriminate against men students studying towards administrative and office-related qualifications. The purpose of the study was to determine whether the perceptions (regarding various barriers in executing their studies) of male office management students in a female-dominated occupational career choice have changed since 2002 and to determine the level and quality of guidance received on entering this field. The study encompassed a literature review and empirical surveys (2002 and 2010) which were conducted by means of structured questionnaires. Although there was an overall increase in male office management student numbers, gender discrimination undoubtedly, as well as ineffective or no career guidance still had a negative effect on these individuals and their career choices. Educators and career guidance officers should take every possible measure to reduce all gender segregation and become more sensitive to and actually provide career guidance to students planning to make career choices.     

大学毕业生职业成熟度对职业决策的影响

大学毕业生的职业决策能力总体上处于中等水平;大学毕业生的职业成熟度和职业决策困难密切相关,职业成熟度越高,职业决策能力也越高,职业成熟度中的职业参照、职业目标、职业自主三维度对于职业决策能力有显著的预测作用。     

高师大学生职业兴趣现状调查--以陇东学院为例

为了解高师大学生职业兴趣的现状,采用陈社育于1997年依据霍兰德的职业兴趣量表修订的基于中国国情的职业兴趣问卷,运用问卷调查法和数据统计法,对110名在校大学生实施调查。结果显示,高师大学生职业兴趣在性别、生源地、学科方面差异非常显著,在年级方面差异不显著。由此可以得出结论：大学生职业兴趣呈现多元化发展。     

Still keen and committed: piloting an instrument for identifying positive veteran teachers

ABSTRACT

Since the mid-1980s, the working lives of teachers has become an enduring research topic. Much research has focused on early-career teachers and is often reported from deficit positions, i.e. why they leave the profession. However, career trajectory studies have described a small cohort of veteran teachers who remain positive and committed to teaching. This article reports on the creation and piloting of an instrument designed to test whether this positive cohort can be empirically identified within a wider teaching population. Four constructs (experimentation, challenge, comfort and leadership) drawn from Huberman (1993), and Day and Gu (2007) formed the basis for an online pilot survey completed by 145 teachers. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis supported three of the four factors (experimentation, comfort, leadership), with challenge loading strongly with experimentation. Initial findings suggest the potential of the instrument in helping identifying positive veteran teachers within systems, as well as the voracity of the research approach. Examining and articulating how these veteran teachers maintain their positive outlook may prove valuable as many countries confront an ageing teaching workforce, increasing student numbers and difficulties in retaining experienced teachers, meaning those who remain will be expected to sustain their commitment for longer.     

Relationships and early career teacher resilience: a role for school principals

Given the current climate of high levels of teacher attrition, it is critically important that we understand what keeps early career teachers in the profession. This paper reports early findings from a project addressing the question: ‘What conditions are conducive to promoting teacher resilience and retention in the first two years of teaching?’ The research aims to identify the internal strengths and external strategies that promote resilience in early career teachers. School leaders and first year teachers from 59 schools across two states in Australia contributed to in-depth, open-ended interviews in which they talked about the experiences of beginning teaching. From this data, narrative portraits were developed and emerging themes documented and analysed. A strong emerging theme is how relationships with principals influence teachers’ feelings of personal and professional well-being, with both negative and positive effects reported. This paper uses portraits of two early career teachers to examine this theme. The findings provide important insights for principals who wish to foster resilience in early career teachers.     

The influence of trust in principals’ mentoring experiences across different career phases

The purpose of this study is to examine the perceptions of primary school principals about the influence of ‘trust’ in their mentoring experiences. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used in the study. The Primary School Principals’ Mentoring Questionnaire previously developed by the researchers was applied to 1462 primary school principals. As a follow‐up study, focus groups were carried out with 50 school administrators at various career phases in order to gather more in‐depth data about the impact of ‘trust’ in the mentoring process. Results of the study showed that in different career phases, principals attached varied levels of importance to trust in the mentoring process.     

Beginning teacher attrition: a question of identity making and identity shifting

While there is discrepancy about the actual percentage of early career teachers that leave teaching in their first five years, one consistent discovery in a number of countries is that attrition is high for early career teachers. I became curious about early career teacher attrition as I watched colleagues leave the profession that they thought was a lifelong calling. In order to inquire into this phenomenon, I moved through a three-stage research process. First, I engaged in writing a series of stories about my experiences as a beginning teacher. Using autobiographical narrative inquiry, I then inquired into the stories in order to retell them looking for resonances across the stories. Secondly, I conducted a review of the literature, analyzing the studies to identify how the problem of early career teacher attrition was conceptualized. I identified two dominant problem frames: a problem frame situated within the individual and a problem frame situated in the context. Lastly, I offered a different conceptualization of the phenomenon of early career teacher attrition that draws on my autobiographical narrative inquiry and the literature review. I frame the problem of teacher attrition, not as a personal or a contextual problem frame, but as a problem of teacher identity making and identity shifting.     

Hunt the shadow not the substance: the rise of the career academic in construction education

Construction education is context-laden, navigating and reflecting the byzantine influences of period, place and person. Despite considerable rhetoric, in UK higher education and construction studies in particular the importance of contextualized teaching is being devalued. Over the past decade a growing number of new teaching staff to university lecturing has limited or no industrial experience of the construction sector. This paper explores the rise of the career academic in construction education and implications for teaching standards and student learning. Whilst career academics exhibit research skills and afford funding possibilities that universities find appealing, pedagogical studies suggest that experience-led, contextualized teaching offer students enhanced educational value. Policy-making and pedagogical strategies that continue to value research at the expense of teaching excellence coupled with recruitment of career academics as opposed to industry professionals present new challenges for construction education, teaching and student learning.     

Over time,how do post-Ph.D. scientists locate teaching and supervision within their academic practice?

While building a strong research profile is usually seen as key for those seeking a traditional academic position, teaching is also understood as central to academic practice. Still, we know little of how post-Ph.D. researchers seeking academic posts locate teaching and supervision in their academic practice, nor how their views may shift as they are hired into such positions. Drawing on a framework of identity-trajectory narrative, this two-year study of seven Canadian post-Ph.D. scientists examines in-depth the shifting place of teaching within their academic practice. A positive view of the role of teaching in the post-Ph.D. position evolved to a more complex positioning as individuals became pre-tenure. The contributions of this study include a focus on early career scientists (much previous research examines social scientists); its rare longitudinal reach following individuals across roles; and its integration of teaching within other academic work.     

Research and the academic developer: A new agenda

This paper argues that there is a need for academic developers to reassess their relationship to research, and suggests that research has to come centre stage in the practice of staff, educational and∧or academic development. The paper discusses the reasons for this and considers the implications for academic development practice. It begins with a discussion of some trends that signal the growing importance of inquiry for higher education. It highlights the important role that research and scholarship are coming to have in preparing students for a society characterized by uncertainty, complexity and plurality. It is argued that developers must become involved in this and that, if they are to be taken seriously in the future, they must become credible as researchers. Different models of the relationship between research and teaching highlight the role of developers in moving teaching and learning forward in a higher education context where teaching and research are more closely allied. Finally, the paper considers what developers need to do to prepare for the challenges lying ahead. In the argument, examples from the author's own practice are used to illustrate developers' changing agendas.