Making a career decision is an important part of life. A plethora of theories seek to understand the way students make career decisions, most of them found in the field of psychology. The same trend is evident in South Africa, where psychology continues to underpin career guidance and counselling practices. While this is useful, it is equally important to consider different theoretical approaches – for example, the sociological approach. This article is inspired by a doctoral study conducted by one of the authors, and aims to bring to light a less dominant theory that can add value to our understanding of career decision-making, especially in the public Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) college sector. The main argument of the article is that whereas all theories are important and valuable, no single theory can explain all situations and individual circumstances. Each theory is guided by its perspective and covers some issues while neglecting others. Indeed, a theory that seeks to explain everything is likely to be found wanting. We therefore do not discredit any theory, but seek to add the voice of the sociological Careership Theory to existing debates and conversations about career decision-making. Our special interest is in the public TVET college sector as we have noted an almost complete absence of literature on career decision-making by TVET students. There is, however, literature that looks at why students enrol in public TVET colleges, and also their experiences there. In addition to the original conceptualisation of the Careership Theory, this article adds other conceptual tools associated with the work of Appadurai. We do so because we acknowledge that a theory cannot remain static and that, as the social world changes, so must theories if they are to accommodate new social experiences.

Recent post-schooling policy continues to emphasise the importance of technical vocational education and training (TVET) for employability in the workplace, thus largely reflecting the interests of capital. However, the discourse of educating for employability is under increasing attack as unemployment levels rise; and recent policy has begun to argue for a consideration of skills for livelihoods other than formal employment. Unemployment disproportionately affects the youth and those living in rural areas, and TVET policy has begun to address this. However, such policy remains firmly within neoliberalism, and does not address the interests or lived experience of rural youth. A reimagining of TVET is required. In this, there is a need to understand what rural youth themselves consider to be most appropriate for local development needs. This article reports on a qualitative study done with ten youth from Limpopo Province to investigate what sort of TVET out-of-school youth consider to be relevant in their context. Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. n.d. Agricultural Education and Training Access Barriers Report. 11 March 2012 Department of Higher Education and Training. (2011). National skills development strategy III. Pretoria: Department of Higher Education and Training. Department of Higher Education and Training. (2012). Green paper for postschool education and training. Pretoria: Department of Higher Education and Training. Department of Higher Education and Training. (2013). White Paper for postschool education and training. Pretoria: Department of Higher Education and Training. Department of Higher Education and Training. (2015). Policy on minimum requirements for programmes leading to qualifications for educators and lecturers in adult and community education and training. Pretoria: Department of Higher Education and Training. Department of Rural Development and Land Reform. (2011). National rural youth service corps. 11 October 2012. DPLG. n.d. Report on the baseline research for youth development, gender equity and disability. 1 May 2012.

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