A Career Education and Development Framework and measure for senior secondary school students

Abstract

Career development learning is increasingly emphasized as a curricular strategy to prepare students for their post-compulsory school transitions to further study or employment. Educators require career development frameworks and resources to support students’ reflective learning. The present research tested a hypothesized Career Education and Development Framework (CEDF) comprising eight factors: The understanding of self; opportunities; influences; goal setting; decision-making; taking action; reflecting/reviewing; and confidence. The hypothesized framework was tested by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using data from two independent studies with samples ( n = 567, n = 272) of senior secondary school students from different schools and jurisdictions. In addition to acceptable overall fit, invariance testing revealed consistency across gender on most factors.

Career education and development scale for secondary and tertiary students in Vietnam

“…via separate studies which administered the CEDS-Senior VN and the CEDS-Tertiary VN in samples of high school and university students. Both studies found an eight-factor model consistent with the original measure (McCowan et al, 2023) that was based on the conceptual framework of Marciniak et al (2022). The majority of CEDS subscale mean scores were relatively consistent across year levels and gender.…”

“…Participants respond to a 5-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). The original studies of two independent samples (McCowan et al, 2023) found Cronbach α coefficients of self (0.77, 0.87), influences (0.62, 0.78), opportunities (0.81, 0.87), goals (0.86, 0.90), decision-making (0.76, 0.86), taking action (0.78, 0.85), reflecting/reviewing (0.78, 0.85), and confidence (0.74, 0.86). Table 2 presents the Cronbach α coefficients found in the present study.…”

“…The four versions are appropriate to age and developmental stage, holistic, brief, and useful for individual students, teachers, career practitioners, and institutional administrators. The original eight-factor model was affirmed by confirmatory factor analyses with evidence of concurrent validity in correlations with career-related constructs, and a shorter version was affirmed for students in elementary school (e.g., self-efficacy, vocational outcome expectations; McCowan et al, 2023).…”

“…A relatively simple, holistic, economical, and culturally appropriate measure is required by schools and universities to enhance CED programs and activities. The present research meets that need by providing Vietnamese language versions of the Career Education and Development Scales (CEDS; McCowan et al, 2023) Marciniak et al (2022) published a comprehensive review of the constructs career maturity, career readiness, and career adaptability that have been used to understand the career preparedness of adolescents, which they defined as "the attitudes, knowledge, competencies and behaviors necessary to deal with expected and unexpected career transitions and changes" (p. 19). Based on their review, Marciniak et al developed an integrative conceptual framework which builds on extant frameworks (e.g., Lent & Brown, 2006;Rottinghaus & Miller, 2013).…”