The impact of a career intervention programme on South African Grade 11 learners’ career decision-making self-efficacy

Abstract

There have been increasing calls for career development interventions that take the local context into account while providing a firm theoretical basis to engage with the career processes and attributes of individuals coming from diverse backgrounds. The goal of this study was to determine the effect of a career intervention programme derived from Social Cognitive Career Theory on the career decision-making self-efficacy of Grade 11 learners at three schools with diverse socio-economic backgrounds in the Eastern Cape. Using a quasi-experimental design, measurements were taken at a pretest, post-test and a follow-up occasion 8 weeks after the completion of the programme in a sample of 222 learners using the Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale. The study demonstrated that the career decision-making self-efficacy of the intervention group improved significantly subsequent to the career intervention programme underscoring the value of the career intervention programme. Although the current study demonstrated a medium effect on the intervention group by the end of the intervention, the time period of the programme may not have been long enough to sustain the impact 8 weeks after the completion of the programme. This may suggest that a longer intervention period or intermittent reinforcement such as booster sessions may be needed to sustain the effect. The study confirms that a group-based career development programme, designed specifically for the South African context, can serve as an essential tool to help high school learners from different socio-economic backgrounds enhance their career maturity expressed in terms of their career decision-making self-efficacy.

The Impact of a College Career Intervention Program on Career Decision Self-Efficacy, Career Indecision, and Decision-Making Difficulties

“…This finding reinforces the evidence base that interventions incorporating Bandura’s four sources of information through which self-efficacy is modified are indeed effective in modifying CDSE (Reese & Miller, 2006; Scott & Ciani, 2008). This study not only builds on the work of Miles and Naidoo (2016), who found gains in CDSE following the completion of careers intervention program based on Bandura’s four sources of information and Brown and Crane’s five critical ingredients, but goes one step further by demonstrating that such interventions can be effective in reducing CDDs.…”

Effects of a Career Course on Chinese High School Students' Career Decision‐Making Readiness

“…Career education courses should be implemented early, ideally during the first or second year of high school. It would then be possible to reinforce the knowledge and skills learned across the students' entire time in high school, because a longer intervention period would reinforce and sustain the effect of the intervention (Miles & Naidoo, 2017). Schoolwide, a proactive curriculum focusing on school engagement can motivate students in career aspiration (Kenny et al, 2006; Martinez et al, 2017).…”

Career-Specific Parenting Practices and Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Among Chinese Adolescents: The Interactive Effects of Parenting Practices and the Mediating Role of Autonomy

“…Students who are highly confident about their capacity in making better career decisions would have more interest to nurture their career goals, devote more time to their career explorations, and may probably make better career decisions ultimately (Gushue et al, 2006; Chiesa et al, 2016). Thus, it seems warranted to identify the antecedents of adolescents’ CDSE (Miles and Naidoo, 2017).…”