Difficulties that Young People Experienced in Career and Life Planning

Transcription

1 f May 10, 2017 No. 1 Difficulties that Young People Experienced in Career and Life Planning This issue of CLAP Inform aims to address the following questions: What difficulties do students experience when they make career-related decisions? Do students have sufficient adaptability in meeting career and life planning challenges? Are socioeconomic status and gender related to difficulties and adaptability? Do students in higher banding schools experience less career decision-making difficulties? Do students with many areas of interest and efficacy tend to have high difficulties in making career decisions? What training is needed to facilitate the competence of career guidance teacher? Does the public support the career and life planning needs of young people? Do students know what is career and life planning? Copyright 2017 CLAP for JC. All rights reserved. May 10, 2017 No. 1 Page 1

2 Copyright 2017 CLAP for JC. All rights reserved. May 10, 2017 No. 1 Page 2 What difficulties do students experience when they make career-related decisions? In 2015 to 2016, the CLAP for JC Project Team administered a questionnaire called the Career Decision-Making Questionnaire (CDDQ) to 20,118 senior secondary students in Hong Kong (Secondary 4 to 6). The CDDQ asked students to rate (using a 9-point scale with higher scores indicating larger degree of difficulties) their difficulties in approaching career-related decisions along three areas, which are (a) their readiness to make decisions (e.g., self-understanding, know what steps to follow in making decision), (b) need and availability of information (e.g., do they know where to obtain information about education and careers), and (c) the consistency of information gathered or received (e.g., are there contradictions in the information obtained). The findings revealed that many students reported moderate to high level of difficulties (mean = 4.89, sd=1.13) with 4.9% of students having mean scores higher than 7. The CDDQ scores of the CLAP Hong Kong student sample are compared to CDDQ scores of international samples (students, young adults) in other countries based on studies published within the last 10 years (i.e., 2007 to 2016). Overall, compared with international samples (e.g., Italy, Korea, UK, USA, Israel), Hong Kong students generally reported higher levels of difficulties (differences were statistically significant), covering their readiness for decision, and the need for and consistency of information. Whereas differences in difficulties could be attributed to a complex interplay of situational (e.g., whether the students were faced with educational or career transitions while taking the test) and personal (e.g., age) factors yet our overall findings suggest that the career and life planning needs of Hong Kong senior secondary students are rather substantial and require special attention in schools and community.

3 Copyright 2017 CLAP for JC. All rights reserved. May 10, 2017 No. 1 Page 3 Indeed, many senior secondary students are still struggling to understand what their interests are. When asked to indicate their career planning decision status, only 18.9% of students in the CLAP sample reported that they know what subjects and occupations they are interested in. There were 14.7% of students indicated that they did not have a direction, and 20.7% indicated that they only have a general direction. Do young people have sufficient adaptability in meeting career and life planning challenges? The research team of CLAP for JC administered the Career Adaptability Scale (CAAS) to 6,233 secondary 4 to 6 students. The CAAS is a measure that taps into self-competence and resourcefulness of individuals in facing career transitions, and it includes 4 components, which are concern (looking into the future), control (being responsible for the next steps), curiosity (thinking about self in diverse career/life situations and roles), and confidence (building confidence in actualizing career/life plans). Compared to international samples (e.g., USA, France, South Africa, see Tables 2 and 3) the CLAP Hong Kong student sample tended to have lower scores in career adaptability (differences were statistically significant). These findings suggest that there are strong needs to strengthen the career and life planning resourcefulness of young people in facing educational and career transitions. Table 2. Career Adaptability of highschool samples Large Sample (n=6,233) More F4 Smaller sample (n=543) F3 2 Hong Kong (CLAP) Hong Kong France USA South Africa Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea * Career Adapt-Ability Scale (CAAS) from 1=lowest to 5=highest 2

4 Copyright 2017 CLAP for JC. All rights reserved. May 10, 2017 No. 1 Page 4 Table 3: Career Adaptability of University and Young Adult Samples) Hong Kong (CLAP) Australia Singapore Switzerland (French & German) Korea China Belgium Switzerland (French) Italy Switzerland (German) Netherland Germany 13 countries Iceland China Shanghai, China Portugal Taiwan Brazil South Africa * 13 countries: Belgium, China, France, Iceland, Italy, Korea, Netherlands, South Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, USA, Brazil and Portugal 3 Career Decision-Making Difficulties and Career Adaptability Correlating Factors and Issues Additional analyses on the career decision-making scores and the adaptability scores were performed to answer several commonly raised questions related to career development of young people and career guidance. Are socioeconomic status and gender related to difficulties and adaptability? We expect SES and gender to play a role in affecting career development outcomes such as difficulties and adaptability. As expected, higher self-rated SES was related to lower level of difficulties and higher adaptability. As such, the findings suggest that students from lower social status have a bigger need for support on their career transitions than those from higher SES backgrounds. Gender differences are also identified. Male students reported higher level of career decision-making difficulties yet they also had higher level of career adaptability than female students. Male students might experience a higher level of difficulties due to the traditional gender role placed on them (e.g., family expectation for career achievement might be more salient for male than female in Chinese communities).

5 Copyright 2017 CLAP for JC. All rights reserved. May 10, 2017 No. 1 Page 5 Do students in higher banding schools experience less career decision-making difficulties? School banding was estimated based on information from school and HK EDB websites. Findings revealed that students in Band 1 schools had higher career decision-making difficulties scores than their counterparts in Band 2 and Band 3 schools, yet there was only statistical difference between students in Band 1 and Band 3 schools. In terms of career adaptability, students in Band 2 schools had higher scores than students in Band 3 schools but there was no difference between students in Band 1 schools and students in other school bandings. Results suggest that students in Band 1 schools actually expressed slightly higher levels of career decision-making difficulties than students in Band 3 schools, and there was no difference between the 2 groups on career adaptability. Students in Band 1 schools might experience more difficulties because they have to live up to the high-achieving expectations placed on them by schools and parents. Conversely, students in Band 3 schools might feel less immediate pressure and difficulties due to their relatively lower expectations to excel and succeed. Additional analyses of the CLAP dataset and further research efforts are needed to understand the unique difficulties that different student groups are facing. However, the findings from the CLAP dataset suggest that it is a myth that students in Band 1 schools have lesser need for help on career and life planning. Do students with many areas of interest and efficacy tend to have high difficulties in making career decisions? We are still in the process of understanding the complex relationship between interest, efficacy beliefs, and positive career development outcomes from the CLAP dataset. Our common sense is that those who are interested and competent in multiple areas might have trouble deciding and narrowing on a focus (i.e., experience more difficulties). However, our preliminary analyses suggest that students who have high overall interest and efficacy scores (that is, students with interest and efficacy beliefs in multiple areas) tend to have less difficulties and are more adaptable in approaching career transitions than those who with lower overall interest and efficacy scores. Many factors contribute to career decision-making difficulties and we need to look further into our data to understand the dynamics behind. The lesson learned is that those with high sense of efficacy also possess the necessary adaptability to overcome challenges they encountered. Hence, cultivating and strengthening interest and efficacy should be important part of career and life planning interventions.

6 Copyright 2017 CLAP for JC. All rights reserved. May 10, 2017 No. 1 Page 6 What training is needed to facilitate the competence of career guidance teacher? The CLAP for JC research team is trying to understand the needs of career guidance teachers and professionals. In , we surveyed 697 teachers who participated in career guidance service (average number of years of involvement career guidance was 5.7) and we asked them questions (18 items related to career guidance service) about their perceived competence and needs. Overall, teachers were moderate on their self-reported competence and their average score across all the items was 5.02 (s.d.= 1.96) on a 1 to 10 scale (higher scores indicate higher self-efficacy). None of the means of the 18 competence items was larger than 6 (the highest was 5.68). The three areas that teachers rated themselves as most competent were: understand career and life planning principles, conduct career counseling, and help students prepare for further studies and job employment. The three areas that teachers rated themselves the lowest in efficacy were: implement parent education to support students career and life planning, help students from diverse ethnic background, and develop a school-based plan. In terms of needs, the two most important needs identified were learn about the latest on multiple pathways for young people (55% of respondents selected this as a need) and receive training on individual and group career counseling (49%). Other popular needs were career and life planning support for students with special educational needs (34%) and career and life planning curriculum (33%). The responses suggested that career guidance teachers perceive their needs as involving both knowledge and skills. It is important to equip career guidance teacher with knowledge about educational and career opportunities. It is, however, impossible to know all the information and teachers should refer students to sources of information and teach them how to evaluate and use information. How to talk with students about career and life planning, and how to conduct career counseling with students are viewed as important to teachers in the skill area. Incidentally, in our student survey, it was found that students who felt that they were connected with teachers and peers were more likely to have lower career decision-making difficulties and higher adaptability scores. Accordingly, facilitating the career counseling skills of teachers is one of the major school interventions of CLAP for JC. Does the public support the career and life planning needs of young people? The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust conducted a 2016 public opinion poll on the views of the public on career and life planning of young people. The survey successfully contacted 1,005 respondents age 15 or older. The public is still quite uninformed about what is career and life planning, as 71% expressed that they do not know what it is. Yet one could also see this as an improvement as the percentage was 81% in a similar opinion conducted in On who is most suitable to help young people on career and life planning, teachers (39%) and parents (36%) are the most favorite choices, followed by social workers (16%), relatives (14%), and peers (14%). The public tended to see schools and homes as the bases of career and life planning and teachers and parents as the key providers of advice and support

7 Copyright 2017 CLAP for JC. All rights reserved. May 10, 2017 No. 1 Page 7 However, it is important to note that there are many young people who are unengaged in education, or who are not closely connected with their parents. Engaging and equipping youth workers and other stakeholders such as business partners and mentors would help to bring about additional support and resources to help young people on their career and life planning. The view of the public is clearly on the side that an interest-based career and life planning approach is preferable. Seventy-two (72) percent of respondents agreed that Hong Kong society placed too much emphasis on examination results which served to obstruct the career development of young people. Ninety-three (93) percent of respondents agreed that young people have multiple potential and interest and the society should provide multiple pathways for them to actualize their strengths. Relatedly, 69% of respondents felt that young people should choose career paths that are compatible with their interest and competence. Meanwhile, 82% of respondents expressed that they are willing to help and support young people on their career and life planning endeavors. One could make the point that the Hong Kong education is still an examination-driven system and multiple pathways of success are more an ideal than reality. The view of the public is encouraging and CLAP for JC would continue to help young people through its youth-centered interventions. Career and life planning should start with the interest and passions of young people, the process should be fun and engaging, and through that young people should be able to see the multiple pathways that they could pursue in their life and career that could bring about satisfaction and contribution. Do students know what is career and life planning? Senior secondary students in the CLAP for JC sample were asked to indicate their understanding of what is career and life planning? (n=3,452, sampled from students using the CLAP e-platform in January-March 2017). 31.5% of students responded that they know nothing about (5.1%) or know very little about career and life planning (26.4%). Other students chose have a basic understanding (41.9%), know much but there are still things that I am not sure (22.7%), and I am familiar with what is career and life planning and its application to daily life (3.8%). These findings suggested that there are still rooms to help students understand and practice career and life planning through secondary education. Professor Alvin Leung Dean, Faculty of Education,CUHK Chief Principal Investigator, CLAP for JC