| Summary: | The current socio-political climate for reform in education has led psychologists to
question the role and relevance of psychological services such as counselling in schools.
Career counselling require urgent transformation along with the rest of the educational
system. If human resources in the future South African society are to be developed and
utilized to the maximum it is crucial for such services to address the needs not only of the
privileged, but also the disadvantaged sections of the population.
In South Africa large parts of the population are educationally disadvantaged and
deprived. In the past career counsellors in South Africa has focused to a very large extent
on the provision of a service to those people who attained a certain educational level.
Until recently the majority of the population has suffered severe restrictions in this
respect. In the present rapidly changing social, economical and political situation large
numbers of young people are in need of career counselling.
The significance of career counselling is evident in the relationship which exists between
the individual, school, work and society. The link between the school leaver, school,
work and community is crucial. Counselling should assist the school leaver to become
more knowledgeable about his or her abilities, aspirations, and values of work. It enables
the school leaver to get a grasp of the complexities of the world of work.
It was against this background that the present pilot study was undertaken to determine
the effectiveness of a career planning programme in providing school leavers from a
deprived community with the conseptual tools necessary for career planning.
The programme made use of an intensive progranune format which comprised sessions
covering such activities as self-, career- and educational-awareness and decision making.
Parts of a career workbook - ''Travelling the career highway" (Van Schoor, 1996) was
used in this study. The book is aimed at making a contribution to the Reconstruction and
Development Programme (Van Schoor, 1996:vii).
Forty eight school leavers at Promosa Secondary were randomly assigned using the
Solomon four group design. The Self Directed Search Questionnaire, the Commitment to
Career Choices Scale and the Knowledge Of Occupation Fields Questionnaire were used to
assess the impact of the career planning programme. Career differentiation, consistency,
career information, career commitment, and the tendency to foreclose were used to
indicate the impact.
Clear improvements were found in levels of consistency. Significant improvements were
found in differentiation, career information, career commitment and the tendency to
foreclose.
This study also indicates the limitation of career planning where additional input from the
social environment is required to effect an even more significant positive impact. Future
research should attempt to develop a more comprehensive intervention which includes
the whole community. === Thesis (MA (Bedryfs- en Personeelsielkunde))--PU for CHE, 1998
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