Occupational aspirations of black South African adolescents

The Relationship Between Career Variables and Occupational Aspirations and Expectations for Australian High School Adolescents

This study surveyed 925 Australian high school students enrolled in grades 8 through 12 on measures of occupational aspirations, occupational expectations, career status aspirations, and career status expectations; it tested the association between these variables and career maturity, career indecision, career decision-making self-efficacy, and career barriers. Adolescents generally aspired to or expected to work within a small range of RIASEC (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, or Conventional) occupational categories. One third of students reported occupational aspiration and expectation discrepancies. These differed across gender and across age for female students but not for male students. Students who demonstrated both occupational and status aspiration and expectation discrepancies reported more career indecision, were less confident about making a career-related decision, and were less career mature. Students generally held higher occupational status aspirations than expectations, and male students were more likely to choose professional occupations than were female students. Age differences were found for status expectations but not for status aspirations.

Occupational Aspirations and Expectations of Australian Adolescents

Adolescents across the five years of high school (169 females and 164 males) completed a survey that identified occupational status aspirations and expectations coded into six types—realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, or conventional—according to the RIASEC model (Holland, 1997). As the focus of the study was to explore relationships between these traditional constructs and key career development constructs, measures of career maturity, career indecision, self-esteem, career goals and school achievement were also completed. Discrepancies between occupational aspirations and expectations were reported and the relevance of including career development constructs into these investigations was validated. Occupational status aspirations were associated with school achievement, self-esteem, and career maturity. Students who reported achieving well at school, who were more career mature, who had more career knowledge and who had higher self-esteem were more likely to aspire to professional status occupations. Students who did not report high academic achievement, who had less career knowledge and who had lower self-esteem were more likely to aspire to skilled or semi-professional status occupations.

Occupational Aspirations of Low Socioeconomic Black South African Children

There has been a call for a more systematic research focus on the career development of children from diverse socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds, with the viewpoint that children’s career development research needs to be contextually grounded in the countries and cultures where such development occurs. This article describes the occupational aspirations (in terms of typology and status level) of Black South African upper elementary school children of low socioeconomic status. A nonprobability convenience sample of 274 children (157 females, 117 males) from Grades 5 and 6 participated. Two open-ended questions from the Revised Career Awareness Survey were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results revealed that most children aspired to social and investigative type occupations, with over 80% aspiring to high status occupations. There were few gender differences. The implications of the findings as well as practical considerations in researching more disadvantaged populations are discussed.

Hermeneutic-Dialogical Approaches to Career Development: An Exploration

Career development research and practice in South Africa are largely informed by the ideology of self-contained individualism that ignores the social and cultural forces impinging on the process. We argue that hermeneutic and dialogical approaches, in emphasising that development results from exposure to various social and cultural perspectives or voices, provide a better theoretical framework for understanding career development. A narrative- based approach to career development is introduced, followed by examples. Finally, we argue that career development should be reconceptualised to take into account individuals' attempts to navigate their lives in a world that is increasingly characterised by unpredictable changes and uncertainties.