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Attitudinal career maturity of students in a secondary school
Author
Chan, Grace Cheow Yong
Supervisor
Tan, Esther
Abstract
This study was undertaken to assess the attitudinal career maturity of the students in a secondary school in Singapore. The investigation focused particularly on the effects of seven factors on the career maturity attitude of the students, namely, age/grade level, sex, socioeconomic status, school factors such as academic ability and career guidance, home factors such as parental involvement and, finally, career planning/exploration.
The sample consisted of all the students (642) in the secondary school. Purposure sampling technique was used to obtain subsamples of high groups and low groups for socioeconomic status and parental influence variables. A General Information Questionnaire and the Career Maturity Inventory - Attitude Scale (modified version of crites CMI - Attitude scale) were used to gather data. Students were administered the questionnaires by their class teachers in their own classes on different days.
Findings of the study revealed that the overall attitudinal career maturity of the students showed a general increase with age/grade level from Secondary 1 to Secondary 5. Significant differences in career maturity were observed between students in upper secondary levels and students in the lower secondary levels. Significant sex differences were found in the attitudinal career maturity of students with female students scoring higher than males in all aspects of attitudinal career maturity. In the area of academic ability the findings did not reveal any significant differences in academic ability in terms of the 3 variables investigated, namely, students' self rating of academic performance, Course (Normal : lower academic ability; Express : higher academic ability) and Stream (Science : higher academic ability; Arts or Technical : lower academic ability). Students who rated themselves higher in academic ability did not perform significantly better on the Attitude Scale compared to students who rated themselves lower academically. Science students did not differ significantly in career attitude compared to Arts or Technical students. Express Course students were not significantly superior to Normal Course students in overall attitudinal career maturity although they were found to be more independent in career decision making than Normal Course students. No significant difference was found in the overall attitudinal career maturity of students from different socioeconomic status backgrounds.
However, a significant difference was found in the involvement in Career decision making dimension of the Attitudinal Scale in favour of the lower socioeconomic status students. In the area of career guidance, the findings confirmed that the school had a key role to play in the career development of the students by way of career guidance. Students who were exposed to career guidance activities seemed to have more mature work attitudes than students who did not participate in career guidance activities at all and who did not consult their teachers on career matters. The results showed that parental involvement had considerable influence on the career development of the adolescents. Those students who had career role models and whose parents took an interest in their career planning were found to be attitudinally more career mature than students who had no career role models and whose parents were less involved in their career planning. In the area of career planning/exploration, students who were more involved in career planning were found to have more mature work attitudes than their counterparts who spent less time and effort in planning their careers.
The sample consisted of all the students (642) in the secondary school. Purposure sampling technique was used to obtain subsamples of high groups and low groups for socioeconomic status and parental influence variables. A General Information Questionnaire and the Career Maturity Inventory - Attitude Scale (modified version of crites CMI - Attitude scale) were used to gather data. Students were administered the questionnaires by their class teachers in their own classes on different days.
Findings of the study revealed that the overall attitudinal career maturity of the students showed a general increase with age/grade level from Secondary 1 to Secondary 5. Significant differences in career maturity were observed between students in upper secondary levels and students in the lower secondary levels. Significant sex differences were found in the attitudinal career maturity of students with female students scoring higher than males in all aspects of attitudinal career maturity. In the area of academic ability the findings did not reveal any significant differences in academic ability in terms of the 3 variables investigated, namely, students' self rating of academic performance, Course (Normal : lower academic ability; Express : higher academic ability) and Stream (Science : higher academic ability; Arts or Technical : lower academic ability). Students who rated themselves higher in academic ability did not perform significantly better on the Attitude Scale compared to students who rated themselves lower academically. Science students did not differ significantly in career attitude compared to Arts or Technical students. Express Course students were not significantly superior to Normal Course students in overall attitudinal career maturity although they were found to be more independent in career decision making than Normal Course students. No significant difference was found in the overall attitudinal career maturity of students from different socioeconomic status backgrounds.
However, a significant difference was found in the involvement in Career decision making dimension of the Attitudinal Scale in favour of the lower socioeconomic status students. In the area of career guidance, the findings confirmed that the school had a key role to play in the career development of the students by way of career guidance. Students who were exposed to career guidance activities seemed to have more mature work attitudes than students who did not participate in career guidance activities at all and who did not consult their teachers on career matters. The results showed that parental involvement had considerable influence on the career development of the adolescents. Those students who had career role models and whose parents took an interest in their career planning were found to be attitudinally more career mature than students who had no career role models and whose parents were less involved in their career planning. In the area of career planning/exploration, students who were more involved in career planning were found to have more mature work attitudes than their counterparts who spent less time and effort in planning their careers.
Date Issued
1994
Call Number
HF5382.5.S5 Cha
Date Submitted
1994