Work in Progress
Course expectations and career management skills
Summary
- Item:
- 10368
- Title:
- Course expectations and career management skills
- Type:
- Managed research project
- Project no:
- NR6007
- Status:
- Finished
- Date commenced:
- 1 July 2006
- Contact:
- Christine Haines
- phone: 08 9380 6633
Purpose
To investigate whether there is a relationship between students' expected private return on their investment in a vocational education and training pathway and their level of career management competence. We expect that students with better career development competencies will have:
* More realistic expectations of their training.
* More focused and specific vocational goals.
* A more accurate/realistic view of the work/occupational options associated with the learning pathway.
Approach
Interviews
Research questions
The project primarily addresses NCVER's identified research question stating "How well do people's views of the costs and benefits of VET align to the realities"?
It does this by addressing two closely related questions.
I. How realistic/practical are people's expectations of the potential benefits from their VET experience?
II. Is there a relationship between the degree of realism/practicality of expectations and the level of career management competence that students possess?
Methodology
A sample of VET students in the early phase of their training experience will be interviewed using a semi-structured interview methodology. These interviews will assess student expectations of their VET course, against their levels of career management competence to determine whether there is a relationship between the practicality of students' expectation of their VET learning program and their level of career management competence.
Subjects will be chosen across an appropriate stratification by age, area of study/industry sector, geographical location, type of employment where applicable/ type of pathway (apprenticeship, traineeship, Certificate, Diploma etc). Full determination of a sample size and stratification will take place as part of the interview design process. It is expected that 30-40 interviews, will be undertaken, however, this will depend on the final interview length, and appropriate analysis of the required sample size as a detailed methodology is further developed. Interviews will be both in person and by telephone. This methodology requires detailed one-to-one interviews, and extensive analysis of individual interview transcripts to determine both the accuracy of their expectations and their levels of career development competence.
Student expectations of course outcomes will be assessed in terms of their understanding of the 'promise of the course' as described in course information, and their career expectations - ie the likelihood of finding employment, their pay expectations, their expectations of the nature of the role that they will perform (tasks, duties, expectations, working environment, & lifestyle impact). Their "core" expectations of the course, or the major and most significant reasons for choosing that given pathway, will be considered
Assessment of career competence will be made using the 11 competencies of the Australian Blueprint for Career Development, and in particular competencies 4-11, which focus on learning and work exploration, and career building. Interview questions will be developed which ask students to assess themselves against the various indicators of development within each of these competencies, and to develop and elaborate upon their self-assessment. This method will generate a rich base of qualitative data on training expectations and an assessment of levels of career management competence.
In summary, VET expectations will be assessed for realism in terms of the 'promise' of the course itself, as provided in course information and advice from others, and expectations of work opportunities resulting from the course of study. This will be assessed on a case-by-case basis, including comparison against known data sets, occupational profiles and networks of labour market stakeholders.
Organisations
Miles Morgan Australia has been a specialist VET career development and labour market research company for 12 years.
Miles Morgan Australia are currently undertaking the following relevant research initiatives:
* Ongoing research for the annual updating of the JobGuide publication and the Get Access website
* The research trial for the Australian Blueprint for Career Development, of interest to AESOC & VET Senior Officials (NSOC)
* Reviewing the governance and management structures of a boutique, industry-focused VET institute for a State Training Agency
* Undertaking a scoping study for a National Skills Council on the feasibility of establishing a Cert IV qualification.
