Abstract
Background: South African learners need more career preparation, as it provides a sense of control in the current economic climate of high unemployment, as confirmed by the business sector.
Objective: The intentions of this study were to gain an understanding of the manner in which learners make use of career adaptability as a scaffold to prepare for the workplace, as well as the way African proverbs assist learners with thinking critically and deconstructing the career adaptability construct.
Method: The study was an exploratory case study with 20 Grade 11 black African learners from an urban government secondary school in the Gauteng province, South Africa.
Results: The study confirmed that scaffolding the career adaptability construct to career construction encouraged learners to think critically about their career planning strategies.
Conclusion: The results demonstrated the extent to which the career adaptability construct functioned as a teaching scaffold during learners’ career preparation activities.
Contribution: This study was undertaken to understand how learners plan for careers in the 21st-century world of work. The career adaptability construct was explicitly chosen to explore the potential possibilities for supporting learners and function as an instructional scaffold in the career path development process. The study can potentially add value to career education in all South African schools.
Keywords: career adaptability; career construction; career counselling; career identity; career planning; career resilience; African proverbs; employability; instructional scaffold; life design.
Introduction
The negative impact the Fourth Industrial Revolution had on employment is dire. Advances in technology and digitalisation have impacted the job market and have made many traditional job roles obsolete. To further complicate matters, the Fifth Industrial Revolution recently emerged worldwide and relies on digitalisation and information exchange among businesses, machines and humans (Sarfraz et al., 2021). The Fifth Industrial Revolution focuses on artificial intelligence, where machines are expected to replace human workers in workplace administration, potentially eliminating professional, desk and managerial tasks and making countless jobs obsolete (Sarfraz et al., 2021).
Further to the expected job losses mentioned here, the Future of Jobs Report 2023 predicted that most losses would occur in administration, traditional protection, manufacturing and retail jobs (Anon, 2023) Record-keeping and administrative positions, such as Tellers and Booking Agents, Data Input, Accounting, Bookkeeping, Payroll Officials, and the Factory and Security industry, are expected to lose 26 million jobs by 2027 (Anon, 2023).
Considering these job losses, it is alarming that South African youth unemployment stood at a staggering 44.3% in the fourth quarter of 2023 (Statistics South Africa, 2024). As a result, Wilson et al. (2017) highlight the value of instructing learners on the skills essential to effective career planning and guaranteeing thorough and proficient career development support.
Scientific value
According to Ms Ina Opperman at the Citizen (2023), South African youth must be prepared with essential skills, understanding and approaches to succeed in the workplace. In addition, Mr. Yuneal Padayachy, Chief Support Officer at the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) Chamber, asserts that as South Africa’s forthcoming leaders, the youth have a significant role in determining the country’s economic development and growth (Opperman, 2023).
Over and above, because of the changing nature of the workplace in the 21st century, young individuals find the transition from education to work unclear and stressful (Peila-Shuster, 2016). This study explored the efficacy of using constructive career adaptability as an instruction tool in preparing learners to enter the workforce.
Aims, research questions and objectives
The study explores learners’ self-construction of careers with the psychosocial construct of career adaptability as an instructional scaffolding aid to prepare learners for the world of work.
Research questions
- How do learners plan and prepare for the world of work?
- How do learners respond to career adaptability as an aid to construct careers?
- How do African proverbs support learners with critical thinking and deconstructing the career adaptability construct?
The objectives of this study were to:
- Explore learners’ preparation for the world of work.
- Understand how learners apply career adaptability as a scaffold for constructing careers.
Theoretical framework
The study utilised Guichard’s self-construction theory and Savickas’ career construction theory (Guichard, 2016; Savickas, 2012). Life design for career construction is intended to be ongoing, extensive, contextual and precautionary (Savickas, 2012). Individuals create their identities via social engagement based on these two theoretical conventions. Career construction and self-construction theories suggest that individuals may acquire personal significance from multiple life events, evaluate these experiences for increased self-awareness, and then employ this knowledge to boost career planning and self-development (Maree, 2020). Career adaptability, a psychosocial concept that improves people’s ability to plan for their future and adapt to changing circumstances, emerged from the life design for career construction theory (Savickas et al., 2009).
Career adaptability
Career adaptability developed from the career maturity construct in Super’s life-span, life-space theory (Hartung & Cadaret, 2017). Super contended that career maturity was essential for life-stage success as individuals evolved through the developmental stages, especially during the discovery phase. Career maturity is characterised (Hartung & Cadaret, 2017) as having the capacity (cognitive readiness) to acquire a specific method of looking at things (attitudinal readiness) to reach sound career decisions. Attitudinal readiness includes proactively planning for and exploring a potential career path. Career adaptability (Hartung & Cadaret, 2017) launched as a construct for enhancing career maturity, but it eventually evolved into a meta-competency that successfully supports career construction and life design.
Career adaptability (Savickas, 2013) is a socio-psychological instrument that allows individuals to manage career development, changes and stress issues affecting their social integration. According to Hartung and Cadaret (2017), it is a person’s internal mental and sociological capability to cope with career growth initiatives, employment changes and workplace pressures.
The four pillars of career adaptability (see Table 1) are beneficial as they enable learners to mould and remodel themselves while developing careers in a constantly shifting workplace (Peila-Shuster, 2015).
| TABLE 1: Career adaptability and its foundational pillars. |
Career adaptability, argues Savickas (2009; 2012), necessitates an individual’s perspective of career preparation, exploring oneself and the marketplace of work and arriving at adequately informed choices about one’s future, whether or not one is an adult or an adolescent (Duarte et al., 2017). Career adaptability is a crucial component or foundation in young people’s and adolescents’ career growth (Patton, 2017). Patton, in addition, points out Savickas’ description of career construction as learners’ enthusiasm for pursuing career planning notwithstanding the uncertain and constantly shifting world of work.
To further clarify the foundation of career adaptability for learners, Table 2 shows the abundance and shortages in learners regarding planning for the world of work.
| TABLE 2: Four pillars of career adaptability. |
Savickas’ (2013) research indicates that individuals who exhibit career concern, control, curiosity and confidence can better adapt to contextual changes and shifts in the workforce.
Research methods and design
Study design
This qualitative study utilised the interpretivist paradigm, incorporating case studies, personal narratives, interviews, observation and collaboration to explore and challenge participants’ social realities (Nieuwenhuis, 2016a). Researchers do not wish to elucidate, anticipate, or influence perspectives but attempt to grasp, interpret and debunk participants’ social reality via their individualised points of view (Nieuwenhuis, 2016b).
The study utilised a single case study methodology. In this qualitative research approach, a researcher interacts with a bounded unit in a real-life setting for a set period (Creswell & Poth, 2018). They gather extensive data from various sources, such as observable evidence, debates, electronic communication and written information. For this study, a single case study aptly supported the portrayal of the specific issue (Bloomberg, 2018). The researcher collected data by using a variety of methods, that is observation and field notes, group reflection, reflective writing for phase one and a focus group for Phase 2 over a 2-month period with a group of learners at a single site location.
Study population and sampling strategy
The study involved Grade 11 learners from a Gauteng province public high school, chosen for their ability to initiate adult thinking and take responsibility for career options. The researcher chose this school because of its proximity and representation of most South African learners, as per Patterson (2018).
The study invited Grade 11 learners (Phase 1) at a chosen school to participate in a workshop at the school, with digital and hard copies distributed to interested learners. The researcher used a funnelling strategy to select more participants than needed, expecting a percentage of absences and using a funnelling approach to increase awareness of the workshop (Nieuwenhuis, 2020a).
The workshop involved 18 black male and female learners who volunteered after signing consent forms. In Phase 2, eight mixed-gender participants were chosen for the focus group based on their level of involvement, commitment, and engagement (Nieuwenhuis, 2020b).
Intervention
This study followed a single case study design. The case study was divided into two phases.
Phase 1 involved a workshop for Grade 11 learners in an urban government high school, focusing on the four career adaptability pillars: career concern, curiosity, control and confidence (Hartung & Cadaret, 2017). The workshop introduced learners to the career adaptability construct, allowing them to reflect on the four pillars. Career concern, curiosity, control and confidence were deconstructed into African proverbs to enhance understanding and discussion of career adaptability, enhance their reflection and understanding and serve as an instructional scaffold. A scaffold is a makeshift structure used in construction and education. It refers to how instructors assist students in achieving learning outcomes (Van de Pol et al., 2015). In Vygotsky’s cognitive development, scaffolding supports learners’ thorough understanding when engaging with topics in their zone of proximal development (Woolfolk, 2020). The workshop was conducted in a school classroom.
Phase 2 comprised the visual representation of the five workshop sessions (see Table 3). A focus group interview was conducted with eight Grade 11 students who participated in the workshop. The purpose was to reflect on the application of career adaptability in creating career paths, focusing on its effectiveness as an instructional scaffold in constructing career paths.
| TABLE 3: Phase 1: workshop session layout and content. |
Data collection
Observation and field notes
Phase 1 consisted of five workshop sessions covering the four career adaptability dimensions. Observation and field notes were techniques employed to collect rich data sets by observing the learners’ conduct (Creswell & Guetterman, 2024). The researcher, acting as a participant-observer, recorded field notes during sessions, allowing learners to immerse themselves in group activities, while the research assistant observed from a distance, making field notes (Creswell & Creswell Báez, 2021).
Group reflection
During Phase 1 workshops, learners formed small groups. The study focused on the career adaptability construct. Ramlal and Augustin’s (2020) research emphasises the importance of intentional contemplation and observation of thoughts, emotions or circumstances to understand and make meaning of these experiences.
Reflective writing
Bolton and Delderfield (2018) emphasise the importance of writing as a strategy for reflection, particularly in the context of career construction. They argue that writing allows learners to gain distance and understand the learning experience, enhancing their focus and understanding of the topic. This approach was beneficial in Phase 1.
Focus group interview
Phase 2 of the workshop included a focus group interview to learn how students viewed the content and how career adaptability supports career preparation.
Data analysis
The study followed Creswell and Poth’s five-step data analysis and interpretation method. These steps include organising, preparing, reading, labelling and using a coding system to organise data into themes, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of the data (Creswell & Poth, 2017).
A hybrid approach to inductive and deductive data analysis was adopted. The researcher had previously determined the main themes of career adaptability and deductively organised the data around the four pillars of career adaptability (Xu & Zammit, 2020).
Ethical considerations
The author pledged to adhere to established ethical standards in education research as per McMillan and Schumacher (2014) who define ethics as morally appropriate beliefs when engaging with participants for research purposes. The researcher obtained ethical clearance from the University of South Africa, with reference number 2018/11/14/59371064/62/MC. Furthermore, permission from the Gauteng Department of Education, school principal and the school governing board was obtained. The school principal, parents/legal guardians and participants signed an agreement and consented to the research. The author obtained permission with assent and consent from the participants and their legal representatives for underage learners. Learners were invited to take part in the workshop, and participation was voluntary, without coercion. Confidentiality was maintained through anonymity (using pseudonyms) and proper data storage, with all data kept for 5 years in a locked safe at the researcher’s house.
Results
The results present the themes, related sub-themes and categories that emerged from the study’s Phase 1 (workshop) and Phase 2 (focus group). Themes and sub-themes are summarised in Table 4:
The themes, sub-themes and categories were substantiated using data from learner group audio recordings, researcher observations, learner reflective writing, focus group interviews, researcher reflections and research assistant observations.
Theme 1: Learners’ reflections on career planning
This theme explored learners’ perspectives on the marketplace, including their thoughts concerning the current conditions of the job market and their perceptions concerning developing career choices.
Sub-theme 1.1: Short-term career plans
Hartung and Cadaret (2017) emphasise the need for learners to engage in career preparation activities, subsequently enabling the transition from school-to-work. Moreover, learners must understand the value of controlling their lives after school, which requires adjusting their perspective on education and work (Liew, 2015).
Following a group discussion regarding career adaptability, learners were prompted to ponder what they intended to do after school. Learners ought to acknowledge (Liew, 2015) the significance of career planning, which requires adjusting how they view work and school.
A few learners mentioned that they had already considered employment and proudly imparted their career objectives:
‘I will go to school, get the best qualifications for a certain job that I want to do and do it to the best of my ability, and get good results at the end of varsity, so I can apply for a certain job.’ (Phase 1, session 2, group 1)
While some learners were confident in their post-school plans, some were uncertain about their potential career prospects:
‘[T]hat’s my problem, I don’t know who I am inside.’ (Phase 1, session 1, group 2)
‘I don’t have plan, so I am confused right now, like I am complex, I don’t know what to do.’ (Phase 1, session 1, group 2)
Learners who only considered employment opportunities after selecting subjects in ninth grade were forced to change their future career trajectories because they lacked the correct school subjects for higher education programmes, and thus, some needed to engage in further exploration:
‘[Y]ou know, I always thought I wanted to be a geologist, but then it happened that I changed my subjects – my physics to business, and well, for you to be a geologist, you really need physics.’ (Phase 1, session 1, group 1)
Career indecision has been identified as an ordinary phase throughout one’s life that stems from a lack of preparedness (Di Fabio et al., 2013). Learners were still unfamiliar with collecting employment-related information, constructing goals, developing particular plans and overcoming challenges:
‘I am not quite so sure what career I want at the moment, but so far I am thinking of law or something … people say I might not be good[at law] … I don’t know though, but some people say I can because I am not a person that talks a lot I am quite shy, but I am interested.’ (Phase 1, session 1, group 1)
‘[A]lways wanted to be a chef and yeah I don’t know what happened, then I got interested in history and then I wanted to be a lawyer and stuff like that.’ (Phase 1, session 1, group 1)
A lack of confidence may result from psychological uncertainty (Hartung & Cadaret, 2017). For increased confidence, learners must first improve their self-esteem:
‘[S]o I wonder if won’t I drop out first year if I am not coping. You see, so I am just wondering what if I drop out, then what that means – I wasted my parents’ money, so, Ja … if I don’t meet the requirements of the career that I want to do, what would I do? And these days it is very hard to find a job.’ (Phase 1, session 1, group 4)
Sub-theme 1.2: Career resilience
According to Alchin and McIlveen (2017), career adaptability plays a significant role in career resilience. It enhances individuals’ capacity to modify and compromise, solve challenges, build enterprise development skills and govern effectively. Career resilience is closely linked to career adaptability and is an effective tool for developing employability. Urbanaviciute et al. (2019) postulate that career resilience implies an aptitude to adjust and prevail under challenging circumstances:
‘Well if I cannot go study I will look into singing and I love baking so I would definitely open up a bakery or a restaurant, cause I love cooking and baking.’ (Phase 1, session 1, group 1)
The repercussions of the Fourth Industrial Revolution may be observed in the substantial shifts in the job market (Leopold et al., 2016), resulting in new jobs, fresh competencies and emerging technologies. A subsequent need ensued to support learners in comprehending the consequences of a transforming labour market and acquiring the required skills to stay relevant and prosper (Alchin & MacIlveen, 2017).
Following the Fourth Industrial Revolution, learners were encouraged to think critically regarding the future of jobs. Adaptive behaviour enables learners to regulate their responses effectively while making proactive changes in a constantly shifting environment (Rossier et al., 2017). Learners reflected in groups after a class session about the effects of the Fourth Industrial Revolution:
‘[T]he youth of the country is going to sit without jobs one day, because right now there is a high rate of uhm unemployment.’ (Phase 2, session 1, group 2)
‘From my opinion, I must not concentrate on one career field or on one career, while there are ample careers that I can also consider, so that I have backup in terms of career.’ (Phase 1, session 4, reflection 7)
One learner seemed profoundly affected and dejected because of the effect of the industrial revolution:
‘I feel that there is nothing we can do, because it is not just technology that’s taking over people’s jobs but it is also nepotism […] it’s a thing of, I know you, then I get the job, and the other person doesn’t get it.’ (Phase 1, session 1, group 4)
According to Duarte et al. (2017), successful career decision-making requires an integration of cognitive-motivational factors, independent thought, confidence in oneself, logical thinking skills and optimistic psychological adaptation. These motivational abilities enhance personal resilience and the capacity to conquer challenges:
‘[Y]ou need to know who you are inside in order for you to improve on your weaknesses and don’t focus more on your strengths, you need to improve your weaknesses as well.’ (Phase 1, session 1, group 2)
Some students exhibited an absence of these sources of motivation:
‘[S]ometimes I am not really motivated to be better, so I just rely on whatever I have for now, so I basically don’t have anything that’s my motive.’ (Phase 1, session 1, group 1)
Bickel (in Rossier et al., 2017) implies that ‘resilience’ is a willingness to persist while retaining one’s motivation and authenticity when faced with adversity. In order to become resilient, learners should adapt to possible future barriers:
‘I will find an alternative or I’ll switch careers or career fields or career paths. Uhm, I’ll find a career that goes hand-in-hand with the subjects that I chose in high school. Then I’ll upgrade my marks.’ (Phase 1, session 1, group 1)
Several learners demonstrated self-governance skills and were willing to start new businesses if necessary:
‘I have plans to open my own business as well. I also want to be an entrepreneur, start my own workshop someday, [and] help other people that also wants to become engineer like myself.’ (Phase 1, session 1, group 1)
One learner seemed profoundly affected and dejected because of the effect of the industrial revolution:
‘I feel that there is nothing we can do, because it is not just technology that’s taking over people’s jobs but it is also nepotism … it’s a thing of, I know you, then I get the job, and the other person doesn’t get it.’ (Phase 1, session 1, group 4)
Sub-theme 1.3: Employability
Migrating effectively to the workplace involves acquiring employable skills, increasing an individual’s chances of adapting to the job, becoming entrepreneurial and promoting organisational success (Succi & Canovi, 2020). Learners were asked to consider what ‘to be employable’ meant. There was no facilitation or group discussions to determine the meaning beforehand.
Most students mentioned a skill set essential to be employable but could not describe any specific skills:
‘To be employable means you have the required skills to do a certain job, the qualifications that your career needs.’ (Phase 1, session 1, group 2)
Learners contemplated the skills set essential to be employable and allocated characteristics to the phrase:
‘[T]his fingerprint … the skills to do something that someone cannot think about; be creative, you know you can think of something, and she doesn’t think of it.’ (Phase 2, focus group, participant 5)
Theme 2: Reflection on career concern – looking and planning ahead
Theme 2 results reveal that many participants struggle with developing future career plans because of a lack of self-esteem and unknown barriers. Feelings of inadequacy, futility, regret and pessimism negatively impact their career planning processes. After reflecting, they felt compelled to disengage and adjust their views on self-belief and constructive career planning.
Sub-theme 2.1: Future career plans
Career concern addresses learners’ mindsets concerning career planning and development and the enthusiasm and hope learners display while performing them (Hartung & Cadaret, 2017). After discussing in smaller groups, a few learners demonstrated an intentional and focused mindset:
‘I know exactly where I’m going. I grew up saying that I want a better future. I’ve been seeing people living nice lives, so I say that I see myself as a better person then what I am now.’ (Phase 1, session 2, reflective worksheet 8)
Following small group conversations, several learners intuitively reflected on themselves. They initiated self-regulation, striving to conquer previous barriers of low self-esteem:
‘I realised that I also need me more as much as I need all people in my life. I need to be broken from the thoughts about me, so I can be – “sit” – in a stronger and stable place when I am old.’ (Phase 1, session 1, group 2)
Sub-theme 2.2: Barriers to planning ahead
Difficulties with career concerns result in a lack of drive to start job research or learn about potential careers, determine what changes to make and absorb these changes (Del Corso, 2017).
Following small group discussions concerning career concerns,a few learners indicated unworthiness, pointlessness, dissatisfaction, despair, apprehension and an eagerness to transform how they currently behave towards their potential careers:
‘To me, I feel unsure about the future, almost as if I don’t know what I want to do anymore.’ (Phase 1, session 2, reflective worksheet 10)
Some learners expressed pessimism about their future. They identified internal obstacles like lack of enthusiasm, confusion and insecurity as their main challenges:
‘The negative part is that I’m not sure that I will qualify for university because I need to pull up my socks with my marks.’ (Phase 1, session 2, reflective worksheet 12)
After describing the second central theme and its associated sub-themes and categories in the preceding sections, the focus moves to the third main topic that emerged from this study.
Theme 3: Career control – Increasing self-regulation and self-determination
The data from Theme 3 indicates that some participants demonstrated an exceptional understanding of career control when the scaffolds (African proverbs) were introduced. Some learners expressed fear about their future and a lack of career autonomy, while others found parental influence on their employment choices encouraging.
Sub-theme 3.1: Self-regulation
‘Career control’ alludes to the learners’ capacity to regulate themselves. Control over one’s career indicates the ability to make decisions and accept ownership and accountability for future jobs. Gaining career control allows learners to become more autonomous and conscientious (Peila-Shuster, 2018). While contemplating career control, numerous learners understood its implications well:
‘If I don’t consider my option in a career, I will be stuck in life. I won’t have anything to keep at the end. I won’t have any income; I would have just wasted my time.’ (Phase 1, session 4, reflective worksheet 11)
Several learners recognised a lack of career control. They identified barriers and devised solutions, accepting control of their future careers. Learners may perceive a lack of control over their career paths as an apparent or tangible lack of control due to societal or emotional constraints (Del Corso, 2017). A lack of career control indicates hesitation, apprehension and reluctance about future career choices:
‘If I don’t pull up my socks now on my schoolwork, I won’t be able to get a job that I always wanted, so I have to pay special attention on my schoolwork in order to be successful.’ (Phase 1, session 4, reflective worksheet 17)
‘If I don’t make plans for my future, I will not be able to have a successful future. But what if it happens that I do make plans then my future isn’t a success.’ (Phase 1, session 4, reflective worksheet 10)
Sub-theme 3.2: Self-determination
Career control is an independent approach where individuals choose their careers, moving beyond traditional family connections. Adults may have beliefs that they learned from their elders and emerging young people may be subjected to these beliefs and construct their career choices based on parental influence (Chen, 2017) Many learners suggested that their parents oversaw their employment choices and voiced a desire to claim their independence and self-determination:
‘My mom will decide on what I do.’ (Phase 1, session 4, reflective worksheet 17)
‘I should advise my parents to stop making career-based decisions for me. I must show them that I’m curious enough to do it on my own.’ (Phase 1, session 3, reflective worksheet 3)
Theme 4: Career curiosity – Exploring the working environment
Theme 4 underscored the importance of professional curiosity in career development, emphasising the adaptability of the 21st-century workplace and the potential challenges it can pose. Participants comprehended that researching many possible careers involves discovering more about the job market and personal growth (Hlad’o et al., 2020). Some learners exhibited a sudden shift in behaviour, expressing interest in employment opportunities, while others experienced uncertainty and worry because of the turbulent nature of the modern workplace.
Sub-theme 4.1: Inquisitiveness
Students learned that jobs can evolve and should be informed about future careers to avoid being caught up in difficult situations after group discussions and reflection on the proverb: He who eats an egg foregoes a future meal of chicken soup:
‘I think that this [career concern] is saying that life after school is long and hard. Don’t say to yourself that life after matric is the end of the road, because you actually lying to yourself. Life of school doesn’t end. School is life, learning is a great thing to actually get. Journey is life. Journey is what you going to live with for the rest of your life.’ (Phase 1, session 3, reflective worksheet 1)
Learners explored the importance of curiosity in identifying various employment opportunities, highlighting the need to become knowledgeable about society and seek specific growth opportunities (Hlad’o, et al., 2020):
‘Get the right advice from the right people and make sure that I understand everything about the career that I want to follow.’ (Phase 1, session 3, reflective worksheet 3)
Many learners experienced uncertainty, worry, and anxiety when considering career curiosity, highlighting the complexity of transformation in an ever-changing environment, which can lead to scepticism or a negative attitude (Bower & Konwerski, 2017):
‘Where to from here? Will I have anyone to guide me to help me face obstacles that I come across? Who can I trust to guide me? What if I lose interest?’ (Phase 1, session 3, reflective worksheet 7)
Theme 5: Career confidence – Demonstrating self-assurance and self-belief
The fourth pillar of career adaptability, career confidence, deals with the capacity to overcome challenges, self-regulate and develop competencies to resolve challenges while creating potential occupations (Hartung & Cadaret, 2017). Career confidence includes a sense of effectiveness, positive perceptions of oneself, dependability and self-assurance. A lack of career confidence makes learners self-conscious, fearful and hindered. Theme 5 accentuated a significant degree of adaptability skills and self-regulation.
Sub-theme 5.1: Self-belief
A capacity to cultivate adaptive skills and self-regulating action plans is a crucial skill for learners. These skills are bolstered by tapping into and unwinding internal reservoirs (Drabik-Podgórna, 2017):
‘If you don’t tell yourself you can do it, you won’t make it in life. You are never negative about anything; no one can tell you, you can’t do anything. If you know what you want to achieve in life, no one can tell you otherwise.’ (Phase 1, session 5, reflective worksheet 7)
Career confidence includes the conviction learners hold to find ways and resolve obstructions as they construct their careers (Coetzee et al., 2015):
‘If I don’t fight my thoughts, feelings, and choices of what I really want to be. No one can discourage me or make me feel bad about the career choices I make. So I have to accept my feelings, be confident about what I want to do so that no one can be able to discourage me.’ (Phase 1, session 5, reflective worksheet 3)
Regarding development (Del Corso, 2017), learners often have career confidence issues. They express doubt and are also impressionable and sensitive to the ideas of others. Low career confidence leads to hesitation, low self-esteem and timidity when developing a career (Hartung & Cadaret, 2017). Several learners in the workshop were self-conscious and inhibited, and they lacked self-confidence and self-belief:
‘My confidence is not that good; I let things get to me. I believe what people tell me.’ (Phase 1, session 5, reflective worksheet 3)
Findings
The interpretivism research paradigm guided the research findings. The data analysis produced several findings that characterised learners’ reflections on career planning.
Theme 1: Reflections on career planning (career adaptability)
The results presented in chapter 4 of this research indicate that an approach of skill development in reflective thinking could assist participants in acquiring discipline, autonomy and comprehension to improve their career construction skills (Peila-Shuster, 2018).
The study revealed that most Grade 11 students are unprepared for school-to-work or school-to-university transition and many lack career goals. This lack of readiness is linked to career indecision, as suggested by Di Fabio and Maree (2013) and Hartung and Caderet (2017), who believe learners lack the psychosocial capacities to change their career search situations.
The majority of participants lacked career plans. The research findings support Di Fabio and Maree’s (2013) claim that a lack of readiness causes career indecision. The study’s findings support Hartung and Caderet’s (2017) conclusion that learners lacked psychological competencies to modify their surroundings regarding career search and decision-making.
The study’s findings are concerning in that just a few learners had planned their future occupations. Participants successfully navigated career construction and prepared for objectives. Some appeared confident in their chosen path but lacked information on its suitability, execution and achievement. The findings support Peila-Shuster’s (2018) claim that a skill development process in self-reflection would help participants achieve discipline, self-reliance and insight to advance their career construction skills.
There seemed to be a lack of psychosocial competencies to enhance their challenges concerning career exploration and career choices (Hartung & Cadaret 2017). To further clarify, Anita Woolfolk (2020) refers to the categories of identity status that evolve from investigation and dedication and stall attitudes (adolescents struggling with choices) have been identified in some learners.
The study found that insecurity hindered learners’ ability to self-construct a profession, supporting the life design for career creation theory. Self-construction is crucial for professional development, but optimal career development was hindered by individuals not having established a career identity. Improving learners’ career identification sooner may be a significant aspect of surviving the 21st-century workplace (2018). The findings are consistent with Maree’s (2018) remark that most participants appear not to have acquired a career identity in Grade 11 and are less able to prepare for a career. The learners reflected on their potential career paths for the workplace, and many discovered that emotions of insecurity hampered their capacity to self-construct a profession.
The research indicates that many workshop participants in Phase 1 decided on a career path after selecting their core subjects in Grade 10 but found limited job options or inadequate subject choices, leading to feelings of disempowerment in learners.
Career indecision implies a lack of career control, the second pillar of the career adaptability construct (Di Fabio & Maree, 2013).
The workshop participants in Phase 1 expressed high levels of career indecision among 11th-grade learners, indicating a significant lack of confidence in their future career prospects. Career indecision is associated with increased levels of psychological distress and low levels of personal well-being (Lipshits-Braziler et al., 2015); it is so stressful and causes anxiety (Argyropoulou et al., 2007).
A lack of confidence characterises the fourth pillar of the career adaptability construct. The results indicate that many individuals in the study may lack confidence in making significant career choices. A lack of confidence signals a lack of concern and curiosity about future careers and how they evolve (Suan, 2015).
Sub-theme 1.2: Career resilience
Career resilience is a crucial aspect of career development. It can be enhanced by applying the principles of career adaptability (Lengelle et al., 2017). The workshop (Phase 1) revealed that career adaptability can improve learners’ career resilience by promoting meaningful communication and flexibility through reflection. Lengelle et al. (2017) propose that schools encourage career resilience through discussion to reduce insecurity.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution, marked by technological advancements and changes in economies, industries and cultures, significantly impacted career development (Alchin & McIlveen, 2017). The workshop’s Phase 1 research revealed that participants were aware of the country’s unemployment and were concerned about job prospects, impacting their career construction activities. Many fear leaving the country to find work outside the country. In contrast, others were unaware of the Fourth Industrial Revolution’s impact on the workforce.
Career resilience, which is the ability to overcome hindrances and recover from setbacks, is part of career motivation (Pouyaud et al., 2017). The findings revealed that individuals had low levels of motivation. Self-determination and belief in career development, critical thinking, vital need fulfilment and emotional adaptation describe intrinsic motivation and the ability to overcome problems (Duarte et al., 2017). They can resist demotivation in adverse environments by strengthening these factors in adolescents.
Sub-theme 1.3: Employability
Bezuidenhout and Coetzee (in Di Fabio, 2017) highlighted seven employability skills: individual accountability for career planning, societal skills, faith in personal ability, job resiliency, beneficial social traits, entrepreneurship and active participation. To be employable, one should be able to gain and retain a job, which is a learned technique or skill (Tien & Wang, 2017). The findings indicate that participants’ knowledge of the definition appeared mostly vague or ignorant. Some participants could refer to only a few skills.
Theme 2: Reflections on looking and planning ahead (career concern)
The findings in Theme 2 confirm that the scaffold of the career concern pillar appears to encourage learners to think critically about their future career plans. Career concern relates to future orientation and fosters emotions of optimism, hope and planning (Hartung & Cadaret, 2017). An absence of career concern results in isolation and hopelessness about the future. When learners can participate in career development activities, they develop hopeful and planned behaviour and increase self-esteem.
Sub-theme 2.1. and 2.2: Future career plans and barriers to planning ahead
Career concern emphasises what students believe regarding making plans for their futures, in addition to the degree of optimism and energy they display while doing so (Hartung & Cadaret, 2017). The findings reveal numerous participants encountered challenges in developing future career objectives because of a lack of self-esteem and barriers they were unaware of before the reflection process. Participants reported sentiments of inadequacy, futility, regret and pessimism, which hampered their career planning procedures. They also identified the emotions mentioned above as impediments while reflecting. They felt compelled to disconnect and adjust their attitudes about potential self-belief and constructive career planning.
Theme 3: Career control – Increasing self-regulation and self-determination
Career control is the key to taking responsibility for one’s life and destiny. Keywords for career control include decisiveness, decision-making, assertive behaviour and self-belief (Hartung & Cadaret, 2017).
Sub-themes 3.1 and 3.2: Self-regulation and self-determination
According to the findings, many participants demonstrated noteworthy individual understanding of career control after discussing the scaffold. However, many young people who have grown up in authoritarian families may feel uncertain about pursuing their chosen career path (Del Corso, 2017). Parents might hold beliefs that they have adopted from their elders and emerging adolescents may be susceptible to these beliefs and base employment choices on the guidance of parents (Chen, 2017).
Participants discussed shortages, presented challenges and devised solutions. Some individuals expressed uncertainty and hesitancy regarding the future, indicating a lack of career control. Several individuals stated that their parents shaped their career choices. They found it empowering to be able to choose their career path.
Theme 4: Career curiosity – Exploring the working environment
The results of Theme 4 confirmed the importance of career curiosity for career construction. Career curiosity is a crucial aspect of the career adaptability construct and is closely linked to learners’ exploration of employment opportunities (Di Fabio & Maree, 2013). After an introduction to the career curiosity pillar, participants reflected on and understood the fluidness of the 21st-century work environment.
Sub-theme 4.1: Inquisitiveness
Perspectives of companies in South Africa claim that first-time employees are not behaviourally prepared for employment (Dludla, 2019) and that young people frequently lack discipline, attitudinal readiness, drive, inquisitiveness, common sense and tardiness. Participants agreed that lacking curiosity would lead to hardship. Participants took to heart that exploring different career paths signified increased knowledge about the world of work and individual growth (Hlad’o et al., 2020). A few participants found an immediate change in attitude to become curious about career trajectories, and they held on to disabling feelings of doubt, fear and insecurity because of the disruptiveness of the 21st-century working environment.
Theme 5: Career confidence – Demonstrating self-assurance and self-belief
Drabik-Podgórna (2017) discovered that many participants in their study could internalise and reveal self-regulatory and adaptive resources. As they initiated the career construction process, learners sought constructive ways to overcome obstacles. The findings indicate that after being introduced to the career confidence scaffold, learners gained a solid foundation of adaptive abilities, self-assurance and self-belief.
Sub-theme 5.1: Self-belief – overcoming obstacles and self-consciousness
Many participants could internalise and reveal self-regulating and adaptive reserves (Drabik-Podgórna, 2017). Participants could constructively seek strategies to overcome challenges as they began their career development journey (Coetzee et al., 2015). Several individuals reported a lack of confidence, self-esteem, self-consciousness and inhibition. These individuals, however, identified their barriers and explored viable solutions to the shortages.
Limitations
The study experienced several limitations, including difficulty selecting suitable government schools, time and weekday constraints for sessions and limited flexibility in session length. The ideal workshop schedule was one session per week for 5 weeks, but finding suitable days for two sessions proved difficult because of learners’ sports or cultural activities. Furthermore, the study could not begin on time, resulting in rushed sessions and insufficient time for reflection. Despite these obstacles, the study provided new insights into how learners use career adaptability to create career paths. The UNISA Department of Education Ethics Committee approved the study.
Implications and recommendations
Policy recommendations for education:
- The South African high school curriculum should prioritise career education, with well-informed teachers as facilitators.
- The curriculum should include career adaptability construct and employability skills to prepare students for the workforce.
- Research shows that a lack of expertise puts students at a disadvantage. A mandatory programme in learner career education for future teachers could promote awareness and help learners during their school years.
- Tertiary-level workshops should be developed.
Recommendations for the school curriculum:
- Learners should be made aware of the effects of the Fourth and current Fifth Industrial Revolutions and the world of work in the 21st century to adequately prepare for the world of work through comprehensive career education and avoid becoming part of the unemployment statistics.
- Learners need help developing resilience to be ready for employment. They are vulnerable and unprepared to work in the 21st century. Learners acquire resilience to cope with adverse 21st-century working conditions by using the career adaptability construct in their career construction process.
- The career adaptability workshop model utilised in this dissertation could be introduced in stages in the earlier grades as learners make subject choices at the end of Grade 9.
Recommendations for future research:
- Further research into career education in South African schools is needed to provide learners with avenues for preparing for and exploring the 21st-century work environment.
- More research throughout South African schools, population and learner ages may offer additional ideas for successful career education.
- Investigative studies on current teacher knowledge and 21st-century teaching methods could be considered.
- Additional case studies or participatory action research with learner input on the effect of group reflection on career development could be advantageous.
Conclusion
This study served a dual purpose: firstly, to explore and interpret learners’ reflections on self-constructing a career employing the career adaptability construct in preparation for the world of work; secondly, to acquire an understanding of the advantages of the career adaptability construct as a scaffolding support for aiding learners with career development.
The study ascertained that learners are not ready to transition into the world of work with the current knowledge they are presented within the school curriculum.
In a South African classroom setting, the career adaptability construct has not previously been investigated as a scaffold or learning aid for career education. The research could potentially improve career education in all South African schools.
The findings support the career adaptability construct’s effectiveness as an instructional scaffold in learners’ career planning activities as an educational scaffold in learners’ career planning activities.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Gauteng Department of Education who granted access to the school for research purposes, the headmaster, the life orientation teacher and especially the learners of the high school who participated in the research.
This article is partially based on M.A.’s dissertation entitled ‘Self-constructing a career: Reflection following career adaptability as instructional scaffold’ towards the degree of Masters in Education, in the Psychology of Education, at the University of South Africa, January 2021, with supervisor Dr Hermien Olivier. Available at: https://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/27409/dissertation_algra_m.pdf.
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this research article.
Authors’ contributions
M.A. is the author of the manuscript. H.O. is the supervisor of the study.
Funding information
The research and publishing of this manuscript were funded by the University of South Africa.
Data availability
Data were collected and stored as per ethical clearance specifications.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and are the product of professional research. It does not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated institution, funder, agency or that of the publisher. The authors are responsible for this article’s results, findings and content.
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