Future orientation, referring to hopes, aspirations and expectations, has been found to be related to motivation and attitude towards school and learning. It has been found to influence adolescent identity formation, goal setting and ability to make decisions (Kerpelman & Mosher, 2004). Studies have also indicated that optimism about achieving future goals is also related to enhancing coping skills and resilience to traumatic events (Marko & Savickas, 1998). Unfortunately, they indicate that many individuals living in a diverse society do not orient themselves to the future and seldom, if ever, think about how their careers might unfold (De Volder & Lens, 1982; Feather & Bond, 1983; Fitzgerald & Betz, 1994). Individuals who do not experience significant encouragement and reinforcement for goal setting and planning appear to be less inclined to learn a future orientation (Nurmi, 1991). In light of the disparities in the delivery of basic education in South Africa, researching adolescents’ future orientation and expectations is regarded as particularly relevant.

According to Goodenow (1993), school membership is regarded as the degree to which learners perceive themselves to be welcomed, valued and treated as respected members. A lack of school membership has been associated with a higher incidence of mental and physical illness. Resnick et al. (1997) reported that an adolescent’s sense of belonging to family and school was significantly associated with lower rates of emotional distress, suicidality (defined as a recent history of suicidal ideation and attempts), violence, substance abuse and sexual activity. Eccles and Midgley (1989) indicated however, that ironically, as children reach adolescence, such school support declines. It is thus indicated that in promoting a sense of belonging and support, extra effort and support is needed from the school community in secondary schools. Goodenow (1993) concluded that if students believe others within the environment are supporting them, are on their side, and are willing to help them if necessary; they can also believe that they have the resources they need to be successful. Expecting to be academically successful is not only a matter of students’ sense of their own individual abilities, but also a sense of access to supportive resources, and the encouragement and help they feel they can secure from others. This is seen as especially important for at-risk students.

Research on comprehensive WSAs to career education in South Africa is limited. In only one study identified, Singh (2003) revealed a lack of whole-school development in disadvantaged schools in South Africa and a pressure on teachers to develop their own intervention strategies. A recommendation of his study was the need for teachers to be trained on whole-school development to alleviate the pressure. The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) (2014) also recognises a lack in delivery of effective comprehensive career education in many South African schools. Career intervention research has also been found to be limited to a single, ‘once off’ programmes included in the school programme: for example Miles’ (2015) study on the ‘impact of a career development programme on the self-efficacy of Grade 11 learners’, in a South African province.

The eco-systemic model focus, on the role of societal issues and the interaction of different systems and their influence on the sense of future orientation in adolescence is given consideration in this study. Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological model highlights the interaction between multiple levels of influencing systems. The model targets multiple levels of intervention at the different levels of influence that combine environmental and behavioural components. The intrapersonal level (micro-level) influence of individual characteristics such as motivation, goal directedness, future orientation and self-regulation is highlighted in influencing behaviour and promoting career decision-making. At the interpersonal level (meso-level) recognises the relationships with significant others, such as peers, role models in influencing future orientation and the community level (macro system) which recognises the influence of the school context (practices, structures and activities) that support the future orientation of learners and strengthen the experience of membership at the school.

In the context of promoting a sense of future orientation and membership, the macro system is of importance. Future expectations are orientations that are decisively influenced by the macro system which is informed by the economy, politics, social health, values and the nature of the community. At this level, the relative importance given to career education, (at the level of school level of policy, teaching and learning and curriculum) is highlighted to play a crucial role in learners experiencing a sense of school membership, motivation and prevention of high-risk behaviour. The objectives of the study were to firstly implement intervention to strengthen school membership and positively impact adolescents’ future orientation and motivation at the micro-, meso- and macro-level. Secondly, to evaluate systematically at the various levels, using both an outcome (quantitative evaluation) and process (qualitative evaluation) the efficacy of the interventions piloted to improve school membership and adolescents’ sense of future orientation.

Phase one titled ‘Factors impeding school connectedness’, published in the South African Journal of Psychology (SAJP) (Rawatlal & Petersen, 2012), involved a situational analysis in the intervention school (a local, public, English medium high school in KwaZulu-Natal) of factors that hinder school connectedness. Fifty-six Grade 10 learners and seven school managers comprised the sample. In terms of gender, the learners included 27 men and 29 women, between the ages 15 and 16. The learner and teacher sample population groups comprised participants from the African, white, Indian and coloured communities. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the teachers and managers (n = 7) and focus groups were conducted with the learners. In this article, however, the focus refers to the career education component and readers are invited to peruse the SAJP article for other information.

In summarising the results of the situational analysis pertaining to career education and that formed by the contextual background to the study and interventions piloted, participants indicated that they were aware of career education through the Life Orientation (LO) curriculum but that LO was too diffuse and did not really focus on useful career education.

The importance of career education integrated into the curriculum, and the critical role it plays in motivating learners at school, was thus identified. Participants (teachers and managers) indicated that learners who were motivated, and goal- and future-oriented were less likely to engage in deviant behavior and therefore experienced greater acceptance and connectivity to the school. Marko and Savickas (1998) indicate that a hallmark characteristic of human thought and action is future orientation. Modern motivation psychology highlights the importance of future orientation for psychological well-being (Nurmi & Salmelo-Aro, 2002); with studies showing that personal goals are connected to one’s psychological well-being (Emmons & King; Nurmi & Salmelo-Aro, 2002). In respect of career education intervention, the situational analysis revealed that beyond formalised career education programmes that can assist with this, teacher and the school curriculum involvement can play a critical role. Broomfield (2007), in a study of resilient youth, attributed positive outcomes in youth to having teachers who they experienced as accepting and providing guidance in creating and attaining future goals.

In phase two, implementation at the macro-level, focused on the teaching and learning curriculum; education policies and student representative bodies in promoting career education, future orientation and aspirations of learners. Intervention aimed to address the lack of a focus on careers and future orientation at the school and level of basic education, and engage the participation and collaboration of key stakeholders (learners, teachers and mangers) in informing intervention. In July 2011, the researcher conducted three two-hour workshops with the participants and engaged them in conversation with regard to integrating career education in the curriculum (LO lesson plans) and to enhance the future orientation aspirations and motivation of learners. By opening the lines of communication at this level, the desired outcome was to create greater school cohesion and a school ethos that valued promoting the future aspirations and motivations of learners. At this level, the need to address macro-contextual factors in promoting career education and sense of future orientation is highlighted. Whilst there are some scholars who are somewhat encouraged by the career development component of the LO subject (Watts, 2009) in schools, there are others who are highly critical in terms of the content material and the training of teachers (Gounden, 2009), and argue for a rethinking of how career counselling is promoted at schools (Maree, 2013; Watson, 2010). A repositioning of career education as central in addressing students’ motivation at school, which is argued to be a basic human right, is highlighted at this level.

At the meso-level, the influence of peer mentoring groups is highlighted. In the context of this study, mentoring relationships were found to strengthen connectivity of adolescents to the school through providing positive role models and activities to develop a sense of future orientation. In the intervention, 15 peer mentors were trained and the programme was implemented over a year and 6 months in March 2011.

At the micro-level, the development of individual characteristics in promoting future orientation and preventing adolescents’ engagement in high-risk behaviour was highlighted. Lesson plans focused on ‘adopting a future oriented time perspective’. In August and September 2011, these plans were integrated into the LO lesson plans, accompanied by a workshop with the LO teachers for implementation.

In phase three, an evaluation of intervention piloted at the micro-, meso- and macro-levels is discussed.

In phase three, a quantitative, outcome evaluation was conducted to explore whether the intervention enhanced learners’ sense of future orientation and school membership. A quasi-experimental approach, utilising, pre- and post-test measures in the control and intervention school was administered. Quasi-experimental designs typically refer to a treated and untreated group, and they have been referred to as having greater application in the ‘real world’ (Gilbody & Whitty, 2002). In the identification of a matched control school in the study, the school principal indicated matched features of the demographics of the teacher and learner populations, and that no previous interventions were administered at the school.

The outcome measures used to assess future orientation included two subscales: the Reason for Achievement Scale (Ibanez et al., 2004) measures academic motivation and the second subscale, the Value of Academic Success Scale by Fulgini (1997) included three measures. Both subscales were combined to inform the Future Orientation Scale (FOS). The scale comprised 17 items and the Cronbach’s alpha co-efficient 0.68, indicating acceptable internal reliability. The outcome aims to assess school membership with the Psychological Sense of School Membership (PSSM) Scale, by Goodenow (1993). This instrument included 18 items and the Cronbach’s alpha co-efficient for this scale was 0.81.

The outcome evaluation involved pre- and post-measures that were administered in both schools to Grade 10 learners. Pre-intervention surveys were administered in March 2011 and included 137 surveys completed at the intervention school, and 123 surveys completed at the control school. Post-intervention surveys were administered in November 2012 and included 137 surveys completed at the intervention school, and 123 surveys completed at the control school.

For the process evaluation component of this study, qualitative data measures were used. Methods utilised included semi-structured interviews, focus groups and analysis of documents. Document analysis included collecting samples of learners’ completed activity sheets in August to September 2011. In the post process evaluation, four focus groups comprising fifteen Grade 10 learners and five semi-structured interviews were conducted with teachers and managers.

Data collection and analysis occurred simultaneously. In the outcome evaluation, the null hypothesis was that there would be no increase in school membership and future orientation in the intervention school. The alternate hypothesis was that there would be an increase following the intervention. Descriptive statistics, using the Statistical Programme for Social Sciences (SPSS) was utilised in the data analysis.

In the process evaluation, thematic content analysis (Richie & Spencer, 1994) was used. The five stages to analysis included: familiarisation of the range and diversity of the material gathered, location within a theoretical framework, indexing of data in textual form, charting of attitudes and experiences collected from the transcripts and placing them into thematic categories and lastly, mapping and interpretation of the data collected.

In enhancing reliability in qualitative research, the process of generating themes, concepts and theories was documented and presented to the school to illicit feedback. Triangulation and collecting information from different sources were also utilised.

Permission to carry out this research was obtained from the Research Ethics and Higher Degrees Committees of the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the Department of Basic Education (HSS/0316/09). Informed consent was obtained from participants and code names were assigned to each of them to ensure anonymity and confidentiality. In addressing researcher bias, the researcher explored her positionality through reflexive analysis. ‘Within positionality theory, it is acknowledged that people have multiple overlapping identities and that people make meaning from various aspects of their identity‘ (Kezar, 2002, p. 96). It was acknowledged that as much as the researcher gained in her role as a participant in the study, her identity as a Counselling Psychologist employed in higher education served to distance her from fully engaging with participants in the study. The role that this could have played in distancing the researcher as participant is acknowledged. The challenge (at initiation of the study) was identifying that there already existed power imbalances in the school structure, between teachers, managers and learners at the intervention school. The researcher had to be mindful of how her role could have served to unsettle, reinforce or transform power imbalances whilst trying to gain the schools co-operation for the programme implementation. The transformational agenda of this study, based on critical theory, located the researcher as an active participant in the study. The researcher was thus able to locate herself as a collaborator, who also served to empower her participants.

In exploring the processes that influenced the results in the outcome evaluation phase, the results of a descriptive process evaluation, utilising focus groups and semi-structured interviews are discussed in the following section.

Results at this level indicated that learners viewed future orientation as important in their individual development. The effectiveness of the ‘Goal Setting Ladder’ was highlighted by all the learners. This was indicated through the following excerpts:

Learners indicated that the activity supported them in identifying challenges and obstacles they may experience in arriving at their goals and how to overcome them:

Documenting (writing) out their long-term and short-term goals in this activity enabled greater self-monitoring. Reflection of goals was also encouraged as a means to ‘challenge seeking’, and learners were able to acquire skills to navigate failure and become resilient:

A sample of a learner’s response to the activity is indicated in Figure 1. A sample of a response to the Goal Setting Ladder is indicated in Figure 2.

Teachers also indicated the importance of ‘future orientation’ in career education. They however viewed that they would need further training and support in developing activities as career education implied ‘process work’ and engaging students in constant self-assessment, goal setting and reviewing of goals, leading to choosing a career path:

At the interpersonal level, learners indicated how forming of groups such as the peer support programme enhanced collaboration and led to experiencing greater membership at the school. The mentors were referred to as members of the school who could serve as role models and encourage learners’ participation in career education and development activities. Some of the activities the peer mentors initiated included career presentations for Grade 9 learners focusing on subject choices, academic support groups, where mentors tutored students:

At the school community level, the researcher attempted to shift management, teachers and learners to engaging in a collaborative approach to facilitate career education and future orientation at the school. There was reflection from management and LO teachers that a ‘top-down’ hierarchy exists in most schools and that needed to be shifted to accommodate learners’ sense of future orientation as it had implications for their motivation and experiencing a sense of school membership. Learners’ input on how the school could promote career education and motivation of learners emphasised the role of learners’ voices in the school structure.