CAREER MANAGEMENT SKILLS OF STUDENTS IN GENERAL AND VOCATIONAL UPPER-SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN GREECE: CAREER ADAPTABILITY AND SELF-EFFICACY IN CAREER PLANNING

Abstract

Contemporary career guidance and counselling approaches with particular interest to subjects which concern the development of career management skills since these skills are considered important means for the active exploration of the vocational course and the development of a career. The development of skills related to career adaptability and self-efficacy in the planning of a career could help students who are finishing Upper-secondary School (Lykeio) to approach creatively their career aims, and to deal effectively with the transitions or unexpected events by applying appropriate actions. The present study employed the survey research strategy in order to examine the level of the career adaptability and self-efficacy in the planning of a career with male and female students (N = 240) of Upper-secondary Schools (General Lykeia - GEL) and Vocational Upper-secondary Schools (Vocational Lykeia - EPAL) in Greece. Specifically, it examined the level of skills which students declare that they possess regarding the type of school, their gender and the educational level of the parents. The finding that the levels of career adaptability differentiated not only as regards the gender of the students but also the studies of the father and the mother has presented particular interest while the students who study at the General Lykeia were found to have higher scores in the areas: “career interest” and “curiosity” in the Career Adapt-abilities Scale (CAAS) compared with students who study at the Vocational Lykeia (EPAL). Finally, the motif of the scores in the B’ Class of Lykeio showed that the students of EPAL excelled in all the skills apart from the factor “career interest” while correspondingly in the C’ class of Lykeio students of the General Lykeio (GEL) excelled in all skill categories. Keywords: upper-secondary school students, self-efficacy, career adaptability, career management, Perceived Self-Efficacy in Career Planning, Career Adapt-Abilities Scale.