Perceived Career Barriers among South African High School Learners

Abstract

The perception of career barriers has the potential to influence individuals' career choice processes and facilitate or detract from their realising their career goals. Grade 12 black ( n = 90) and Grades 11 ( n = 140) and 12 ( n = 118) white high school learners completed a semi-structured questionnaire asking whether gender discrimination, racial or ethnic discrimination, personal characteristics or other factors were perceived as barriers to progressing in the career they would like to enter. The majority of learners did not perceive gender discrimination or personal characteristics as possible career barriers. Racial or ethnic discrimination as perceived career barriers were most problematic for Grade 11 white learners (56%), but also of concern to the other two samples (40% to 44%).