Irritations in the Career Choice Process and Transformative Learning

Abstract 

Context: Vocational education and training (VET) plays an important role in Switzerland and has a high standing. Students’ access to initial vocational education and training (iVET) at the upper secondary school level is prepared at the lower secondary. Many initiatives support them, and school has a crucial role in that process. digibe, which stands for “digital support in the career choice process and the impact of a systematic, digitally based reflection on career orientation”, aims at strengthening self-reflective capabilities in career planning. Often, this is not given enough attention, as the focus of the support is on finding a follow-up solution but not on the development of career-oriented competencies as they are asked for in research and the curriculum in career orientation at school. Self-reflection helps to better understand and, if necessary, also transform perspectives on one own’s career planning. 

Approach: digibe is a longitudinal intervention study running for four years (2021 – 2025). Participants are students from grades 9 to 11 in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. The intervention groups differ in the frequency students are asked to report irritating experiences during the career choice process and the frequency they are asked to work on tasks aiming to trigger reflection. The development is measured regularly by means of a questionnaire. 

Findings: The baseline survey of digibe was carried out in September–October 2021, N = 2’848 (as of July 2022), and all school levels (tracks with basic vs extended requirements). Results show that N = 773, 27 % of the students reported irritating experiences and situations directly related to the vocational choice process. We find small, statistically significant mean differences in the readiness to reflect, but the effect sizes are very small. Only students in grade 11 who tell us that they have no irritating experiences are very low in their readiness to reflect. They do not need to reflect, as most of them will have their apprenticeship contract signed. The main findings are that students describe irritating experiences, they describe themselves as open to reflection, and that irritating experiences can trigger an in-depth reflection 

Conclusion: The vocational choice process confronts students with irritating experiences which offer a possibility to reflect. Students tell us that they are generally willing to reflect on their career orientation process and integrate new information into their career planning. How this relates to the development of the career choice process must be shown in further analyses.