A Mixed-Methods Study Measuring How Career Awareness Activities Impact the Self-Concepts and Career Awareness of Fourth Graders
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Authors
Barnes, Britney
Issue Date
2015-06
Type
Dissertation
Language
en_US
Keywords
career awareness , self-concept , career development , self-esteem , elementary school , Piers Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale
Alternative Title
Abstract
The National Career Development Association’s guidelines list developing perceptions of one’s self-concept as one of the fundamental steps in career awareness and planning (National Career Development Association [NCDA], 2004). Historically, many schools have begun career planning programs in high school. However, to be effective, it is crucial that self-concept in relation to career awareness and planning programs be taught in the elementary grades when students are first developing their understandings of the world and of self (Magnuson & Starr, 2000). The purpose of the study was to assess the impact that a career awareness curriculum had on the self-concepts of fourth grade students. For this mixed-methods study, an explanatory sequential design was utilized. For the quantitative data, the Piers-Harris Children’s Self-Concept Scale, Second Edition (PHCSCS2) was utilized as the assessment tool to collect quantitative data from a group of fourth grade students (N = 122) from three rural, Title I elementary schools in the southeast region of Alabama. The participating students’ eight teachers, three counselors, and three principals participated in interviews to further explain the results of the PHCSCS2 quantitative assessments. In addition, writing samples that expressed the students’ perceptions of their own career awareness were also collected at the beginning, middle, and end of the study. Three main conclusions surfaced from this study: (a) development of self-concepts should be emphasized in conjunction with career awareness activities, (b) career awareness activities were shown to be effective in elementary school, (c) and career awareness curricula do not need to be gender specific at the elementary level.