The role of parentsin career guidance

Lorelei R. VinluanCollege of Education

University of the Philippines Diliman

Batch 2011 Career FairPhilippine Science High School, Quezon City / January 9, 2010

Points to ponder

• Where are you right now in terms of your career?

• Are you happy where you are now?

• Where do you want to be or what else do you want to have / achieve?

• What are your frustrations as regards your career? Do you understand why you are frustrated?

• How did you deal or how are you dealing with those frustrations?

• If you were to start your career all over again, what will you do?

Answer

• Career development begins in childhood(Gottfredson, as cited in Isaacson and Brown, 1997)

• Life career development is a life-long spiraling process (Magnusson & Starr, 2000)

• Career choice is not a single event but a series of developmental steps and that adolescence is a critical period in career development (Savickas, 2002)

Early careerdevelopment theories…

focused mostly on the individual.

1. Parsons – career selection based on self-knowledge, knowledge of the world of work, and choice based on true logic

2. Trait-and-factor – individuals are different and their different capacities can be measured and related to occupations

focused mostly on the individual.

3. Person-environment fit – individuals seek work environments compatible with their attitudes and values and allows them to use their skills & abilities (Holland)

focused mostly on the individual.

4. Gottfredson – environments are partly genetic in origin so even if we were all provided identical parents, classrooms, and neighborhoods, our personal proclivities would constantly incline us to perceive, provoke, and exploit them differently

But later theories…

considered family influences.

1. Roe – early childhood environments predisposed children to enter certain occupational groups

2. Bordin – developments in early childhood accounts for work motivation

considered family influences.

3. Ginzberg, et al. – career development begins in early childhood and progresses through three stages (fantasy, tentative, and realistic)

4. Super – stages of vocational development correspond to recognized life stages (exploration, etc)

• Super’s five stages or "maxicycles“ of career development

1. Growth (4-to13)

2. Exploration (14-to-24)

3. Establishment (25-to-44)

4. Maintenance (45-65)

5. Disengagement (65 and over)

Some factors affecting

career choice

1. Birth order

• Adler – the position an individual by the order of birth had significantly affected the individual’s growth and personality

• a child’s place in the family birth order may play a role in the type of occupations that will interest him as an adult (SAE, 2002)

• birth order was one of 16 influences that led 377 freshmen in a large mid-western university to decide to become teachers (Marso & Pigge, 1994)

2. Academic achievement

• variables related to school performance have the greatest effect on high school students’ aspirations (Mau & Bikos, 2000)

• science-engineering was the field most frequently identified by both the academically-talented and the academically-oriented groups (Pate, Derdeyn, & Goodnough, 1989)

• significant positive relationship between academic achievement and the education and career aspirations of high school seniors (Balingit, 1982; Co, 1990)

3. Interests

• occupational interests reflect heterogeneous patterns of likes and dislikes that are typical of members of a particular occupation

• interests is one of the top reasons considered by students in choosing a career (e.g., Agana, 1982; Mani, 2003; Valdez, 1988)

• recent statistics indicate males, more than females, are likely to pursue education and careers in science and math (Jacobs et al., 1998)

4. Motivation

• micro level influences are more significant in career choices than meso or macro influences (Ozbilgin, Kushu, & Erdogmus, 2004)

• micro level influences education and training

skills, competencies, and abilities

acquaintances, friends and/or family

knowledge of labor and/or career market

financial and economic condition

background

• respondents chose a career in science or engineering because of social status of the job, availability of job, and financial security (Ong, 2002)

• the only factor found significantly associated with the career choice of 404 graduates of three science high schools was the value for power and the need for prestige (Alto, 1984)

Salazar-Clemeña (2002). The Career Development Quarterly, 50, 246-256

5. Gender

• Research results mixed predictive of career decisions (e.g., Aleidan, 2002; Dela Paz, 2005; Mau

& Bikos, 2000; Ong, 2002)

not predictive (e.g., Houston, 1999; Olson, 1993; Emmett, 1990)

• two-year longitudinal study of nationally representative sample of 10th-grade students (Mau & Bikos, 2000)

female students expressed significantly higher occupational aspirations

after high school, girls’ vocational aspirations drop, becoming more traditional and less prestigious

many ultimately opt for careers that underutilize their talents and abilities

• female adolescents had more modern attitudes regarding work, family, and work-family relationships than male adolescents (Dela Paz, 2005)

• male and female subjects have significantly different perceptions on sex stereotyping of science or engineering as a career (Ong, 2002)

6. Significant others

• guidance counselors

• teachers

• friends / peers

• community / religious leaders

• media

• relatives

Summary of factors influencing career choice

1. Birth order

2. Academic achievement

3. Interests

4. Motivation

5. Gender

6. Significant others

7. ?

But most especially…

PARENTS!

Parents’ educational attainment

• students chose educational levels similar to their parents’ (Balum, 2002)

• parents with post-secondary education tend to pass along its importance to their children (Lankard, 1995; Mortimer et al., 1992)

• students whose parents had limited education or no schooling at all preferred vocational courses (Amilbahar, 1983)

• relationships between students’ educational and career aspirations and parental factors differed by mother and father (Signer & Saldana, 2001)

Parents’ occupational status

• occupational transmission – pag laki ko, gagayahin ko ang tatay (o nanay) ko rural high school students who had a parent or grandparent in

the military were likely to choose military involvement too (Balum, 2002)

• father’s occupation was one of the predictors of choice of “ideal” job (Conroy, 1997)

• children of jobless fathers were attracted to vocational courses (Amilbahar, 1983)

• children’s early aspirations are more similar to their mothers’ occupations than their fathers’ (Trice & Knapp, 1992; Trice et al., 1995)

• But identification with parents’ work seems to weaken somewhat by sixth grade

• The status of the mother’s and father’s occupations had no effect on girls’ occupational aspirations

• But boys were more likely to aspire to their mothers’ occupation if the mothers’ and fathers’ occupations were of equal status or the mother’s job was of higher status

Occupational suggestions

• elementary school children are influenced by direct suggestions related to occupational direction and that they are most likely to cite their parents as making occupational suggestions to them (Trice, McClellan, & Hughes, 1992)

• grandparents and siblings occasionally provided occupational suggestions (same study)

Parental expectations

• children early in elementary school tended to aspire to occupations within the same occupational category (e.g., technical, clerical, and service) as their parents’ expectations of them

• however, as children progressed through the elementary grades, they increasingly reported their own aspirations rather than the aspirations their parents had for them (Helwig, 1998)

• Lesson: Talk to them early about career goals.

Family configuration

• children living in family situations other than two-parent homes (e.g., in single-parent households, with extended family, in foster care) were substantially more likely to express no occupational aspirations than were children in two-parent homes (Trice, McClellan, & Hughes, 1992)

Family environment

• family circumstances and the family environment of children at age 11 were moderately related to career aspirations at age 16 (Marjoribanks, 1984)

• family functioning is a significant predictor of vocational identity—the degree to which one has a clear sense of his or her interests, goals, and values as they pertain to career planning (Penick & Jepsen, 1992)

• the notion of family interaction or functioning—incorporating parenting style (authoritarian or passive), level of support, guidance, and responsiveness—may have more influence on career development than demographics

Parenting style

• children’s career development is enhanced when parents strike a balance between encouraging openness and exploration and, at the same time, actively monitoring and controlling certain adolescent behaviors (Kracke, 1997)

Parental career behavior

• The following were found to be among the predictors of career decision-making self-efficacy of adolescents (Keller & Whiston, 2008)

1. Parental expression of interest in various teenage issues that are important to the child

2. High parental expectations for the child’s career

Parental career behavior

• The following were found to be among the predictors of career maturity in adolescents (Keller & Whiston, 2008)

1. Parental expression of interest in various teenage issues that are important to the child

2. Parental encouragement to make own decisions3. Parental help to understand results from career

tests or interest assessments taken4. Parents tell child that he/she is proud of him/her

On the basis of the foregoing,

here are some tips.

1. Be actively involved…

• in the lives of your children. Find out what he/she:likes

fears

worries about, or

maybe even his/her crushes.

• But also tell him/her, in a non-intimidating way, what your dreams or expectations of him/her are.

2. But learn to let go too.

• Strike a balance between monitoring and controlling certain behaviors and encouraging openness and exploration.

• Be available when he/she approaches you for assistance in decision-making. Guide but do not impose.

3. Show faith…

• in your child’s abilities to be successful.Provide information.

Give encouragement.

Show pride.

4. Keep a “healthy”family environment.

• What is your parenting style?authoritarian

authoritative

not involved

• How well is your communication with your children?how deep

how often

how comfortable

5. Work with teachers and counselors.

• Some studies have shown that adolescents are influenced by parents, teachers, and counselors (frequently in that order) in career development.

• Discuss your child’s career development options with them based also on data from tests and assessments, not just on their (and your) likes and ambitions.

• Familiarize yourself with career development materials.

You are what you arethrough your

CHOICEalone.

Wishing you all the best.

Thank you very much.

E-mail me at: lei_vinluan@yahoo.com; lcrv@up.edu.ph