Second school teachers' self-efficacy for career development teaching and learning

Second school teachers' self-efficacy for career development teaching and learning

Career development in schools in Australia has been touted as a priority since the Organisation for Economic Cooperation Development (OECD, 2004a) provided advice and guidance to assist in understanding the importance of career development. Australia’s journey in career development has gained momentum since the Melbourne Declaration (Ministerial Council for Education Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs [MCEECDYA], 2008) . The importance of schools in preparing our future citizens has been recognised, yet there is no indication of a nationwide approach to career development in schools. The classroom teacher is perceived as a trusted source of information for students. Notwithstanding, while our classroom teachers are arguably in the best position to provide and facilitate career education programs in schools, there has been no provision of extra funding to provide professional development for teachers from a national perspective. Some State Departments of Education in Australia have invested in supporting classroom teachers to meet the Professional Standards for Australian Career Development Practitioners (Career Industry Council of Australia, 2013). For example, there has been a commitment by the Victorian Department of Education that started in 2019 with scholarships for secondary school teachers to gain the qualification for the Graduate Certificate in Career Development.

This research sought to gain an understanding of teachers’ self-efficacy for career development teaching and learning across Australia. The question was posed: 'What is the overall level of perceived self-efficacy for career development teaching and learning by secondary school teachers in Australia?'

A new instrument was developed based upon the Teacher Self Efficacy Scale (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001) and adapted for a career development focus. The Career Education Teachers’ Self-Efficacy Scale (CETSES) was developed and tested using a mixed-methods approach. Study 1 used a qualitative approach using Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) to improve content validity of the draft CETSES instrument. A focus group (n = 11) was assembled to provide expert feedback on items developed for the CETSES that were based upon the Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale (TSES) across the three factors of Student Engagement, Classroom Management and Instructional Skills from a career education perspective. To evaluate concurrent validity, two other self-efficacy scales were included in the overall survey including the 12-item TSES, the 6-item Occupational Self-Efficacy Scale (OSS-SF). Further, a bespoke index (appendix I) was created that sought to gain an understanding of teachers’ understanding of the 11 career competencies that are inherent to the Australian Blueprint for Career Development (ABCD). The study recruited 153 participants who completed the overall survey. A statistical analysis of the data using SPSS 25 was conducted using a principal components analysis to determine if the hypothesised statistical model fitted the actual data set structure. Subsequently, confirmatory factor analysis was completed using AMOS 26 where a short form of the CETSES was explored. It was found that a 9-item CETSES had potential with promising goodness of fit results.

Overall, the results indicated that teachers across Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Catholic Education in Melbourne had a self-efficacy for career development teaching and learning approaching the quite a bit level. These same teachers had a general teacher self-efficacy above the quite a bit level. It was also found that neither age, years of teaching experience, subject area specialisation or school location could predict a teacher’s self-efficacy for career development teaching and learning.

These findings indicate that teachers who participated in the research had an enhanced level of self-efficacy for career development teaching and learning. However, their content knowledge of the ABCD was less conclusive but did suggest that teachers had a strong grasp of career development concepts without necessarily being exposed to each competency of the ABCD. Classroom teachers are in the best position to facilitate career education programs and have a very good level of self-efficacy to do so. Notably, they will require professional development in career development concepts to ensure the students are provided with best practice aligning with career development professionals.