STUDENTS’ CAREER EDUCATION IN GENERAL EDUCATION SCHOOLS: PRACTICAL IMPLEMENTATION, PROBLEMS AND IMPROVEMENT POSSIBILITIES

Abstract

School has to guarantee the effective development of career competencies, which are necessary to consciously and successfully create and manage your career and, respecting student’s inclinations, values and abilities, to help him cognise himself, the activity world, and to choose future career. It is important to make conditions for all students to develop their career competencies, to support them in the process of cognising, creating and realising themselves. Career education is a common team work, the success of which is possible if most of the school employees contribute to career competence development, various school activities, oriented to students’ personality maturity help students as well to acquire and develop the competencies necessary for successful career. In the research, it was referred to an attitude that career education is a systematic and purposeful process, by which it is helped the student to make a career choice and to acquire career competencies. The research object was - career education in general education schools. The research aim was – to ascertain teachers’ attitude to career education in general education schools. In the research, a survey strategy was applied. Descriptive statistics procedure was applied for calculation of frequencies and comparing of averages. It was a pilot research. The research took place in Klaipėda city municipality general education schools in 2017. In the research, the teachers from 100 general education schools took part. The survey was carried out online. Using “Google forms” device, the questionnaire was presented to school teachers. The research results revealed that education process was very intensive, there was a lack of time for carrying out career education activities, lack of consistency, financing, not in all schools career education programme was prepared, there was lack of efficiency, there were not enough career education programmes, methodological devices, there was lack of all school community involvement in career education organisation and social partner help for career education activity implementation outside the school. Research results showed that carrying out career education activities was problematic. Keywords: career education, career choice, career competencies, general education school.