Implementation of a junior high school vocational guidance program in conjunction with a district vocational school program.

Turpin, Edna F. (1972) Implementation of a junior high school vocational guidance program in conjunction with a district vocational school program. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

The purpose of this project was to plan and implement a career guidance program far grade eight students, in conjunction with a District Vocational School Pilot Project. This project was undertaken in response to the recognized need for Junior High Schools feeding students to pre-vocational courses. -- The Seal cove vocational School Pilot Project, of which this career guidance project was a part, was undertaken to provide a more diversified curriculum, hopefully reducing the dropout rate in the three involved school districts. It is planned that students doing vocational courses will spend part of their time in the vocational school during grades nine to eleven, while the remainder will be spent in their present schools. The need for educational and vocational guidance to help students coordinate their academic programs, then, was apparent, and led to the initiation of a career guidance program having the following goals: -- 1. To design an overall guidance plan for use by all involved school districts and the Harbour Main Vocational School district in their implementation of the Seal Cove Vocational School Pilot Project. -- 2. To plan and implement the vocational guidance program related to the Seal Cove Vocational School Pilot Project in the Conception Bay Center school district. Of the second, the major sub-goals to be achieved were: -- A. The development of self-understanding by grade eight students, as relevant to the decision to be made concerning pre-vocational courses. -- B. The provision of career and educational information, again relevant to decisions to be made concerning pre-vocational courses. -- C. The fostering of decision-making skills by students, leading to decisions about grade nine courses. These decisions were to be made by the students no later than 15 April 1972. -- There were no resources on hand at the beginning of the project which cost $1,973.00 to implement. $1,383.00 of this amount were non-recurring expenditures. One hundred and thirty-five students in five classrooms were served by a part-time guidance specialist and the district supervisor of guidance. -- The program used orientation activities for students and teachers, some communication with parents, and a variety of guidance activities including large group guidance classes and small group discussions. One field trip was organized and a student project was based upon this. A resource center was set up to make occupational and educational information available to students. Finally, a fairly extensive program of testing with some interpretation activity was implemented. -- Several problems became apparent as the project was implemented. The problems generally were organizational or administrative in nature. -- Several problems became apparent as the project was implemented. The problems generally were organizational or administrative in nature. -- The first project goal was achieved. The career guidance plan which was developed was adopted by the Vocational School planning committee and implemented in all the districts. -- The second project goal was achieved only marginally, primarily because of the organizational and administrative problems which were encountered. It was found that students did learn a considerable amount abut their vocational and educational opportunities, but their achievement in self-understanding and in decision-making was not as much as was hoped for at the beginning of the project. -- As a result of the experience of the project a number of recommendations were made for the improvement of career guidance programs when they are implemented in other areas. The major recommendations involved insuring understanding of the program goals at all levels of operation, the implementation of procedures for early recognition of students with special problems, and a thorough study of testing programs.

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