Career choice

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Vocational qualification is a concept of career development theory . This characterizes a person's level of development in terms of their ability and willingness to tackle and effectively master phase-typical development tasks . The eligibility for career choice shows the extent to which a career chooser solves tasks set according to his age in comparison to other individuals. Above all, it plays a central role before and during the status transition from school or university to professional life.

Related terms

In recent publications, the term "career choice maturity" is increasingly the term career choice competence replaced to make clear that not everybody people age (by "maturation") almost automatically the desired maturity fully adjusting. In addition, the concept of “career choice” in the Supers tradition is criticized for overemphasizing psychological aspects and severely neglecting sociological issues.

For the German Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training , the vocational qualification of a young person is one of several criteria for the existence of a training qualification . The institute operationalizes the concept of career choice as “self-assessment and information skills”. The willingness and ability to choose a career is considered a metacompetence of identity , adaptability and resilience .

Characteristics of career choice or competence

According to Donald E. Super, the nestor of the theory of career development, people who are ready to choose a career are expected to approach the developmental task of choosing a career in a planned and exploratory manner, to acquire general decision-making skills, combined with knowledge of the world of work and specific professions, as well as in an affective and cognitive manner Show a sense of reality.

Super's correct approach, according to which career choice is typically achieved at a certain age, could be understood to mean that the category (as a completed development task) no longer plays a decisive role in later years of life. This misunderstanding is explicitly corrected in more recent publications; it is prevented through the consistent use of the term “career choice competence”. Since job profiles have changed and since the lifelong one job is becoming increasingly rare, it is necessary

  • that working people constantly checked their knowledge and their attitudes to see whether they still correspond to reality,
  • that they are ready for lifelong learning and
  • that they may revise the career choice made at the beginning of their working life or later.

Self-knowledge

For a fully developed vocational qualification it is imperative that students know themselves, i. h. that them their (the job recyclable) inclinations are aware of and that they are able for them attractive career deals with regard to check whether they meet the demands of the profession are suitable .

The Thuringian Institute for Teacher Training, Curriculum Development and Media describes the acquisition of “self-knowledge” as follows: “Choosing the right profession requires knowledge of one's own strengths and weaknesses as well as one's own wishes and goals. We develop an image of ourselves through direct feedback from others, through targeted testing of our own abilities, through comparison with other people and through social expectations. This image can be more precise or diffuse, simpler or more structured, well-founded or speculative, more complete or one-sided, be more right or more wrong. People who are competent in choosing a career know their own strengths and weaknesses as well as their own needs and goals, insofar as they are relevant to the work and performance context. They can articulate these and are able to obtain and process information that is relevant to themselves. "

Conceptual knowledge

The Thuringian Institute describes “conceptual knowledge” as knowledge about fields of work, about specific characteristics of possible professions, but also about the concept of profession in general, about categories such as male professions vs. Women's professions and the prestige of the profession in question.

Conditional knowledge

A person has “conditional knowledge” if he knows what he has to do, starting in the present, in order to be able to begin and successfully complete an apprenticeship in the desired occupation and to be able to make a career in the occupation concerned .

Planning and decision-making skills

A person is fully mature or competent when he is able to filter out an option from possible options, which he ultimately decides, and if he is able to combine all of the aforementioned aspects with one another in such a way that gives them a coherent career choice plan.

Role of Parents in the Maturation Process

Article 26, Paragraph 2, Clause 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations , passed on December 10, 1948, stipulates: "Parents have a priority right to choose the type of education that is to be given to their children." Law is part of parental custody ( Section 1626 BGB ) and only expires on the day on which the son or daughter comes of age . In Germany, this is the son or daughter's 18th birthday in accordance with Section 2 of the German Civil Code.

In principle, legal guardians have the last word on the career choice of the minor entrusted to them. This does not mean, however, that minors with career aspirations that contradict their parents 'ideas have to “obey” them and, in the event of “resistance” to their parents' wishes, are automatically qualified as “(career choice) immature”. In Germany, the BGB regulates situations in which parents cannot agree on their school or professional career among themselves or in relation to their child. Article 12 (1) sentence 1 of the Basic Law does not read : “All Germans of full age have the right to freely choose a profession, job and training facility.” The freedom to choose a profession is rather a civil right that also applies to minors and that the German state as Must protect the fundamental rights of its citizens. Accordingly , § 1631a of the German Civil Code ( BGB) stipulates : “In matters of education and the profession, the parents take particular account of the child's suitability and inclination. If there are any doubts, the advice of a teacher or another suitable person should be sought. ”Parents are not allowed to ignore career plans of their young children that differ from their plans if they comply with Section 1626 (2) BGB. Even if there is no endangerment of the child's welfare within the meaning of Section 1666 (2) and (3) BGB, a court can replace the parents 'decision, even if both parents agree, if the parents' educational decision no longer serves the interests of the child can. Arbitrariness or bad will are not required for this.

These regulations legally facilitate the developmental task of detaching young people from their parents, which is closely related to the acquisition of career choice skills.

The above-mentioned regulations apply mainly in cases like the following: The owner of a pastry shop, whose great-grandfather already founded the company as a pastry chef, insists that his son also become a pastry chef because he could not bear to break the family tradition. He doesn't care that his son has other plans. However, a decision on the education and training of a minor by judges is the exception in practice. Lothar Beinke notes that when it comes to their children's career choices, parents tend to have a "supportive" or "nodding function".

Failure to complete the development task of career choice

The project “Vocational Orientation Program (BOP)” (see web links) funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research was carried out by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training against the background that in the 2010s “school leavers lacked clear vocational ideas, the range of career choices was limited and too many Apprenticeships were discontinued. ”It was found that pupils who had found a place in the transition system and had become the target group of the disadvantaged were not only affected by a lack of career choice competence, but also with general motivation problems (in the form of a lasting reluctance to formalized learning) and were burdened with the idea of ​​being able to lead a satisfying life even as an “unskilled” person.

A career choice should be rationally understandable for outsiders. A career choice is considered “rational” if the categories inclination and suitability are optimally realized in it. Is to be clarified

  • why schoolchildren and school leavers do not find this "optimal" job for them,
  • what prevents them from starting training in the profession once they have found it, and
  • why they may drop out of training in the chosen occupation.

causes

Requirements of the economy and society

There are two sides to admission to the world of work: that of the school leaver and that of the receiving economy. If someone is unable to get an apprenticeship, the main cause is that they don't seem to be meeting the demands of potential employers. Applicants who are unsuccessful with employers who offer apprenticeships in the desired occupation and who do not change their plans could be accused of a lack of adaptability. In times when there is a gross mismatch between the demand for training or jobs and the supply (as is still the case today in many Mediterranean countries with high youth unemployment ), this accusation falls short. For people with too “unattractive human capital ” there is less and less “simple work” in the age of the digital revolution . Whether there will be a long-term shortage of skilled workers in more demanding jobs in Germany is questionable despite the relatively low number of people entering the world of work due to the demographics of the advancing digitization.

In spite of all efforts to implement Article 27 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities , the number of those who, because of a disability , are dependent on receiving vocational training and working in a workshop for disabled people is increasing, most of them for life. Any career aspirations of the affected group of people usually turn out to be illusory. In Germany, people classified as “fully incapable of work”, but also at least partially employable people with disabilities (including those with a so-called “ learning disability ”) only have a right to professional support on the basis of Section 19 (1) SGB ​​III .

Different pressure to make decisions

Since high school students in general (apart from those who leave school before the Abitur) attend a general school longer than their peers with other educational programs, the vocational qualification at the end of lower secondary level is less pronounced for them than for those who do not have their compulsory vocational school in the form of a Full-time teaching in upper secondary level.

The abundance of opportunities to learn an apprenticeship without studying also has a negative effect on the willingness of young people without a high school diploma to make decisions . But in principle all professions are open to high school graduates with the acquisition of the general university entrance qualification , including those for which a university degree is required. The result for many of them is procrastination ; H. deferring the answer to the question of what professional activity the person concerned wants to pursue. This occurs particularly in those programs, in turn, select among different trades only after successful graduation enable (z. B. Students of the law ). The career advisor Ute Glaubitz claims with reference to university entrance qualifications: “Most people prefer not to commit themselves at all, not at 20 and not at 30 either.” In this context, the frequent use of the phrase “first” in statements about the further life path.

Countermeasures

School leavers who do not manage to find a place in the system of dual training or in a vocational school in Germany will, unless they have already completed their compulsory vocational school, be given a course in the transition system. The transition system comprises a large number of career orientation and preparation measures offered by state and private institutions for young people who, in the opinion of the labor administration, are not “ready for training”. First and foremost, they must be taught appropriate work postures and work virtues, which, in the opinion of the experts, are subject to a development process, i.e. can usually also be acquired by “late-stage developers”.

Anyone who does not manage to start their professional life without help is considered a “disadvantaged” and is entitled to support for the disadvantaged . Ruth Enggruber belongs to the group of those who do not only want to speak of “inclusion” in connection with “disability”, but want everyone who is actually disadvantaged to benefit from inclusion measures. Ursula Bylinski from the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training quotes the program of the German UNESCO Commission from 2009: “All young people and adults should be given learning opportunities, regardless of gender, social and economic conditions. Inclusive education assumes that 'pedagogy for special needs' cannot be further developed in isolation, but must be part of a general pedagogical and educational strategy. "

See also

literature

  • C. Bergmann, F. Eder, DH Rost (ed.): Concise dictionary of pedagogical psychology, article career and career counseling. (2nd revised and expanded edition 2001) Beltz PVU, Weinheim.
  • Lothar Beinke: The Internet - an instrument for career orientation for young people? Frankfurt / Main 2008, published by Peter Lang
  • Andreas Hirschi: What makes young people fit for a career choice? Panorama 4/2009, pp. 13-14. Online (PDF, 92 kB)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ professional career development . Online encyclopedia for psychology and education
  2. ↑ Karoline Hentrich: Influential factors on the career choice decision of young people on the first threshold. A theoretical and empirical study. . Magdeburg writings on vocational and business education . Issue 1/2011, p. 27 ff.
  3. ↑ Nadine Tobisch: On the structure and function of career guidance. A binational comparison between Germany and Austria . Dissertation. University of Konstanz. November 19, 2008. P. 138 ff. (142 ff.)
  4. ↑ Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training: What is training maturity?
  5. ↑ Günter Ratschinski: Willingness and ability to choose a career as a metacompetence of identity, adaptability and resilience. A new conceptualization of the target size of career guidance measures . Vocational and business education online. December 27, 2014
  6. ↑ Super (1953) and career development theory . philanthropiaa. August 26, 2013
  7. ↑ Karoline Hentrich: Influential factors on the career choice decision of young people on the first threshold. A theoretical and empirical study. . Magdeburg writings on vocational and business education . Issue 1/2011, p. 20 f.
  8. ↑ Thuringian University and State Library Jena: Career and study orientation at Thuringian schools. Section “Lifelong Learning” . P. 76
  9. ↑ Thuringian Institute for Teacher Training, Curriculum Development and Media: Career and Study Orientation - Successful in choosing a career. An orientation and action model for Thuringian schools. . December 2010, p. 13
  10. ^ United Nations General Assembly resolution 217 A (III). Universal Declaration of Human Rights
  11. ^ Eva Julia Lohse: Child welfare - right to education - parental and state educational decisions . Iurratio . December 8, 2015
  12. ↑ Lothar Beinke: Dropping out of training and making the wrong choice of profession . Vocational and business education online. September 26, 2011. p. 4
  13. ↑ Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (Ed.): Career choice competence and its promotion. Evaluation of the BOP career orientation program . 2018. p. 12
  14. ↑ Lothar Beinke: Dropping out of training and making the wrong choice of profession . Vocational and business education online. September 26, 2011. p. 3f.
  15. ↑ The fairy tale of inclusion . Documentary. Radio Bremen. January 21, 2019
  16. ↑ Michael Schschuhe / Sabine Schürkmann: To what extent do high school students include general conditions in their decisions when choosing a career and course of study? . Journal of Economic Education . Issue 3/2015. P. 3
  17. ↑ Christian Heinrich: Why can't I choose a job? Interview with Ute Glaubitz . zeit.de. November 15, 2011
  18. ^ Günter Ratschinski: Career choice, career orientation, career research and career development . Leibniz University Hannover. May 8, 2014. p. 2
  19. ↑ Ursula Bylinski: Inclusive vocational training: seize diversity - use all potential! . In: Ute Erdsiek-Rave / Marei John-Ohnesorg (ed.): Inclusion in vocational training . Friedrich Ebert Foundation . 2015, p. 51