This study explores how doctoral graduates weigh considerations of employment sectors and cities in their career decision-making processes. Guided by Social Cognitive Career Theory and a Four-quadrant Model, researchers analysed interviews from 40 STEM doctoral graduates in China. Findings demonstrate that self-efficacy, outcome expectations and…

The purpose of this book is to examine John Holland's theory of vocational personalities and work environments and extend it to other life decisions that involve effectively matching individuals with their life and work options. It is also intended to refresh the thinking of career counselors, advisors, managers, coaches, and others working in the…

This study aims to evaluate the mediating role of career futures in the relationship between prospective teachers' career adaptability and career calling. This aim was carried out according to the quantitative research patterns relational model. The sample of this study consists of 225 prospective teachers between 18 and 39 years of age ([x-bar]=…

Following community interaction theory and drawing upon the concept of boundary crossing, this paper investigates students' experiences of career learning across contexts when involved in placement activities. Specifically, this work focuses on students' experiences of continuity and discontinuity in relation to tensions naturally embedded in…

The potential for vocational students to achieve success in entrepreneurship is considerable, especially since they have acquired specific skills that are in line with their area of specialization since the beginning of their vocational schooling. However, schools cannot be alone in promoting entrepreneurial careers among vocational students. This…

Turnover of early childhood education (ECE) professionals negatively impacts program costs, staff morale, and relationships with children. We determined whether the presence of work as a calling was associated with less intention to leave the ECE field. From an online survey administered to 265 ECE professionals in Pennsylvania, a calling score…

A shortage of professional mariners to work onboard commercial vessels exists in the United States and in the world commercial fleets. State maritime academies graduate third mates and third assistant engineers ready to take up these positions, yet even after their training, not all choose to do so. The purpose of this study was to understand how…

Artificial intelligence (AI) and learning analytics (LA) tools are increasingly implemented as decision support for learners and professionals. However, their affordances for guidance purposes have yet to be examined. In this paper, we investigated advantages and challenges of AI-enhanced LA tool for supporting career decisions from the user…

Vocational decisions made at school have significant long term impacts on young people's life chances, their opportunities for securing decent jobs and economic growth for themselves, their families and communities. In the short term, their aspirations dictate the decisions they make about educational pathways in post-compulsory years of schooling…

Teacher recruitment and retention in the United States has been deemed an issue across all disciplines and grade-levels. School-based agricultural education (SBAE) is no exception to this issue, where for decades a national shortage of qualified agriculture teachers has persisted. According to the 2021 Illinois Agricultural Education Annual…

While research on career paths has been studied for years, the impacts of identity rarely make it into the discussion. Leung et al. (1994) looked specifically at the factors that influence career aspirations in Asian Americans, but no South Asians were included in this work. To fill this gap, this research focused on the experience of South Asian…

The career choices of gifted students are significant both in terms of their potential contributions to society and their personal happiness and life satisfaction. The aim of this study was to identify themes of the turning points that influence gifted young people's career decisions and to reveal which factors influence their vocational identity…

This article proposes that researchers should seek to understand the value conflicts inherent in the career choices of gifted students. This study explored those conflicts using a narrative analysis based on the McAdams (1993) model of personal meaning-making. The subjects were two gifted female political leaders: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Jacinda…

This study reports on the development and validation of a new construct of application orientation (AO), which we defined as a vocational orientation concerning the interest for certain principles, values, and activities that are common for university graduates working in applied (i.e., industrial) fields. Using a multi-study program with…

What can one person teach another about living meaningfully? Recent discussions about the relationship between education and finding meaning in life have tended to focus on institutional and curricular matters and, as a consequence, have sidelined the importance of the vocation of teaching. Drawing on Raimond Gaita's philosophy of education, I…