Career adaptability as an instructional scaffold for career education in South African schools

Abstract

Background: South African learners need more career preparation, as it provides a sense of control in the current economic climate of high unemployment, as confirmed by the business sector. Objective: The intentions of this study were to gain an understanding of the manner in which learners make use of career adaptability as a scaffold to prepare for the workplace, as well as the way African proverbs assist learners with thinking critically and deconstructing the career adaptability construct. Method: The study was an exploratory case study with 20 Grade 11 black African learners from an urban government secondary school in the Gauteng province, South Africa. Results: The study confirmed that scaffolding the career adaptability construct to career construction encouraged learners to think critically about their career planning strategies. Conclusion: The results demonstrated the extent to which the career adaptability construct functioned as a teaching scaffold during learners’ career preparation activities. Contribution: This study was undertaken to understand how learners plan for careers in the 21st-century world of work. The career adaptability construct was explicitly chosen to explore the potential possibilities for supporting learners and function as an instructional scaffold in the career path development process. The study can potentially add value to career education in all South African schools.

Keywords

• career adaptability
• career construction
• career counselling
• career identity
• career planning
• career resilience
• african proverbs
• employability
• instructional scaffold
• life design