중학생의 진로의식에 관한 연구

Abstract

In knowledge-based society, knowledge is not one of mere consumer goods but one of investment goods, the sources of social competitiveness. As a source of power and wealth, that has a tremendous impact on revamping social structure. The level of job and its content are reliant on it, and the structure of industry and occupational world also hinges on it. Moreover, the types of jobs are being diversified owing to that. In the 21st century accompanied by splendid technical reform, students often make a career choice without exactly knowing what they can do and what's right up with their alley, from which personal and social problems arise. Middle school students should receive career education to be ready for their future, make a successful career choice and eventually find an appropriate job. The purpose of this study was to look into the career awareness and career choice of middle school students in remote areas, their understanding of occupational world, and career education provided by middle schools in light of school location, gender, academic school year, educational background of their guardians and their occupation. And it is also meant to contribute to offering more successful career education. The subjects of this study were 392 male students and 419 female students in a selected middle school under the umbrella of the Wando-Gun Office of Education in south Jeollanamdo province. The instrument used in this study was 33-item questionnaires, and indirect investigation was made by using the questionnaires. The collected data were analyzed with SPSS program. To identify the general characteristics of the subjects, statistical data on frequency and percentage were obtained, and x2 test, t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to find out their perception of career, their career choice, their understanding of occupational world and how career education was conducted. The findings of the study were as follows: First, the students investigated thought about what they would be like in the future to some extent, but they were not well aware of their own aptitude. Their parents did not know about their interests or aptitude, either, and it is required to provide a chance for them to take a standardized test to exactly figure out their own aptitude. Besides, extracurricular programs should be reinforced to help them to check what they could do and foster their talents. Second, the students acquired career information through their parents and families the most, and they considered it most advisable to start receiving career education in middle school. To let them benefit from more objective information, middle schools should have career information center to facilitate their career exploration. Third, they were under the most influence of their parents in relation to entrance into high schools, and the largest number of students were going to go up to regular high schools. This was because high school admission was just viewed as part of process to enter university, and more accurate information on business high schools and high schools for special purposes should be provided. Fourth, a lot of the students believed that occupation was necessary to develop their aptitude and deploy their ability, and many had just an unclear idea about their future job. They should receive intensive education about work ethics to precisely understand the worth of labor and the multiple meanings of job. Fifth, they did not find themselves to receive enough education about career choice at school, and they felt career education should be conducted in extracurricular class. Teachers should take sequential training courses to enhance their qualifications, and optional class should properly be operated. Based on the above-described findings, there are some suggestions: First of all, school and mass media should put concerted efforts into guiding the vocational awareness of students and parents in the right direction, and career education should be part of regular school education. Secondly, career education could be most successful when there are collaboration among family, school and local community. Career education programs geared toward parents should be prepared to change their way of looking at career and to help them offer career information to their children. Thirdly, every teacher should need to take training courses in career counseling to improve their consciousness of career education, and curriculum should be applied more flexibly to have students exposed to the world of work through field trip and experiential programs.