School-based counsellors’ perceived roles in promoting career aspirations of learners in the intermediate phase (Grades 4–6) of primary schooling

M.Ed. (Educational Psychology)Abstract: Career development begins during childhood, extending across an individual’s life-span (Porfeli & Lee, 2012). Substantiated by the various sources of reference used in this study, research has indicated that school-based counsellors are key stakeholders responsible for raising the career aspirations of learners, while preparing them to be career ready (Paolini, 2015). As the 21st century presents a dramatic shift in the world of work, school-based counsellors’ roles need to adapt to and evolve with the dynamic changes within the community, societal and global systems with which they interact (Low, 2009). There is a paucity of contextualised research addressing career counselling in primary schools, thus leaving many school-based counsellors with inadequate support and training which enable them to facilitate career development in primary schools (Knight, 2015; Turner & Lapan, 2013). Therefore, the aim of this research was to explore the school-based counsellors’ perceived roles in promoting career aspirations of learners in the intermediate phase (Grades 4 – 6) of primary schooling. Super’s Life-Span, Life-Space theory of career development was used in order to understand the potential influences on school-based counsellors’ perceived roles in promoting learners’ career aspirations. The roles of the school-based counsellor in relation to career development were explored, as well as the collaborative systemic model proposed by Kok (2013), giving insight into the school-based counsellors’ roles. Conceptualised within a generic qualitative framework and by adopting an interpretivist research paradigm, this study has attempted to gain insight into school-based counsellors’ perceived roles in promoting learners’ career aspirations, as part of their everyday experiences. In doing so, school-based counsellors’ interpretation and understanding of their experience, were explored. Data was collected from three purposively sampled participants, namely school-based counsellors. For the purpose of this inquiry, collages, individual interviews and field notes were the instruments used in order to gather data. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was employed to analyse the qualitative data collected..