A Quantitative Study Measuring Urban Youth's Conception of Work

4 Review of Literature . 5-22 Method . 22-26 Participants.22-24 Procedure. 24 Measures.25-26 Results.27-31 Discussion . 31-39 Dimensions of work.35 Values Learned From Family Members About Work.36 Limitations.36-37 Implications for counselors.37-39 References.40-48 Appendices.49 Appendix A: Consent Forms . 50-55 Appendix B: Questionnaire . 57 Appendix C: Table of Data . 60-61 Conceptions of work 4 Abstract In order to understand how urban youth define the concept of work, a quantitative study measuring conceptions of work will be given to 9, 10, 11, and 12 grade students at an inner-city school district. The study included sixty high school students enrolled in career and finance management courses or involved in vocational programs such as the Career Exploration Internship program, or the Diversified Cooperative Occupational program. Study results reveal that for categories of race and ethnicity, five of the seven races displayed a higher preference towards intrinsic work belief statements in comparison to extrinsic work belief statements. Narrative data along with questionnaire results suggest that involvement in vocational educational programs influences urban youth’s intrinsic work beliefs and impacts their perceptions towards future work.In order to understand how urban youth define the concept of work, a quantitative study measuring conceptions of work will be given to 9, 10, 11, and 12 grade students at an inner-city school district. The study included sixty high school students enrolled in career and finance management courses or involved in vocational programs such as the Career Exploration Internship program, or the Diversified Cooperative Occupational program. Study results reveal that for categories of race and ethnicity, five of the seven races displayed a higher preference towards intrinsic work belief statements in comparison to extrinsic work belief statements. Narrative data along with questionnaire results suggest that involvement in vocational educational programs influences urban youth’s intrinsic work beliefs and impacts their perceptions towards future work. Conceptions of work 5 A Quantitative Study Measuring Urban Youth’s Conception of Work Review of the Literature This project is an initial investigation that will aim to explore and further understand urban youth’s conception of work. Today, many urban schools have implemented school-to-work programs, which are also known as vocational education programs to some educators. In 1994, the School-to-Work Opportunities act provided the requisite funding for the implementation of career exploration programs (Visher, Bhandari, & Medrich, 2004). This legislation enabled states and school districts to develop a variety of vocational and educational programs that would help high school students make informed decisions about postsecondary education (Visher et al., 2004). Many students know little about career options or have difficulty conceptualizing their own talents. Countless more are uneducated about what work actually entails, and what preparations are needed for the types of jobs they typically encounter in the media. In many Western cultures, graduating from high school is viewed as a socially constructed milestone that marks the transition from adolescence to early adulthood (Dillon, Liem, & Gore, 2003). When students are faced with the transition of graduating from high school to making life-changing decisions, such as the pursuit of a higher education or to immediately enter into the workforce, the process itself can cause conflicting emotions, pressures, and expectations for the individual (Constantine, Kindaichi, & Miville, 2007). In addition, when students are ill informed about the preparations needed to enter into the workplace, or to further one’s education, the process of transitioning from high school to career occurs with added strain (Blustein, Chaves, Diemer, Gallagher, Marshall, Sirin & Bhati, 2002). This is especially true for African-American adolescents, who are at a Conceptions of work 6 considerable risk for experiencing unsuccessful school-to-work transitions (Chaves et al., 2004; Kerpleman & Mosher, 2004), due to their limited knowledge of themselves, their career interests, values and skills. Consequently, in their early years of high school, these same adolescents experience a narrow array of work opportunities, concentrated in retail and services, which may not reflect their own work values (Mortimer, Pimental, Ryu, Nash & Lee, 1996; Zunker, 1998). Based on Chaves’ et al. (2004) study, this project will quantitatively measure urban youth’s conception of work, to provide further understanding of youth’s beliefs, values, and perceptions towards the world of work. This article will also investigate the current goals of vocational and education programs, career development theories of individual work values and work perceptions, and environment and sociocultural factors that impact urban youth’s conceptions towards work. These sections will also be followed by a description of the project’s methods, participants’ characteristics, results, discussions of the study’s results and implications for further study. Purpose of School-to-work programs Vocational and educational programs were intended to inform students about furthering one’s education and to ease them through their transition from high school to career (Blustein, Juntunen & Worthington, 2000; Visher et al., 2004). Vocational educational programs, such as the Career Exploration Internship program and the Diversified Cooperative Occupational Program, are developmental programs, which help students develop the entry-level career-based skills needed to sustain future employment. These programs provide students an opportunity to work part-time with local retailers and industries, and offer information on career majors, job shadowing, internships, and Conceptions of work 7 preparatory vocational courses. Both administrators and educators anticipate that the hands on experience that students receive would enable goal setting and recognition of prerequisites required for a postsecondary education (Rojewski & Sheng, 1993). Schoolto-work programs strive to provide students a meaningful connection between education and work (Blustein et al., 2000), in the hopes that these youths will find their work experiences meaningful and relevant (Chaves et al., 2004). School-to-work programs are aimed to increase work exposure and prepare youth for the transition from high school-to-work (McWhiter, Rasheed, & Crothers, 2000). However, there has been some controversy in regards to vocational education programs and its intentions to prepare students for the world of work. Some theorists such as Brown and Brooks (1991) would agree that exposure to work experience can provide individual’s with a direct opportunity for self-reflection, which would add to their knowledge of career information and their own talents. While others would disagree and add that school-to-work interventions have been designed without the awareness of how recipients of these programs conceive of the relationship of themselves and future occupations (Chaves et al., 2004). Studies measuring urban youth’s perceptions towards work have also shown mixed results. Researchers, such as Skorikov and Vondracek (1997) have reported that part-time work in urban youth did not significantly affect their career choices. While other researchers have revealed positive student perceptions in regards to vocational education and to the program’s relevance in providing the necessary job skills and employment preparation (Rojewski & Sheng, 1993). Differences in results may not be solely based on the uniqueness of vocation programs, but rather on the student’s perception towards work. Despite the efforts of counselors and educators to Conceptions of work 8 assist urban youth in developing work readiness skills and attitudes necessary to be successful in the labor market (Chaves et al., 2004; D’Andrea, 1995), many of these individuals still struggle in the transition from school-to-work (Blustein, et. al., 2000). Perhaps the origins of these struggles can be traced to the individual’s perceptions towards work. In a qualitative study, conducted by Chaves et al. (2004) that measured conceptions of work in urban youth, researchers have found that a majority of urban youth view work as a means to obtain financial security and that only a few view work as a means of personal development and self-expression. In other words, youth may not view work as a pathway to a career choice, but as a solely a means to gain financial security. The school-to-work transition of urban youth, whose primary aspiration following high school graduation is to enter directly i