Students speak up: career exploration and the working relationship

This study was undertaken to learn more about how mature students perceive the career exploration process when visiting a university career service. Further, research has found that client ratings of the working alliance are a positive predictor of client change; however, this relationship has not been explored in career services. Following Smith and associates (2009) interpretative phenomenological analysis, three mature students were selected and interviewed in order to explore their experiences of engaging in career exploration. They described experiencing a variety of emotions throughout counselling, and a process is suggested about how mature students view their career exploration experiences. The working alliance was an important contribution towards participant experiences and what they identified as helpful and hindering to its development is discussed. This study concludes that the experiences of mature students are unique and that a different career exploration model for mature students may be required.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MSc)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Psychology

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Graduate Studies

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Pott, Terilyn

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Willment, Jo-Anne

• Educational Psychology

Statement dc:rights

• University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.

Language dc:language.iso

eng

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/27909

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ucalgary.scholaris.ca:11023/219