An assessment of teachers' competences in career guidance in selected Schools in Solwezi District Zambia
The purpose of the study was to assess the competences of teachers in Career Guidance in selected secondary schools of Solwezi District in North Western province of Zambia. The objectives of the study were; to establish evidence that teachers were providing Career Guidance to learners, determine knowledge levels of teachers who provide Career Guidance, establish competences such as; counselling skills, ability to relate school subjects to careers and employment requirements and attitude of teachers who provide Career Guidance, assess what motivated teachers to provide Career Guidance and to find out the extent to which learners were satisfied with the Career Guidance Services they were receiving in schools. The study followed a survey design using a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods. Data was collected from a sample of 133 respondents and participants from seven Secondary schools disaggregated as; 70 subject teachers, 49 learners, 7 Head teachers and 7 Guidance teachers. Simple random sampling technique was used to select subject teachers and learners while Purposive sampling technique was used to select Head teachers and Guidance teachers. A Questionnaire, Focus Group Discussion guide and Interview guide were used to collect data from subject teachers, leaners and Head teachers and Guidance teachers respectively. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics using Microsoft Excel while qualitative data was analysed using thematic analysis. The research findings revealed that: there was evidence that some teachers were providing Career Guidance to learners which included Career guidance appearing on the school time table in some schools, reports on career talks, conferences, and visits to work places. Concerning knowledge levels subject teachers and some Guidance teachers had less knowledge in Career guidance as most of them were not trained in Guidance and Counselling. As regards competence, most teachers did not have much knowledge and skills in Career guidance as a result they were unable to link some school subjects to careers and employment. However, love to help learners motivated them to provide Career Guidance. Some teachers felt it was their duty to help learners to choose, plan and enter into their chosen careers. Concerning the extent of satisfaction, 53% of the pupils were not satisfied by the career guidance services they received from their teachers because they were not able to easily make career choices, prepare for their career choices and enter them. The study therefore, recommended that Ministry of General Education should scale up capacity building of teachers in Career Guidance. Key words: Assessment, Competences, Career Guidance, Subject teachers.
Counselling in Secondary Education-Solwezi, Zambia, Vocational guidance
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