Needs of vocational counseling through smartphone applications among high school students

The fact that students are provided with adequate information about careers is still limited, they are still worried about costs, it is difficult to arrange a time for vocational couns[r]

Cong V Tran, PhD 1 Huyen T T Nguyen

Abstract: This study explores the need for vocational counseling based on

smartphone applications in students This study uses a mixed method including quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews Survey results by questionnaires

on 235 students and interviewed 2 students, 2 parents, 3 teachers at 2 high schools in Hanoi showed that students still face many difficulties in orienting their careers in the future Student’s career knowledge, the requirements of the career is very low and vague Information about careers that provided for students

is still limited Students are worried about costs, time for vocational counseling and difficulties in finding suitable vocational counselors Most students wish to receive vocational counseling indirectly, such as through websites, smartphone applications, although this form has not been popularized in our country today Some recommendations are given for vocational counseling services and the development of vocational counseling applications.

Keywords: Needs, Vocational counseling, Smartphone applications, Student,

High school.

1 Introduction

Vocational counseling has been considered as a field of science from the early years of the 20th century in the world and regarded as one of the important activities

of the society The Americans had their first career facility established in 1915, along with other developed countries such as England, France, and Italy [3, p 79]

In Vietnam, vocational counseling has been discussed among scientists since the 1960s, but it attracted researchers in the 1980s when Decision 126/CP (3/19/1981) became effective However, since the early years of the 21st century, vocational counseling for high school students has not been given adequate attention [4] Vocational counseling for high school students is usually done mainly during enrollment events and not really effective In the context of great needs

1 VNU - University of Education.

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for vocational counseling, some vocational counseling centers were established in some big cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh, Da Nang, Currently, in Ho Chi Minh City, two third of all schools have organized school counseling in professional, or non-professional forms [2] The initial efforts of the counselors were well received

by students, parents, and society However, due to the lack of facilities, time and funding resources, counseling activities are limited and not yet popular in many other places, especially in the rural and mountain areas, vocational counseling is still limited in current schools [5, p 108]

In particular, vocational counseling for high school students is one of the issues that are increasingly concerned in society Therefore, it is necessary to have vocational counseling in order to meet social needs, contributing to realizing the goal of general

education as reflected in the education law: “Students have common knowledge about

technology and vocational guidance, have the ability to develop their capacity to choose the direction of development, continue to study at university, college, vocational training or enter into working life “ [1, p 7].

The society is changing quickly, 4.0 technology revolution is also strongly spreading and developing, vocational counseling for high school students is also easier thanks to applications on smart electronic devices In the world, many applications have been built to make it easier for students as well as parents to choose suitable jobs for themselves Many studies have been carried out and initially showed some effectiveness of technology in vocational counseling [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11] In the current context, this study explores students’ vocational counseling needs through smartphone applications, in order to provide recommendations for vocational counseling in general and to develop applications in particular

2 Methodology

Two main methods used to collect data in this study were a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews Regarding the questionnaire content, the questionnaire includes a number of demographic information questions, a career orientation difficulties questionnaire including 25 items Vocational counseling based on

a smartphone application questionnaire including 30 items, with 4 options:

“Strongly disagree”, “Disagree”, “Agree”, and “Strongly agree” In addition, we used a

questionnaire about the career information source including 19 items with 4 options:

“Never”, “Rarely”, “Sometimes” and “Often” The questionnaire was piloted in 5

students Collected data is analyzed by SPSS

235 high school students, the mean age is 16,95 (SD = 0,76), including 118 male

students (50,2%) and 117 female students (49,8%) completed the questionnaire

Regarding grade level, there were 74 10th graders, 98 11th graders and 63 12th graders

At the same time, we interviewed 2 students, 2 parents, and 3 teachers

3 Results

3.1 Difficulties of students in career-orientation

When we asked students about their understanding of their hobbies, 59,6% students said they understood their interests which made up a relatively high proportion, and only 6% students said they didn’t understand their interests At the same time, the careers that they plan to choose are also relatively high, 76.2% of them selected “Agree” and “Strongly agree”, and no one student selecteds “Totally disagree” Similarly, 59,1% of them rated themselves understand their own abilities, accounting for over 50% and 6% of them did not understand their abilities

According to the data that was collected, 66.9% of them chose the “Agree” and

“Strongly agree” that “The career I intend to choose is due to the social trends” Mr T (teacher in D High School, Cau Giay district) said: “Students know the recruitment

needs and they classify the universities, for instance which major is easier to apply for job For example economics majors, they will choose National Economics University, Foreign Trade University, and Academy of Finance While graduating from these universities, students can apply for suitable jobs Some students select average-ranking universities, when applying for jobs, they use their own personal relationships, or accept to work in small enterprises”

According to the results, up to 57.9% of students tend to choose careers by

salary and popularity Ms D, a high-school teacher said: “Students pay a lot of attention

to income For example, students dislike pedagogy majors because of low income Every year, very few students register for the pedagogical majors in the entrance exam (only about 10 students in a high-school of 450 students) They may choose pedagogy majors as second or third choices” Mr K., also a high-school teacher said: “ they should also choose a school that has income guaranteed for future life For example, at present, they prefer information technology or economic majors because of their ability to apply for jobs with high income The highest motivation I think is income Stable income, strong economy, they will have a happy and warm life”.

Results showed that 18.3% of students do not think about choosing careers This is a matter of concern for career counseling

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Figure 1 Percentage (%) of career choice reasons

Table 1 showed that students’ planning their future plans is still limited Although job is very necessary for students to enter adulthood, only 27.3% of them have developed plans The basic difficulty that students face when choosing careers

is anxiety later that job is not suitable for themselves at the rate of 67.6% Worrying about not getting a job later is also a concern that they face with a high rate of 64.6%

Table 1 Difficulties in career orientation

Percentage (%)

Strongly disagree Disagree Agree Strongly agree Worry about not being able to get the job fit

Worry that my job is not appropriate with

I feel difficult to choose a career in the future 0.0 18.3 58.3 23.4

More specifically, of the 235 surveyed students, 137 selected “Agree” (the

highest rate was 58.3%) and no one selected “Strongly disagree.” with “I feel difficult

to choose a career in the future”.

Figure 2 Percentage of student’s difficulties when choosing a career

62.1% of students are confused and do not know where they must study, of which 45.9% of students in grades 10 and 11

When finding information about careers, students take a lot of time, cost and effort, over 50.0% of students have difficulties Student A., currently in 12th grade

said: “The source of information about career is plenty, for instance from teachers, parents,

friends, especially I often search on the Internet, but the information not quite accurate that can cause confusions.” N, also in 12th grade said: “The source of information about

the career is quite a lot but I often search on the Internet, I think that the information is not accurate enough to make me confused Parents oriented me but the information that their parents know is not better than teachers, peers…” Moreover, most of the students intend

to take the University - College entrance exam or vocational schools (89.8%), but

32.3% reported: “I do not know the enrollment information of the schools”.

3.2 Vocational counseling needs of high school students

The results showed that only 3.8% of students regularly read information about careers while 46.8% of students rarely do that

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Figure 3 Percentage of students self-seeking information about careers

Students often find career information through relatives; friends, teachers, schools; books, Internet, advertisements, and brochures, posters

Table 2 Sources of information students find about careers

Percentage (%)

Never Rarely Sometimes Often Books, Internet, advertisements, and

According to the survey results, the need for vocational counseling is 59.1%

“Sometimes” (the highest rate), and there is no one selected “Never”

Figure 4 Career counseling needs

3.3 Career counseling needs of high school students on mobile devices

One teacher shared: “I only follow the experience with reference on the internet as

the main source, there is no compulsory form in the school I often discusses in activities or extracurricular activities, students can ask questions about the profession and depending on the experience of the teacher can help them answer some of their questions”

Figure 5 Percentage (%) of students receiving vocational counseling

The results showed that 33.6% of the students received vocational counseling The results of the study showed that most of the students could not arrange a time for direct (face to face) vocational counseling Students A.’s explanation of his

opinion when he did not go directly to counseling was: “Actually, I also want it very

much, but I cannot find the time and I cannot find a vocational counseling service that I trust In the morning, I studied at the school, I also studied in the afternoon and went to school to study more, so I could review the lesson, so I could not arrange the time ” Student

L said: “I think not because I don’t have time, I want to focus on exam preparation” This

study also found that 56,1% of high school students could not arrange a time for direct vocational counseling Moreover, they are worried about the cost of direct vocational counseling when 74,5% of them selected “Agree” and “Totally disagree”

A student in grade 12th said: “ I consulted so I thought I lost a small amount of money

while the tuition money was pretty much lost”

According to the data we collected, 71.5% of students agreed to seek vocational counseling in an indirect way, accounting for the highest percentage

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Figure 6 Needs of vocational counseling in indirect form

However, vocational counseling in indirect form has not been widely disseminated Of the 235 students, only 27 students ever consulted career guidance through smartphone applications (11.5%), so there are 88.5% of them have never been consulted by this form When conducting the interview, we asked the students:

“What do you think when there is an application on vocational counseling on mobile

phones?”, A student of A high school said: “Oh, So cool! I will be consulted career guidance anytime, anywhere when I need it because my phone is always with me I will have

an additional means to make better decisions for my future And I hope the career information

in the app is properly researched” or as a male high school B student commented:“ That’s a pretty good idea! You can get career counseling without spending too much time and money Moreover, I am also more comfortable sharing my private thoughts” Not only with

the students, their parents also agree with having a career counseling application

on mobile devices, Ms M., a parent said:”That’s ok, save a lot time and less worry for

students I found the application on the phone also convenient If you have a career-oriented application, I and my husband will have a better basis to guide my child I hope to be like that!” or Mr P., parent said:“ It’s fine, my wife and I don’t have much time to learn the professions and orient them I found the application on the phone very convenient Our family can see and discuss together, listen to my child’s opinions after being guided on the career application”.

Table 3 The desire for the content of applications vocational counseling

Percentage (%)

Strongly disagree Disagree Agree Strongly agree

Test my personality

The results of the test help me

Advice on what to do in the

Contact vocational counselors

Willing to answer questions

Feedback with the career

We asked students’ desire for vocational counseling in terms of content, form, cost and security function

There were 89,4% of students wishing to be instructed to use the vocational counseling application We found that 89,8% of students “agree” and “strongly agree” with the question “I want to test my ability through the vocational counseling

application” Through the in-depth interview, student H also commented: “I want to

know a part of my abilities and personality through the application because I’m quite vague about myself now.” Similarly, up to 89,4% of students want to have a personality test

through an application, accounting for a very high rate Since then, the results of the test have helped students have the right orientation about the future plan which is the wish of all students when using the application

One of the expectation was “Contacting vocational counselors through smartphone

applications” Nearly 90% of students want to be like that and through interviews,

student L said: “I think in addition to the information about the career orientation given,

the application should have a section for students to connect with with vocational counselors

so we have deeper questions!”.

In terms of formality, students like creative and more innovative applications, accounting for a relatively high percentage of 88,9% N.T.L (grade 12) commented

that: “I hope the application is creative and attractive to avoid boredom for users” In addition, H (grade 10) also wishes: “The application has bright colors, eye-catching,

creative and fun images will make us more interested”.

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Figure 7 Students desire for the form of vocational counseling application

Evaluating the security issues, results show that: students want most about

security is “Vocational counseling information in the application will be completely

confidential” (M = 3,12; SD = 0,6), “Application will save personal information” (M = 3,06;

SD = 0,52) This is entirely consistent with the reality, when students want to “be more comfortable sharing their private thoughts” (student L) In addition, students are also

very interested in is the cost when using the vocational counseling application

Table 4 The desire for the function of vocational counseling applications

Percentage (%)

Strongly disagree Disagree Agree Strongly agree When you want to connect with a

vocational counselor, the cost will be

When you want to connect with vocational

counselors, the cost will be agreed by

When connecting to the Internet, you can

see the results of vocational counseling

When not connected to the Internet, you

can still see the results of vocational

Access applications need to use the

Appropriate application time, unlimited