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The Comprehensive Career Needs Survey (CCNS) is a collaborative initiative between the Southern Alberta Centre of Excellence for Career Development of the University of Lethbridge Faculty of Education, the Chinook Regional Career Transitions for Youth Project and the South-western Rural Youth Career Development Project, the last two of which represent eight school divisions and approximately 15,000 students in Grades 7-12.
Most school-based programming for youth is built on the assumption that educators (school administrators, counsellors and teachers) know what students need. Hiebert, Collins and Robinson (2001) provide ample evidence to suggest that the perceptions of adults and adolescents can differ quite dramatically when identifying the needs of students. Interventions aimed at fostering career development for youth are no different; most are based on adult perceptions of what young people need. Therefore, as a precursor to developing programs that enhance career services for youth, this study focused on understanding the career needs of youth by surveying the youth themselves. Specifically, the CCNS explored the career planning perceptions, understanding and needs of students in Grades 7-12 in southern Alberta. The study also compared the perceptions that students have of their career planning needs with the perceptions of their teachers, counsellors, school administrators and parents. This article provides an overview of the preliminary analysis of the data generated from the CCNS study.
Method
Five distinct survey forms were created for each of the following groups: teachers and school administrators; counsellors; health and CALM teachers; parents; and junior high school students (Grades 7-9) and high school students (Grades 10-12). The surveys were administered to school groups during school hours. Parents completed their surveys at home and returned them with their children to the respective schools. Respondents took approximately 30 minutes to complete their forms. Copies of the survey instruments may be obtained by contacting the authors.
There were a total of 9,502 responses, including 4,419 from junior high students, 3,397 from senior high students, 1,314 from parents, 104 from teachers/administrators and 268 from counsellors/CALM teachers. The majority of the students (88 percent of junior high students and 94 percent of senior high students) attended schools with student populations between 100 and 999.
Results
A brief summary of the major conclusions from the first two stages of analysis (descriptive...