Analysis of the influence of career guidance on early school leaving

Abstract

The main objective of this piece of research is to understand the importance of career guidance for young people who return to compulsory secondary education through the Centers for Adult Education. Career guidance should be seen as an indispensable tool that must be present in students’ most critical moments and whose main aims should be to focus on students’ training needs, educational and professional level. Career guidance should also take into account the interests, abilities and needs of each moment and the current situation of the labor market in which young people, unlike in previous decades, are prone to have short-term jobs.

The research methodology was developed through an exploratory factor analysis, performed according to the method of the main components, analyzing a total sample of 878 students enrolled in the four years of Compulsory Secondary Education at the Centers of Adult Education in Ciudad Real. Data were collected through the completion of a questionnaire designed for this purpose and research results indicate that 84% of students surveyed believe that guidance throughout life needs to be informed and motivated at all times, and 75.6% believe that career guidance is an instrument that helps the employability of young people. Both those students who have gone to a professional counselor and those who have not, confirm the importance of guidance: 57.4% admit that they would not have dropped out had they received adequate vocational guidance and 61.6% confirm that when they finish Secondary Education they will visit a professional counselor to ask for help in finding employment and 74.7% of students will do the same in order to obtain information about formal and informal education possibilities.