Influential factors in academic and professional decision-making: Students and families’ perception in different European countries

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5209/rced.90258
Keywords: influence, decision making, guidance, youngster, family

Abstract

Transitions during secondary education are key moments, since the academic-professional decisions made by young people, subject to variety of factors, condition their future. Identifying the main influences will enable the guiding practice to address them and ensure, in young people, the maximum benefit of their real opportunities. This study aims to establish, from the youngsters and families’ perspective, what factors influence the academic-professional decision-making of young people according to variables such as gender and home country. To this end, a survey study was carried out, into broader research, using a questionnaire for data collection and using descriptive statistical techniques and hypothesis contrasts. The sample is made up by 487 adolescents and 283 parents, tutors or legal representatives from five European countries. The results show similarities and differences between the families and youngsters’ perception about the influencing factors in decision-making, as well as between countries and gender. The core family stands out as a central influence in the adopted decisions, being, among others, a professional reference. From the families’ point of view, their influence on counselling tasks of their children academic-professional future is noted. The importance of strengthening guidance in secondary education is highlighted, involving all educational agents, mainly, families, so adolescents will be able to face decision-making satisfactorily, as well as to respond existing influences in a critical way.

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Author Biographies

Cristina Ceinos-Sanz, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela

She studied a Degree in Social Education and a Degree in Pedagogy from the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC). She completed doctoral courses at the Department of Research Methods and Diagnosis in Education (MIDE) in the same university and she completed her doctoral thesis in 2008, addressing as main theme the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) by labor counselors. She also has developed specialized training, specifically, a Master's Degree focused on Professional Guidance and another one based on Evaluation and Guidance of Professional Competences.

Since 2016 she is a Professor in the Department of Pedagogy and Didactics (USC) and responsible for teaching in subjects in the Social Education Degree, Pedagogy Degree and in the Master's for Teachers of Compulsory Secondary Education, in the speciality of Educational Guidance.

It is highlighted, in a complementary way, her experience in the coordination of students' groups, because she exercised  the coordination of the Social Education Degree (2016-2020), as well as the role of academic coordinator in the Exchange Program by Bilateral Agreement (2012-2020) and Erasmus Program (course 2009-2010 / 2022-2023) in the Faculty of Educational Sciences.

She has experience in national and international research projects and networks focused on Guidance, ICT and counselors’ training, with several articles, book chapters and multiple contributions to National and International Congresses focused on the topics mentioned.

Elena Fernández-Rey, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela

 

She is teacher and pedagogue from the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC). She defended her Doctoral Thesis in 1998 focused on the creativity development in students with special educational needs.

She is currently a Professor in the Area of Research Methods and Diagnosis in Education (MIDE) of the Department of Pedagogy and Didactics in the USC. She teaches subjects related to Guidance and Diagnosis.

She was Vice-Dean of Academic Organization at the Faculty of Educational Sciences in the USC (2006-2014) and she develops the Coordinator role of the Master’s degree in Training Processes (2018-2023).

She is a Editor-in-Chief of the Spanish Journal of Guidance and Psychopedagogy (REOP). She is a member of the Interuniversity Association of Pedagogical Research (AIDIPE), the Spanish Association of Guidance and Psychopedagogy (AEOP), as well as the Interuniversity Network of Guidance Teachers (RIPO) and the European Network NICE (Network for Innovation in Career Guidance and Counselling in Europe).

Her main research lines are focused on the field of lifelong guidance through participation in national and international projects, courses and congresses and publications on topics such as career management skills’ development, training of guidance professionals, ICT in guidance or mentoring.

Miguel Anxo Nogueira-Pérez, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela

He is teacher and higher technician in Sociocultural Animation, with a Degree in Educational Sciences in the specialty of Primary Education Teacher and graduate in Psychopedagogy, Master in Evaluation and Guidance of Professional Competences and PhD in Psychopedagogy from the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), where he works coordinating the Area of Research Methods and Diagnosis in Education, in addition to teaching subjects related to the Analysis and diagnosis of socio-educational realities, Educational guidance and the Tutorial function in Secondary Education. His professional development, since its inception mostly linked to the university environment, was related around the theme of Educational and Professional Guidance at all educational levels, as well as the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in and for this field, continuing the research line initiated in the development of his doctoral thesis, also participating in multiple national and European research projects related to these topics. He is also part of the Psychopedagogical Resources Service of the Faculty of Educational Sciences in the USC since 2007, linking part of his academic activity to the service development.

Esther Vila-Couñago, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela

She studied a Degree in Pedagogy and she is PhD in Education from the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC). She has worked as an interim professor in the Area of Research Methods and Diagnosis in Education in the USC and in the Area of Didactics and School Organization in the University of Vigo. She has also developed her professional work as a pedagogue in the Quality Area of the University of Vigo and as a specialist in didactic and pedagogical methods in a training company for employment. She is currently a professor in the Department of Pedagogy and Didactics (Area of Didactics and School Organization), in the Faculty of Educational Sciences in the USC. She has participated in publications focused on educational measurement and evaluation, as well as in research projects based on vocational guidance services, educational centers’ quality, school and social times of childhood, competence in written language and digital competence in compulsory education students.

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Published
2024-10-01
How to Cite
Ceinos-Sanz C., Fernández-Rey E. ., Nogueira-Pérez M. A. y Vila-Couñago E. (2024). Influential factors in academic and professional decision-making: Students and families’ perception in different European countries. Revista Complutense de Educación, 35(4), 861-873. https://doi.org/10.5209/rced.90258
Issue
Vol. 35 No. 4 (2024)
Section
Articles

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