Working with socio-economically disadvantaged parents in careers guidance

Background and problem statement

Parents and guardians are the most important reference figures for many young people during periods of career exploration. Nevertheless, significant inequalities and uncertainties characterise cooperation between schools and parents. Socio-economically disadvantaged families, in particular, are overlooked too early. Following the contribution of the previous project, ‘BOGyO – Careers guidance for academic upper secondary schools’, to systematically improving Bremen's careers guidance structures, this work is now being deepened to help schools engage more effectively with socio-economically disadvantaged parents.

The preceding ‘BOGyO – Careers guidance for academic upper secondary schools’ project made important initial contributions to developing and integrating teaching and learning materials and to the specific intersection between careers guidance and addressing diversity. It was followed by the six-month project ‘Deepening careers guidance in the State of Bremen’, divided into two subprojects. Subproject 2 was based at the ITB and is described here in greater detail. Subproject 1 focused on classroom delivery of career- and study-oriented content and was implemented by Prof. Dr. Rudolf Schröder and Dr. Tina Fletemeyer (IÖB). Subproject 2 examined the perspectives of parents and guardians from socio-economically disadvantaged households on cooperation with schools. It was conducted by Prof. Dr. Alisha Heinemann and Julia Tietjen.

Career exploration is a significant phase in young people's lives and can have a decisive influence on their subsequent life course. During this eventful period, young people continue to regard parents and guardians as their most important reference figures. Yet serious uncertainties and inequalities persist in cooperation between schools and parents. Teachers' competence in careers guidance, educational partnerships and critical engagement with social inequalities is therefore particularly important at this stage. Parents in precarious circumstances are especially unlikely to experience trusting cooperation. Subproject 2, ‘Working with socio-economically disadvantaged parents in careers guidance’, therefore seeks to investigate their assessments, needs and wishes for cooperation and derive recommendations for teachers, school leaders and education policymakers.

Since 2018, Germany's poverty rate has been at its highest level since reunification, while young people's educational pathways continue to depend on their parents' educational and social backgrounds. Class-based discrimination means that young people repeatedly experience negative events during their education, potentially damaging their confidence in the future and sense of self-efficacy. The research project therefore focuses on the interaction between careers guidance and addressing diversity. The ITB-led subproject addresses the research gap concerning engagement with parents that is sensitive to difference within careers guidance, paving the way for equal educational partnerships between teachers and parents.

The State of Bremen has had binding guidelines on career and study guidance since 2012, but their implementation in academic upper secondary education continues to stagnate. A review across different formats identified two central gaps:

• Teachers assess their competence in integrating career guidance materials inconsistently; empirical evidence of the actual use of SDW, BOGn and SEVEA modules is still lacking.

• Schools struggle to reach parents from socio-economically disadvantaged households, even though these remain young people's most important sources of support in decision-making.

Approach

Building on the preceding ‘BOGyO’ project, the collaborative project ‘Deepening careers guidance practice’ develops two six-month subprojects:

• Subproject 1 (IÖB) evaluates the use of existing teaching modules and the ‘futureBOx’ digital portfolio within the itslearning learning management system.

• Subproject 2 (ITB/ZEBO) examines needs, expectations and barriers in cooperation sensitive to difference with parents receiving Unemployment Benefit II (ALG II), in order to derive recommendations for teaching and leadership staff.

Research questions

• Which quality criteria determine the successful use of careers guidance teaching materials in academic upper secondary education?

• How do teachers perceive futureBOx, and in which teaching scenarios does it prove effective as an e-portfolio tool?

• What expectations, barriers and support needs do parents from socio-economically disadvantaged households report in relation to school-based careers guidance?

• Under what conditions can cooperative formats between schools, external partners and parents be embedded sustainably?

Approach

Subproject 1 – Classroom implementation

• Review of research on teaching materials and e-portfolios (April 2022).

• Recruitment of teachers and written survey on SDW, BOGn and SEVEA modules (April–August 2022).

• Group interviews on the use and acceptance of futureBOx; transcription and analysis using evidence-based teaching diagnostics (June–August 2022).

• Consolidation of findings into recommendations for teachers (September 2022).

Subproject 2 – Working with parents

• Systematic literature review on parental engagement in careers guidance (April 2022).

• Contacting parent associations and the family network; developing the interview guide (April–May 2022).

• Outreach interviews using an interview guide; grounded theory analysis (May–August 2022).

• Preparation of findings in a final report with practical recommendations; dissemination to schools and administration (August–September 2022).

Results

• An evidence-based set of criteria for using careers guidance teaching modules and an assessment of at least ten SDW, BOGn or SEVEA resources.

• Documented good-practice scenarios for the educational use of futureBOx and a quick guide for teachers.

• Twenty-five qualitative interviews with parents receiving ALG II, and resulting recommendations for cooperation between school and home that is trust-based and attentive to difference.

• Two guidance documents, covering teaching and parental engagement, available as open-access downloads and informing further development of Bremen's careers guidance guidelines.

Dissemination / knowledge transfer activities

• Project website and itslearning workspace for ongoing documentation of findings; monthly newsletter to all Bremen grammar schools.

• Two school-based workshops (July 2022) and a state-wide practice workshop (September 2022) to present the guidance documents.

• An article in the ‘Jahrbuch der Berufs- und Wirtschaftspädagogik’ and poster presentations at the 2023 Higher Education Conference on Vocational Education and Training.

• Submission of recommendations to the Senator for Children and Education; integration into the State Institute's professional development programme and the ‘Startklar’ parent network.