School students’ career guidance in Kazakhstan with regard to inclusion

Abstract

The study of the organizational system of career guidance in a modern school, the role and involvement of stakeholders in career guidance, identification of teachers’ opinions on students’ preparedness in making a conscious career choice, factors impeding the effectiveness of career guidance in schools are discussed in this article. Within the grant financing project AP14871693 “Organizational and methodological foundations for ensuring inclusiveness of school students’ career guidance” (2022-2024) the research aims to solve the lack of the state’s mechanisms for coordination stakeholders’ actions in preparing school students for a conscious career choice, considering their individual opportunities and special needs. To implement the research objectives and ensure the validity of the data, triangulation of qualitative and quantitative methods was utilized in this study, including both theoretical and empirical methods, such as questionnaires, interviews, analysis of scientific-methodological literature, legal documents and statistical data. The authors paid particular attention to the Order of the Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 338 “On approval of Standard qualification characteristics of teachers’ positions”, according to which the position of the career guidance teacher was introduced for the first time this academic year. Several issues, impeding the effectiveness of career guidance, were identified while examining the real situation in schools. Along with this, based on the data analysis, the authors concluded that the country’s urgent personnel issues including the chaotic school students’ career guidance and the socialization of children with SEN should be solved systematically and be regulated by a state body. To solve these issues, the researchers suggest to identify organizational and methodological foundations of the inclusive career guidance system and to develop a systematic innovative model of coordination stakeholders’ actions in preparing school students for a conscious choice of in- demand professions meeting their individual opportunities and special needs.