Publisher's Synopsis
The background to this study emerges from the researcher's personal experiences, over the last seven years, as a counselling psychologist with specific specialisation in career psychology. She conducts career counselling sessions for students in individual, small group, and workshop settings, and has conducted programmes for more than 3,000 children over the last seven years. She is also a lead trainer in a certificate course in Basic Skills for Career Counselling through which she trains other professionals in this method of career counselling. As a part of her work as a counselling psychologist, the researcher also works in a special needs clinic where she administers different psychometric tests to assess children for their reading, writing, and spelling skills, as well as tests to measure their intelligence quotient (IQ). These tests are usually conducted on children, ranging from 5 years to 18 years of age, to identify the presence of learning disabilities contributing to their academic difficulties. The tests are also conducted as a follow up to earlier assessments, to evaluate current level of functioning. Her professional experience, therefore, spans both career guidance and counselling and assessment of children with learning disabilities. These experiences of working with students, especially students close to high school and higher secondary education, brought to light the unique challenges that children with learning disabilities face as they prepare to enter higher education.
Career guidance and counselling are increasingly recognised as making substantial contributions to the individual's wellbeing and prosperity trajectories (e.g., Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], 2004;
www.unworldyouthreport.org). It has been found, for example, that good quality career guidance is closely linked to high quality performance in the world of work.
