Development of a career competencies scale for technological and vocational teachers

This study aimed to develop a Career Competencies Scale (CCS) for technological and vocational teachers to facilitate their career education and guidance. The pilot questionnaire was administered to a sample of 315 technological and vocational teachers from different schools who volunteered to participate in our study. Each statement was rated on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree,” and the higher the score, the greater the participant’s career competency performance. After an item analysis and exploratory factor analysis, a total of 44 items were retained and distributed into nine categories as follows: “improve students’ self-understanding,” “understand occupation outcomes by major,” “goal setting and decision making,” “provide job information,” “skill training,” “teacher-parent communication,” “make use of networking resources,” “pay attention to students’ career planning,” and “teacher’s professional growth.” In the formal-test stage, 1,098 technological and vocational teachers were recruited to determine the scale’s reliability and validity. The results of confirmatory factor analysis indicated the construct validity of the CCS. This study also found that all factors of the CCS were significantly and positively correlated with two criteria, namely “career self-efficacy” and “teacher identity,” revealing favorable criterion-related validity. In the demographic background analysis, significant differences were revealed in schools’ attributes, locations, and types as well as in vocational teachers’ teaching fields, length of service, and age. On the basis of these results, conclusions and suggestions for future research and practical applications were provided.