Clubes comunitários: resultados preliminares de uma intervenção de carreira no Ensino Secundário

Career development in adolescence is mainly described by the engagement in careerexploration, which sustains career decision-making, commitment with a life projectand construction of identity and career adaptability. However, career interventions inadolescence have been frequently implemented when students approach expectedcareer choice moments. Taking the need to promote adolescents’ career developmentinto account, this study intends to describe the career intervention “CommunityClubs”, examining its impact in career and academic variables. This interventionbegins at 10th-grade and aims at promoting adolescents’ career exploration. Thisintervention was conducted in a pilot fashion with 37 adolescents of both gendersattending two schools of Vila Nova de Famalicão (Mage = 15.38, SD = .64). To examinethe preliminary results of the intervention, students’ grades were obtained and theCareer Adapt-Abilities Scale and the Student Engagement in School Scale wereadministrated before and after the intervention. Results from the paired sample t-test suggested that adolescents present a signifcantly higher academic achievement atthe post-test than pre-test. Moreover, results from the repeated-measures MANOVAindicated that students presented signifcantly higher levels of career concern, curiosity, confdence and cognitive engagement in school at the post-test than pretest. This study points to a positive impact of the “Community Clubs” intervention incareer and academic variables. Further studies might continue to test the effcacyof this career intervention with larger samples and following a quasi-experimentalresearch design.