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    Using the New Zealand Child and Youth Profile with groups transitioning students with complex needs into or out of secondary school : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Masters of Educational Psychology, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Tonks, Jacqueline Merle
    The transition for students with complex needs when changing or leaving school can be a significant process for both the student, their families, schools and the community. Transitions bring mixed emotions of anxiety and excitement for the student and their family as they enter a new setting and new relationships are forged. The focus of this study was to investigate whether the New Zealand Child and Youth Profile (NZCYP) could support and assist with successful transition for two students transitioning either into or out of secondary school. Two groups supporting a student with complex needs, used the NZCYP to gather information about the student to assist with transition. Focus groups and semi-structured interviews were used to gather data about the usefulness of the NZCYP and its ability to support successful transitions. A thematic analysis was used to code the data and discover the dominant themes. The data revealed that the participants of the focus groups were mostly enthusiastic about the NZCYP. The findings suggest that the NZCYP can support groups to collaborate in order to gather and collate useful information for students with complex needs. It has the potential to support planning and successful transition. More research is required around how to best use the NZCYP to gain maximum benefits for its use in transition.
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    A study of the career pathways of Canadian young adults during the decade after secondary school graduation : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Social Work and Social Policy at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2011) Campbell, Catherine Grace
    This study examined the career pathways taken by 47 young adults in Canada after they graduated from secondary school. Based on a grounded theory analysis, this thesis explored the way young adults made career decisions and how their resources (individual, family, social and environmental) and the messages that they heard from significant others influenced their career pathways. The majority of the young people in this study either did not know what they wanted to do when they graduated from secondary school or subsequently changed their minds. Most engaged in a process of identity exploration through experimentation with tertiary programmes and different types of work as they tried to ascertain what constituted satisfying work. As participants experimented with different career pathways, they obtained a better sense of who they were and what types of work they found satisfying. Findings indicated that participants engaged in a process of finding a career-related place, an activity that superficially involved selecting a career pathway but more substantively meant a search for identity and life purpose. Finding a career-related place was achieved through the interchangeable use of five strategies: navigating, exploring, drifting, settling, and committing. These strategies emerged as a host of internal and external factors impinged on a young person’s simultaneous search for a career and the identity that could potentially come with it. This contingent nature of finding a career-related place stood in sharp contrast to the discourse of what is referred to in this thesis as the “career myth”. This discourse related to the belief that young people should follow a linear, predictable route from secondary school to tertiary training, and then on to a permanent, full-time job. Based on these findings, an argument is made that developmental and chaos-oriented approaches to career development should be moved into the foreground when professionals assist young people in the immediate years after secondary school graduation. Accordingly, the trait and factor ethos, which continues to dominate the career counselling field, should be deemphasised. Six career design principles are identified that provide guidelines for how young people can engage in the process of finding a career-related place in a way that is proactive while at the same time accepting that career pathways and the identities that follow may be uncertain.