The Effect of Career Adaptability Counseling on Students’ Academic Engagement and Performance

Aim: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of career adaptability counseling  on academic engagement  and performance. Methods: The method of this study was quasi-experimental with pre-test, post-test and follow up design with a control group. The statistical population of the study consisted of all first-grade male students in Isfahan middle schools in the 2017-18 academic year. Fifty students were randomly selected and allocated randomly into two experimental (n=25) and control (n=25) groups. Pre-test was performed for both groups. The experimental group received seven 75-minute career adaptability counseling sessions using Savikas’s career counseling method (Hartong & Vess, 2016). The post-test was administered at the end of counseling sessions. Then the follow-up test was performed for both groups after one month. Academic engagement questionnaire (Arshambolt, et al., 2009) was used to measure the academic engagement. Also, the mean grades on final exam during the first semester  and on the midterm exam in the second semester were considered as post-test evaluation. Similarly, second semester final exam grades were used as follow up of studentschr('39') academic performance. The results of variance analysis with repeated measurement indicated that career adaptability counseling  had an impact on academic engagement and performance. Furthermore, paired comparison test in three stages of pre-test, post-test and follow-up showed that the mean scores increased in the post-test (p <0.01) and remained stable into the follow-up. The results of the present study indicate that career adaptability counseling is an effective method for increasing the impact of academic engagement and performance.