Career ToolVip24 effectiveness in enhancing self-efficacy, self-esteem, attitude toward enterprise and entrecomp dimensions in students from different european countries

Abstract

School guidance in general terms and, more specifically, school career guidance are effective means for the positive development of students in the academic and personal-social domains, as well as in their approach toward the labor market. Indeed, guidance programs can boost dimensions that play a relevant role in keeping students' high motivation within the academic context, thus preventing drop-out, ameliorating their academic achievement and orienting them toward their future career. In light of this, the present study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of different guidance tools in producing more specific increases in participants' self-efficacy, self-esteem, attitude toward enterprise and in several EntreComp dimensions. The main focus is on the Career ToolVip24, a career guidance tool developed in Norway. The study, which is part of the European Project Erasmus+ KA2 "Tool VIP24", was conducted across four European countries (i.e., Germany, Italy, Norway and Poland), involving middle and high school students ranging from the 8th to the 13th grade.Results indicate how the students participating in the Career ToolVip24, but not the students in the control group nor students participating in other guidance tools, significantly ameliorated in many of the investigated dimensions (including self-efficacy, self-esteem and attitude toward enterprise) at a postintervention evaluation compared to a pre-intervention evaluation.The implications of the results for students' attitude toward both the school and the labor market are discussed, together with the limitations of the study and directions for future research.