The role of school websites in career developmentpractice

Val O’Reilly

Received: 26 February 2011 / Accepted: 30 August 2011 / Published online: 12 October 2011

� Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011

Abstract The use of technology is well-established in teaching curricula and as a

tool for educators in secondary schools in New Zealand. Within their career practice

in schools, practitioners are regularly using web-based technologies. However, most

career practitioners are unlikely to participate in the process of establishing and

maintaining school websites, and in particular the career-related content. The per-

ceived relevance of school websites can therefore vary for practitioners, especially

where various practice settings are considered.

Resume. Le role des sites web des ecoles dans le developpement de carriere.L’utilisation de la technologie est bien etablie dans les programmes d’etudes et

comme outil pour les educateurs dans les ecoles secondaires en Nouvelle-Zelande.

Dans leur pratique professionnelle dans les ecoles, les praticiens utilisent regulier-

ement des technologies du web. Cependant, la plupart des praticiens de carriere sont

peu susceptibles de participer au processus de creation et de maintenance de sites

web des ecoles, et en particulier concernant le contenu sur la carriere. La pertinence

percue des sites web des ecoles peuvent donc varier pour les praticiens, en partic-

ulier lorsque divers milieux de pratique sont pris en compte.

Zusammenfassung. Die Rolle von Schul- Internetseiten in der Praxis derBerufsberatung. Der Einsatz von Technologie ist in Neuseeland gut in Lehrplanen

und als ein Werkzeug fur Padagogen in der Sekundarstufe von Schulen etabliert. Im

Rahmen ihrer Berufsberatungspraxis in Schulen, benutzen Praktiker regelmaßig

web-basierte Technologien. Allerdings nehmen die meisten Praktiker eher unwa-

hrscheinlich am Prozess der Etablierung und Pflege von Schul-Internetseiten teil,

insbesondere deren Laufbahn-bezogenen Inhalten. Die wahrgenommene Bedeutung

V. O’Reilly (&)

Kristin School, Albany, New Zealand

e-mail: voreilly@kristin.school.nz

123

Int J Educ Vocat Guidance (2011) 11:175–185

DOI 10.1007/s10775-011-9207-2

von Schul-Internetseiten kann daher fur Praktiker variieren, vor allem wo versch-

iedene Praxisumstande berucksichtigt werden.

Resumen. El Rol de las Paginas Web en la Practica de la Orientacion para elDesarrollo de la Carrera. El uso de la tecnologıa en el currıculo escolar y como

herramienta para los educadores en los centros de educacion secundaria de Nueva

Zelanda esta bien extendido. Los orientadores utilizan regularmente las tecnologıas

virtuales en las instituciones donde trabajan. No obstante, la mayorıa se muestra

reacia a participar en el proceso de hacer y mantener las paginas web de los centros

escolares, particularmente las de contenido relativo a la carrera. De ahı que la

relevancia adjudicada por los orientadores a las paginas web de las instituciones

pueda variar, especialmente cuando diversos condicionantes son tenidos en cuenta.

Keywords Schools � Technology � Career practice

Introduction

Continuing innovations in technology and particularly the diverse applications of

Internet technologies have the potential to positively enhance the work and the

profile of career practitioners. Watts (2002) pointed out that if career information is

to be of value to individuals, they need to be able to act on it and that it seems likely

that having human mediation available is crucial. This suggests that career

practitioners are well-placed to be the human mediators for individuals using

technologies in their career development. In this article, I summarise research that

explored the idea that the career practitioner, as the human mediator, is inextricably

linked to the efficacy of the knowledge and information flow facilitated by

technology. In the context of taking responsibility for the way technology is used in

career practice, the strategic leadership role of the practitioner was considered.

Conger’s (2002) assertion that career practitioners should take ownership of what

they have and what they are doing supports the challenge for career practitioners to

be intentional leaders.

The use of technology in career development practice

The issues explored in this discussion were derived from those recurring in the

literature relating to the use of computer and internet technologies in career practice,

and from narrowing connected search term results. Three main categories were

selected as having particular relevance to the role of school websites: firstly,

research on issues relating to the implementation and use of computer assisted

career guidance systems (CACGS) and secondly, research on ethical and

professional issues in the use of the Internet by career practitioners. The third

category, the potential leadership role of the career practitioner, was derived from

an examination of recurring themes in the literature: accountability, responsibility,

public policy, and visions for the future, thus bringing together elements of

leadership relating to career practice. This article begins with a closer examination

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of the issues, followed by a description of a research project on the role of school

websites.

Computer assisted career guidance systems

The use of CACGS exemplifies technological advances in delivering career

development services. Lenz, Reardon, and Sampson (1990) used the construct of

Holland’s theory to consider issues in implementation and use of CACGS, and

concluded that the results supported findings from similar studies which suggested

that ‘‘computer-based interventions may be enhanced by insuring that they are not

administered as a global, uniform treatment’’ (p. 7). Sampson and Norris’s (1995)

school-based study similarly investigated the implementation of CACGS and

identified planning, integration within career services, training, and staff anxiety and

resistance as typical problems. Levinson, Zeman, and Ohlers (2002) evaluated a

web-based programme with consideration of the reliability and validity of the

system, and concluded that career practitioners ‘‘can feel fairly comfortable’’ (p. 33)

using the programme to screen for occupational areas that the client can explore

further. The authors cautioned against using the programme as a comprehensive

career planning instrument. Despite limitations in these studies (i.e., Lenz et al.,

1990; Levinson et al., 2002; Sampson & Norris, 1995), such as single treatment

interventions in single country settings, and the reliance on one main career

development theory to measure the variables, the metaphorical view that one size

does not fit all was clearly evident.

Ethical and professional issues

Ethical and professional issues in the use of the Internet by career practitioners may

be associated with implementation issues. Davidson (2001) highlighted the

professional responsibility of career practitioners in ‘‘ensuring that students are

reaping positive effects from using online career information’’ (p. 227). Davidson

used a single case study tracking student use of a university’s career services over a

ten-year period, including the implementation of a centre website. As the traffic flow

on the website increased, the number of walk-in students decreased. Harris-

Bowlsbey and Sampson (2001) used the construct of hopes and dreams to illuminate

the potential for improving the effectiveness of computer-based career planning

systems. The authors presented an historical overview of the use of computer and

web-based technologies in career planning and considered the place of the computer

as an important support tool for the career practitioner. Importantly, in relation to

the research summarised here on the role of school websites, the authors noted that

‘‘fully achieving these dreams has more to do with applying career theory,

conducting research, and implementing systems based on good professional practice

than on any advances in technology’’ (p. 258). Barak (2003) similarly described a

range of ethical and professional issues for practitioners using the Internet,

particularly for web-based career assessments. The focus on actions needed to

safeguard users and increase awareness reinforced the issues as professionally and

ethically problematic. Although not discounting any future remedial properties,

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Barak claimed that legal measures for solving problems connected to the use of

web-based applications were almost irrelevant due to the lack of international legal

conventions for the Internet. The author proposed professional training and public

education as more promising measures. As the metaphorical traffic by a growing

number of digital users continues to increase, greater depth of research will be

required to address these important issues of the confidentiality and privacy of both

practitioners and clients.

Potential for leadership

In order to enact the sentiment expressed by McMahon, Patton, and Viljamaa (2006)

that ‘‘career development specialists have an opportunity to play an increasingly

important role in shaping lives of individuals and organisations in the twenty-first

century’’ (p. 199), career practitioners may need to take up Conger’s (2002)

previously mentioned challenge to take ownership. This is likely to necessitate an

intentional leadership role. Savickas (1999) explored the idea of how career

development specialists might be placed to use technologies as one of the ways to

strengthen public policy and career service delivery and suggested that advances in

computer technology can make proven techniques more efficient and self-directed.

Although issues relating to technology were not the foci of the article, web-based

technologies featured in the wider vision of the future for career development. The

role of the career practitioner as an intentional leader seems integral to moving

forward, as Conger (2002) exhorted career practitioners to do. This is also likely to

require fresh ways of looking at service delivery. In a study which looked not only

at individuals but efficiencies in delivering service to them, Dent and Watts (2006)

investigated the concept of productivity in career guidance delivery, exploring

issues such as pressures for greater public accountability, increasing access to

services, and the limitation of avoiding massive increases in resources. The authors

proposed strategies for enhancing productivity but suggested that ‘‘if the aim is to

provide the greatest gain in the shortest amount of time for the client, individual

counselling is far the most effective intervention’’ (p. 183). Despite the limitation of

the case study as a telephone-based service, the aspects of service delivery

highlighted can be seen as relevant to web-based career services.

Further evidence of the pace of change in technologies can be seen in the

introduction of virtual worlds such as Second Life, social networking spaces such as

MySpace and Facebook, and applications such as Twitter. Jordan (2009) explored

these applications from an anthropological lens and observed that a growing number

of people now live in a hybrid world where physical and digital boundaries are

blurred. Jordan referred to this trend as ‘‘the blurrings,’’ and as the ‘‘technology-

induced and technology-mediated fusions’’ (p. 182). These innovations have

introduced realms which may have important implications for career development

practice; in particular the need for the career practitioner to avoid simply following

trends and instead to take a leadership role to ensure that career practice is enhanced

by technology rather than subsumed by it. Because the context in which the career

practitioner operates is increasingly connected to digital technologies, the blurring

of the digital and the physical is salient in a secondary school just as it is to an

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individual positioning their avatar in Second Life. However, despite the nationwide

integration of technologies within curricula and school work spaces in New

Zealand, relatively little research has been done on the topic of the use and role of

school websites. The purpose of the study summarised here was to explore what

issues or problems career practitioners had experienced in the use of their school

websites, and any possibilities they saw for future use. Other layers of interest,

including the perspectives of students, parents, and teachers are similarly important

but beyond the scope of the project described here.

The aim of the research was to identify, from a representative sample of career

practitioners, general patterns in the use and role of school websites and to describe

any trends apparent in the data. In order to make statistical comparisons and

measure degrees of agreement to questions posed in an electronic survey, a

quantitative approach was used and the numerical data were collected and analysed

to determine relationships between the variables.

Method

Participants

The invited participants were a sample of secondary school career practitioners,

described in the survey as ‘‘career advisors’’ for familiarity of use of the term in

New Zealand. These participants were chosen as being somewhat representative of

state, integrated, private and independent secondary schools. The respondents could

reasonably be expected to be career practitioners as the electronic communication,

including a research information sheet, was sent to heads of career departments,

who are typically also the sole career advisor or acting in a shared role. Respondents

also self-identified their roles in the questionnaire. The total sample was a group of

85 career advisors in schools in the Auckland area. Fifteen respondents (17.6%)

completed the survey. The mean number of 1,376 students per school indicated that

each respondent is likely to be working in a school with over one thousand students.

Of those who responded, 86.7% were from state secondary schools and 13.3% from

independent or private schools. These proportions closely reflect national averages

where 86% of school-aged students attend state schools (Ministry of Education,

2009).

Instrument

An electronic survey using a self-administered questionnaire was utilised and was

securely housed at the Survey Monkey host site. Invited participants were provided

with an embedded link and consent to participate was implied when the

questionnaire was completed. The anonymous survey instrument ensured confiden-

tiality and no identifying information of individuals or schools was required. The

survey instrument was developed with eleven questions in total. The first three

factual questions established the type of school, roll numbers, and the numbers

working in careers in the school to determine if any patterns existed or if any direct

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comparisons could be made. The next seven questions relating to the website

identified resourcing, training, career advisor satisfaction, and the range of possible

roles of the website. Measures of internal consistency were sought through the

construction of the questions on the use of and satisfaction with the website. A five-

point Likert scale (1 = daily, 5 = never) was used to determine frequency of use

and another five-point Likert scale (1 = not satisfied, 5 = very satisfied) was used

to determine user satisfaction. The inclusion of fixed sets of items in the first ten

questions sought to increase the internal validity, and additional space was provided

for explanatory comments. The final question was open-ended and asked the

participants to suggest what support school career advisors might need for

effectively using technologies such as school websites.

Procedure

The estimated time to complete the electronic questionnaire was 15–20 min and the

survey was accessible to participants for 15 days. The data collection involved

accessing the online survey responses and subsequently using the embedded survey

tool to collect the data. The individual and summarised group responses were

downloaded, read, analysed, and cross-checked. The quantitative data were sorted

into charts and tables through a feature in the electronic instrument which also

enabled further analysis in percentages and means from the charts and tables. The

content of the open-ended responses, which allowed for respondents to make

meaningful comments about what the patterns in the use of their school websites

meant to them, was analysed for trends and suggestions and summarised in written

form.

Results

The analysis of results includes all schools in the response group and each had at

least one career advisor, with an average of 1.3 per school. The mean number of

students per school was 1,376.

Resources

Respondents identified who had overall responsibility for managing the school

website, with 53.3% indicating that the person was the school’s Information

Technology (IT) team, 20% identified an IT individual in the school, and 26.7% a

school website manager. Respondents identified the importance of having the

technological skills to update and manage career-related information on the school

website. A single-subject response, self-identified from an independent school,

identified no presenting issues in resourcing. Nearly three quarters (73%) of

respondents indicated that the career practitioner had the permissions and

responsibility for managing career-related material on the website; 13.3% identified

the school IT team; 6.7% an IT individual in the school; 6.7% a website manager;

and there was a single response in the ‘‘do not know’’ category.

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Frequency of use and training

Daily use of the school website within career practice was reported by 26.7% of

respondents: one-third (33.3%) reported weekly use, 6.7% monthly, 26.7% rarely,

and 6.7% never. Weekly use might be considered moderate. The finding that 46.7%

had not received training in the use of the website, corresponds to the relatively low

rates of use by 40.15% of respondents. The low rate of use by some participants

could be explained by the use of the school email system and Intranet as alternative

applications of technology, which respondents mentioned. The average number of

hours of training, as estimated by respondents, was 6 h.

Role of the website

Figure 1 shows that 80% of respondents reported that creating a profile for career

practice and services, and providing links to external providers were functions of their

school website. Other features identified generally indicate a high level of awareness

by the respondents of the multitude of potential roles of their school websites (Harris-

Bowlsbey, Riley-Dikel, & Sampson, 1998). Respondents rated the provision of career-

related information to staff comparatively low on the scale (46.7%). Forty per cent of

respondents reported that providing course and/or career information to the

community was a role of the school website. This could suggest that this happens

intentionally or that it is also as a result of the accessibility of the website to the wider

community. Sixty per cent of respondents noted that providing career-related

information to parents was a role of their school website and identified the Intranet and

other applications as facilities parents could use to access career-related information.

Fig. 1 The role of the school website in career practice. Profile the website creates a profile for careerpractice and services. Images displays images of career events. Links provides links to external providers.Forms makes available course and/or career related forms for download. Students provides course and/orcareer related information to students. Staff provides course and/or career related information to staff.Parents provides course and/or career related information to parents. Community provides course and/orcareer related information to the community. N/A none of the above

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User satisfaction

User satisfaction regarding general information on the website, as seen in Figure 2,

generally corresponds with the frequency of use, as seen in Figure 1. Similarly, the

relatively high proportion of respondents moderately or very satisfied with the

career-related information corresponds with the relatively high proportion (73.3%)

who have responsibility for adding or updating career-related information on the

school website.

Presenting issues

The need for specific training in the use of information technology was identified by

almost 50% of respondents as the major issue for effective use of school websites.

Additionally, staff collaboration, technical support, resourcing and availability of

time for regular updating of systems were trends featured relatively evenly as

presenting issues. Professional conduct issues (Barak, 2003) were not mentioned by

respondents in this current study. Limited access to the Internet for students was

described as a minor issue but was proposed as a reason for some students not using

the school website to get career information. A single subject response indicated that

there were no presenting issues in relation to information technology and website use.

Discussion

On average, each respondent is working in a school with over 1,000 students. The

numbers of students may have implications for the productivity and efficacy of

Fig. 2 Respondent satisfaction level by type of information (i.e., general or career-related) on thewebsite

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career development service delivery (Dent & Watts, 2006). Implementation and

training issues, including staff collaboration, (Lenz et al., 1990; Sampson & Norris,

1995) may impact on the readiness of practitioners to use the school website.

Although all respondents knew whose responsibility it is, not all respondents had the

opportunity to create or update career information on their school website. This

suggests that targeted training would increase the skill levels and by inference, the

confidence of career practitioners in the use of website technologies. Sweet and

Watts (2004) described a lack of skills or training as transitional in nature and

concluded that the use of information and computing technologies is likely to

increase as a form of service delivery in career practice. The finding that almost half

of the respondents had received no training in the use of their school website

suggests implications for resourcing and budgeting. Davidson (2001) and Barak

(2003) identified the importance of technical support and expertise in the provision

of career development services. Responses in this current study showed that

respondents valued both training and technical assistance to support their use of the

school website. This suggests, conversely, that a lack of communication between

technical staff and career advisors could be a limiting factor in profiling the career

services in the school. In this current study practitioners using their school websites

clearly want to see changes, particularly to increase the delivery of staff training to

support their use of the websites. Grubb (2002) cautioned against assuming that

individuals are sophisticated in using information in the context of whether it is

information or guidance or a combination of both. This caution has relevance to the

career practitioner who may need support in choosing and effectively implementing

the technologies.

There are several implications for career development practice which can be

drawn from the study. Data obtained from the surveys identify recurring themes as

presenting issues and suggest a number of recommendations, such as the need for

training of staff and the provision of associated technical support, the importance of

staff collaboration, and the need for adequate resourcing including time allowances.

The relatively high awareness of respondents about the potential use of the school

website contrasts with the relatively low frequency of use by almost half of the

respondents. Ethical and professional issues of Internet use (Barak, 2003; Mackert

& McDaniels, 1998) did not feature in any of the open responses and this could

suggest that schools have been rigorous in their attention to this important aspect

and that practitioners assume safe and reliable practice, or that it is an area of school

career practice requiring more research.

Despite being identified by the respondents as an issue, the importance of staff

collaboration within the career development context in schools also suggests

opportunities. One such opportunity is for the career practitioner, as the person with

expertise in career development, to take a leadership role within their school

environment to facilitate the necessary communication. The findings in the current

study suggest a correlation between career practitioners’ satisfaction with career-

related material on their school website and involvement with managing it. Conger

(2002) highlighted the importance of career development and counselling to the

personal, social and economic development of the individual and placed the burden

of responsibility firmly on career practitioners to ensure that administrators and

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others know what it is that career practitioners do. Advocacy by and for the

individual practitioner, the profession, and the services provided are described

(Conger, 2002) as necessary elements in securing and improving resources and

gaining a larger mandate. For career practitioners in schools, a larger mandate is

likely to involve creating an enhanced profile of services and delivery methods,

including the role of the school website as an important medium within career

practice. The current research suggests that career advisors who are involved in the

process, as similarly asserted by Conger (2002), are generally satisfied with the

results.

Conclusion

Despite the presenting issues in the diverse roles of the school website, as identified

by respondents in the current study, there are also exciting possibilities for the

career practitioner to take a leadership role in implementing technologies within

career practice in schools. Innovations and actions might include: using multi-media

methods to enhance the profile of the career practitioner and career services,

initiating interaction with school staff to support subject initiatives, highlighting for

the school community career-related activities in image galleries, and increasing

awareness for staff, students, parents and the community of career and course

information through hyper-links.

The primary contribution of the current study for career development practice is

the description of the uses and roles school websites might have within career

practice in schools and the exploration of the issues and possibilities for future use.

Additionally, there is an important recommendation for the career practitioner to

take an intentional leadership role in the process. Although the current research

provides some data on career practitioner use of the school website, further research

is necessary to establish a more complete picture of the potential of the school

website to be effective in assisting those using it. It is after all the people, rather than

the technologies, at the centre of career development for lifelong learning.

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