The provision of workplace-based experiences (internship/placement) is an important component of the training program of students attending vocational education courses. Regarding the impact of such experiences on vocational development, research results are not conclusive enough, mainly, if we consider the theoretical expectation that work experiences clearly affect the vocational development of adolescents. The main purpose of this study is to clarify the relationship between work experience quality and students' vocational development. Using a longitudinal design (pre- and post internship), we conducted a study that explores the relationship between perceived qualities of the training experience (autonomy, colleagues feedback, social support, learning opportunities, supervisor training, supervisor support) and the different dimensions of career exploration (beliefs, behaviors, and reactions), in a sample of Portuguese high school students (N = 346, twelfth grade). Overall, results suggest that the quality of work experience is relevant for the vocational development of students. With the exception of supervisor training, all other internship qualities were single significant predictors of career exploration over the internship period. Finally, implications for career interventions and for future investigation are offered in light of the results.
Workplace learning constitutes an important component in the training program of students attending vocational education courses at a secondary education level. The research results concerning the impact of such experiences on vocational development are not conclusive enough (Creed and Patton, 2003, Frone, 1999 and Skorikov and Vondracek, 1997) when we consider the theoretical expectation that work experiences clearly affect the vocational behavior of adolescents (e.g., Dawis, 2005, Lent et al., 2002, Mitchell and Krumboltz, 1996, Savickas, 2005, Super et al., 1996, Vondracek et al., 1986 and Vondracek and Porfeli, 2008). Two major reasons for this lack of conclusiveness are as follows: a) the ways the quality of work experiences has been measured. In most cases, these measures have considered only the more quantitative aspects (e.g., the number of hours) (Barling and Kelloway, 1999, Loughlin and Barling, 1998, Mortimer, 2003, Stone and Josiam, 2000 and Tesluk and Jacobs, 1998), which are known to lack a large differentiating effect on vocational development (e.g., Mortimer and Finch, 1996, Mortimer, Harley and Staff, 2002 and Mortimer and Zimmer-Gembeck, 2007); and b) the poor internal validity of some of the previous studies. This poor validity is due to the designs adopted (e.g., cross-sectional studies), which do not allow the attribution of the observed within-subject changes in vocational domains to the participation in work experiences (Brooks, Cornelius, Greefield & Joseph, 1995). The present study aims to overcome this set of limitations and contributes to clarifying the role of internship quality on career exploration outcomes with a longitudinal repeated measures design that includes a multi-dimensional evaluation of the quality of internships and the process of career exploration.
