Understanding of Career and Attitudes toward Career Counselling

Following the policy to globalize Canadian higher education, the demographics on Canadian campuses have become internationalized. Chinese international students account for the majority of full-time visa students within Canadian universities. Existing research tends to ignore the dynamic social and economic changes occurring in China and treats Chinese international students as if they were a homogenous group. This research is situated in the premise of social constructionism which emphasizes the importance of social processes, interactions and the centrality of language in the production of knowledge and meaning making. Eight Chinese international students who were in the senior year of their undergraduate studies were selected to participate in in-depth, semi-structured interviews. The research shows that social constructionism provides new perspectives for cross-cultural studies by revealing multiple truths and interrelated contingencies involved in examining career related issues and exploring cross-cultural differences. The study has implications for career counselling and higher education.

Autorentext

Yina Wang is a Ph.D student at Queen's university in Canada. She is studying cognition and cultural studies at Faculty of Education.