This study focuses on verifying the practical effectiveness of career education budget investment in unit schools on fostering students' career development competency. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to empirically clarify the relationship a...
This study focuses on verifying the practical effectiveness of career education budget investment in unit schools on fostering students' career development competency. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to empirically clarify the relationship among per-student career education budget, career education infrastructure, students' career activity experience (satisfaction, participation), and career development competency, and to suggest policy implications for enhancing the effectiveness of budget investment.
To address this, the following research questions were set. First, the impact of student-level career activity satisfaction and participation count on career development competency was examined. Second, the direct effect of school-level per-student career education budget and infrastructure (career activity room, career counseling room) on students' career development competency was analyzed. Third, the indirect effect of the school budget on competency mediated by student career activity experience and the moderating effect of the budget level on the effectiveness of satisfaction were explored.
This study applied the Hierarchical Linear Model (HLM) to account for the hierarchical data structure where students are nested within schools. Specifically, data from the ‘2024 Career Education Status Survey’ were utilized to verify the relationships between variables. Basic models, research models, and subgroup analyses were conducted based on data from 7,767 second-year high school students nationwide and their respective schools.
The main results of this study are as follows. First, at the student level, career activity satisfaction had a strong positive effect on career development competency, whereas simple participation count showed a negative effect when satisfaction was controlled. This suggests that the outcome of career education depends more on qualitative satisfaction than quantitative participation.
Second, the total amount of per-student career education budget at the school level did not have a statistically significant direct effect on students' career development competency. This indicates that a simple quantitative expansion of the budget does not guarantee the improvement of students' capabilities. On the other hand, among school infrastructures, the establishment of career counseling rooms showed a significant positive effect on career development competency.
Third, neither the indirect effect of the school budget on competency mediated by student satisfaction or participation, nor the moderating effect of the budget level strengthening the effect of satisfaction was significant. In other words, a well-funded school does not necessarily lead to higher student satisfaction, nor does satisfaction translate into competency more efficiently in such schools.
Fourth, the analysis by school type confirmed differential effects: career counseling rooms had a positive effect in general high schools, while career activity rooms had a positive effect in Specialized high schools. This implies that necessary resources and infrastructure differ depending on the educational purpose and context of the school.
Based on the research results, the following policy suggestions were derived. First, rather than increasing the total amount of career education budget, the budget items should be structured to prioritize practical activities such as student experience expenses. Second, considering the characteristics of each school type, tailored investment is needed, supporting the expansion of counseling rooms for general high schools and the improvement of practice-oriented activity room environments for specialized high schools. Third, the school career education evaluation system should be reformed from input indicators such as budget execution rate to qualitative performance-centered indicators including student satisfaction and competency changes.