Investigating the Impact of a Career Education Program on School Engagement‪.‬

Abstract The Career Trek program is designed to instil some protective factors that develop positive self-esteem in participants and promote school engagement. In addition, the program tries to challenge the general motivational decline towards schooling in middle years. The purpose of the current study is to examine the impact of participation in Career Trek on school motivation. Thirty-three Career Trek participants completed questionnaires related to academic motivation and self-esteem and responded to questions in an interview at the beginning and end of the Career Trek programming year. Ten non-participants in Career Trek also completed the same tasks as control measures. Career Trek participants positively increased in measures related to academic motivation while controls decreased in these indicators. School satisfaction decreased significantly in the Career Trek participants. Discussion centres on the possible explanations and future directions for research.