Abstract:
This research and development (R&D) aimed to 1) explore career planning abilities and needs of career plan learning among Thai lower secondary school student, 2) develop non-formal education program to enhance career planning abilities for Thai lower secondary school students, and 3) develop the manual of non-formal education program to enhance career planning abilities for Thai lower secondary school students. The purposive selected participants who joined the program were 20 students from 480 multi-stage samplings of lower secondary students from the first phase of this research. The results were as follows: 1. The level of career planning abilities of lower secondary school students was high in over all aspects. The designing stage (x̄ = 3.96 S.D. = 0.97) and the diagnosing stage (x̄ = 4.02 S.D. = 0.92) were at a lower level than the doing stage (x̄ = 4.08 S.D. = 0.88). Career plan learning needs were at a high level especially for self-exploration (52%) and career path design (19.4%). 2. The non-formal education program to enhance career planning abilities of lower secondary school students consisted of 1) programs objective, 2) learners, 3) instructors, 4) learning contents, 5) learning activities, 6) time duration, 7) learning resources, and 8) assessment and evaluation. The result of program implementation showed that participants scores of the knowledge of career planning had been increased after attending the program with statistically significant at level of .05 and the career planning abilities of the participants had significantly risen at higher level after attending program (from x̄ = 2.37 to x̄ = 4.46). The factors concerning this program were 1) clarified learning objectives, 2) instructors as facilitators, 3 recent learning contents, 4) varieties of learning activities, 5) flexible time, 6) suitable learning resources, and 7) convenient place. The conditions of effective application were 1) ice-breaking activities blending learners, 2) 3-5 members for group activities, 3) conducting learning activities sequentially as learning plans, 4) adaptive instructors roles, and 5) evaluations and follow-ups. The problems of this program were 1) insufficient time to put plans into action, 2) parents effect toward learning progress, and 3) the safety of learners during attending the program. The prominent findings of this program were 1) parental involvement by giving suggestions or empowerments, 2) technology and internet used as learning tools and learning resources that would make the learning contents interesting, up-to-date, and appropriate for youth of this generation and 3) instructors role adaptation according to the learners, such as the facilitator, the encourager, the motivator, and the advisor. 3. The manual of non-formal education program to enhance career planning abilities for Thai lower secondary school students consisted of 1) introductions and concepts, 2) programs objective, 3) learners role, 4) instructors role, 5) learning contents, 6) learning activities process, 7) learning resources, 8) assessment and evaluations tools, and 9) techniques for implementation according to the users context