Background This study was designed to determine the effect of perceived supports and barriers on self-efficacy beliefs and other social-cognitive variables related to second-year science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students' career development. Social cognitive career theory (SCCT) states that career interest is influenced by four cognitive-person variables: self-efficacy beliefs, outcome expectations, interests, and goals. Other variables, such as social supports and barriers, also play an important role.Purpose This study explores the influence of gender and STEM major on perceived supports and barriers. It also analyzes the effects of perceived supports and barriers on the SCCT cognitive-person variables.Method Participants were 811 sophomore students in STEM programs at the University of Oviedo, Asturias, Spain. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests analyzed the difference in the perceived supports and barriers by gender and students' major. Multiple-group structural equation modeling was implemented to predict the relationship between perceived supports and barriers and SCCT cognitive-person variables. ResultsThe engineering students perceived more teaching staff barriers and fewer teaching staff supports than other students. Male software and hardware engineering students perceived more barriers than other male engineering students. The fit of the model revealed an important effect of perceived teaching staff supports on the four cognitive-person variables. ConclusionsTo determine the influences on the cognitive-person variables, it is necessary to analyze the perceived supports and barriers. Peers and family are the most important perceived supports, while teaching staff and financial difficulties are the greatest perceived barriers.

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The purpose of this study is to examine measurement invariance of scoring of teaching behavior, as perceived by students, across six cultural contexts (Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, South Africa, South Korea, and Indonesia). It also aims to compare perceived teaching behavior across the six countries based on a uniform student measure. Results from multi-group confirmatory factor analyses (MGCFA) showed perceived teaching behavior in the six countries to be adequately invariant. Perceived teaching behavior was the highest in South Korea and the lowest in Indonesia. The findings provide new insights into the relevance and differences of teaching behavior across cultural contexts.

The purpose of this study was to examine student perceptions of teaching behavior. Additionally the aim was to examine if teacher characteristics (educational level, gender, and teaching experience) could explain differences in student perceptions of their teachers. Teaching behavior was studied from the research on teaching and teacher effectiveness perspective. Secondary students (N = 7,114), taught by 410 teachers in Spain, participated in the study. Survey data were analyzed using non-parametric tests, Kruskal–Wallis, U Mann–Whitney with Bonferroni correction, and the analysis of effect sizes. Furthermore, a regression model was applied. Results showed that teaching behavior was perceived as sufficient to good, depending on the teaching behavior domain. Results indicated interesting differences between lower secondary education, upper secondary education and vocational education and training teachers. The effect size values (rU statistic) ranged between 0.43 and 0.63, highlighting the significant effect of teachers’ teaching experience on the six teaching skills domains: learning climate, efficient classroom management, clarity of instruction, activating teaching, differentiation, and teaching learning strategies. Those teachers with less teaching experience were the ones who showed higher scores. Findings from the regression model showed that educational level had a significant predictive effect on the six teaching skills domains, mainly for male teachers. However, in several domains female teachers were perceived by students to outperform their male counterparts.

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"Esto es lo que me gusta y lo que voy a estudiar": Un estudio cualitativo sobre la toma de decisiones académicas en bachillerato ResumenDurante la educación secundaria los estudiantes comienzan a explorar las ocupaciones y expectativas profesionales, forman sus creencias de autoeficacia y consolidan sus intereses académicos. En este contexto, el artículo presenta los resultados de una investigación realizada en el Principado de Asturias para conocer las percepciones y opiniones que tienen los estudiantes de bachillerato y sus progenitores sobre las elecciones académicas realizadas en la educación secundaria, haciendo especial hincapié en los factores contextuales que pueden ayudar u obstaculizar el desarrollo de la carrera. Se ha usado una metodología cualitativa fundamentada en el uso de la técnica del grupo de discusión. Se han organizado cinco grupos de discusión con estudiantes y dos grupos con progenitores. El total de personas que participó en las entrevistas focales fue de 51 estudiantes y de 14 padres/madres. Los resultados obtenidos nos permiten concluir que el bachillerato sigue siendo considerado la puerta de acceso a la universidad y no a la formación profesional de grado superior. También se concluye que los estudiantes fundamentan sus decisiones académicas sobre la base de la preferencia y gusto personal por determinada opciones y esta razón prevalece sobre otras como las salidas profesionales o el rendimiento académico previo. Respecto a la influencia de distintos agentes sociales en el proceso de decisión académica, los resultados son concluyentes al afirmar que el principal apoyo de los estudiantes son sus progenitores, por encima del que perciben encontrar de docentes y grupo de iguales. El artículo finaliza con algunas sugerencias para mejorar la práctica de la orientación educativa en las instituciones de educación secundaria. Palabras clave: educación secundaria, orientación educativa, elección de estudios, análisis de contenido. Mª del Carmen Rodríguez Menéndez et al. Esto es lo que me gusta y lo que voy a estudiar"… 1352 Revista Complutense de EducaciónVol. 27 Núm. 3 (2016) 1351-1368 AbstractDuring high school students begin to explore occupations and professional expectations, form their self-efficacy beliefs and strengthen their academic interests. In this context, the paper presents the results of a research conducted in the Principality of Asturias to know high school students' and their parents' perceptions and opinions about academic choices made in secondary education, with particular emphasis on contextual factors that may help or hinder vocational development. We have used a qualitative methodology based on the use of the focus group. We have organized five focus groups with students and two focus groups with parents. The total number of people who participated in the focus group was 51 students and 14 fathers / mothers. The results obtained allow us to conclude that high school is still considered the gateway to university and not to vocational education and training studies (V...

The authors have examined the relative contribution of personal (emotional state, gender-role attitudes), contextual (perceived social supports and barriers), and cognitive (self-efficacy beliefs, outcome expectations) variables to technological interests in a sample (N ¼ 2,364) of 10th-grade Spanish students. The results of path analysis supported social cognitive career theory (SCCT), indicating that technological self-efficacy contributed to technological interests and technological outcome expectations. Perceived social support and perceived social barriers were related to technological self-efficacy, technological outcome expectations, and technological interests. However, the results did not support the hypothesis that outcome expectations contribute to interests. Contrary to expectations, there was no influence of gender-role attitudes on technological self-efficacy, but gender-role attitudes did determine technological interests. Finally, our study demonstrated that emotional state influenced technological self-efficacy beliefs, technological outcome expectations, and technological interests. This research extends previous work in this area by examining an understudied group, Spanish teenage students.Keywords social cognitive career theory, self-efficacy beliefs, outcome expectations, path analysis, high school studentsThe European Union considers it necessary to make greater efforts to convert science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) into a priority area of education. The demand for a qualified workforce in technology-and research-intensive sectors will remain at a high level, due to their continued need for skills related to STEM. Thus, technological competency is important for professional success in a growing number of occupations. In the case of the Spanish context, which has been influenced by a serious economic crisis, it is even more important to develop such technological

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