Abstract:

This article presents an integrative pedagogical model designed to strengthen high school students’ readiness for professional self-determination, understood as the ability of adolescents to make informed, meaningful, and responsible choices about their future careers. Professional self-determination is examined not as a one-time decision but as a developmental process shaped by cognitive understanding, personal motivation, behavioral regulation, and reflective awareness. The model brings together elements from the long-standing Ghanaian tradition of systematic career education and the contemporary educational needs of Ghana.

This study addresses a significant gap in the career development literature by developing and empirically validating an integrative model of Readiness for Professional Self-Determination (RPSD) among high school students. Grounded in Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and Socio-Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), the model conceptualizes RPSD as a second-order construct composed of four first-order dimensions: Self-Knowledge, Career Exploration, Decision-Making Skills, and Agency and Self-Efficacy. A quantitative, non-experimental research design was employed, and survey data were collected from 100 students at a high school in Kumasi, Ghana. Data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS 4.

The results confirmed that all four dimensions demonstrate strong internal consistency, convergent validity, and discriminant validity. Structural model analysis shows that Self-Knowledge, Career Exploration, Decision-Making Skills, and Agency and Self-Efficacy all have positive and statistically significant effects on RPSD, jointly explaining a substantial proportion of variance in students’ readiness for professional self-determination. Decision-Making Skills emerged as the strongest predictor of RPSD. Furthermore, the findings reveal significant mediating pathways, with Career Exploration playing a central role in linking Self-Knowledge to both Agency and Self-Efficacy and Decision-Making Skills. Direct effects from Self-Knowledge and Agency on Decision-Making Skills were not significant, indicating that their influence operates indirectly through Career Exploration.

In conclusion, the study provides empirical support for an integrative, theory-driven model of RPSD in the high school context. The validated model offers a robust, data-driven framework that can guide educators, counselors, and policymakers in designing targeted career guidance interventions aimed at fostering autonomy, informed decision-making, and successful school-to-work transitions among adolescents.

Keywords:

Professional, Self-Determination, Students, Career Guidance, Secondary Education, Pedagogical Models, Career Development, Competence-Based Education, Diagnostic Assessment, Career Readiness, Comparative Pedagogy (Russia and Ghana).