Name: Zubair Kathrada Student Number: 56155336

Course Code: SDSGC0D

Unique Number: 586873
Assignment Number: 02
Pages: 06

Question A

Discuss the sources of information that a Life Orientation teacher can use
to assist learners with career matters.
. (30)

Professional bodies

- Professional bodies include associations, federations, institutes,

societies and similar institutions that can be approached to obtain
advice and information about potential career opportunities within
their respective fields. Some qualifications require for learners to
be members of professional bodies and students have to register
with these bodies before commencing their studies. It is therefore
important for educators to check such requirements with the body
concerned or with the relevant educational institute prior to the
enrolment.

Institutions of higher learning

- Universities, technikons, colleges of education, colleges of

agricultural science and technical colleges are institutions for
higher learning. Such institutes usually have specific information
on careers or subject information on the course they offer. This
information is presented in the form of subject information leaflets.
These leaflets can be useful for the career information library, as
they cover the outline of a subject or career, giving information on
the required personality, entry requirements, duration of the
course, curriculum and job prospects. The calendars and a
prospectuses of tertiary institutions also provide important
information on rules and regulations, entry requirements, fees for
tuition and closing dates for applications.

Companies
- Companies have a wealth of information that could benefit
learners who have to make a career decision or who have
completed their studies and are looking to find employment.
Information usually covers the nature of the company, job
opportunities, benefits for their employees, prospectus for different
positions available and their advantages over their competitors.
Such information can be useful to a student as as it gives them an
indication of where job opportunities lie and which companies may
in future be considered as possible employers. Some companies
are willing to sponsor learners with bursaries.

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Name: Zubair Kathrada Student Number: 56155336
Course Code: SDSGC0D
Unique Number: 586873
Assignment Number: 02
Pages: 06

This is always an advantage for the student and most companies

that offer bursaries prefer to hire the students they have been
sponsoring upon completion of their studies. It is important for
educators to inform learners that bursaries are mostly given out
only to learners who excel in school.

Career Centres
- These are non-governmental organisations who are highly
respected for their experience and dissemination of information on
career guidance. Career centres may be contacted for information
that could benefit both educators and students alike. In order to
know what particular information a career centre provides, the
educator should request for that centre to send a catalogue as
well as information on other services they offer.

Educational magazines and newspapers

- Educational magazines and newspapers can also be used as a
source of Information to learners as they often have columns and
articles on career related matters. Examples of magazines and
newspapers with such information may include Educamus and
The Sowetan.

Embassies
- Sometimes, students will want to know about international studies
which is why it is a good idea to gather information on overseas
institutes as well. Such information can only be supplied by the
embassies of the respective countries.

Question B

Differentiate between aptitudes, abilities, talents and skills and

give examples of each.
. (20)

Aptitudes- Aptitudes should be seen as specific personalities or

abilities, innate as well as acquired, which are at a persons
disposal at a certain stage and will enable him to develop certain
skills and proficiencies.
It is the ability for doing or learning certain kinds of things with
ease and quickly. Aptitude tests are commonly done to identify
peoples natural abilities.
E.g. some people are great speakers but are slow when doing
paperwork

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Name: Zubair Kathrada Student Number: 56155336
Course Code: SDSGC0D
Unique Number: 586873
Assignment Number: 02
Pages: 06

Abilities- Something that an individual has become good at doing

by applying effort. One tends to gain ability merely by working
hard at something but it takes a lot of effort as they do not really
have the aptitude.
E.g. A learner who has been coached from a young age may
develop great passing and shooting abilities in soccer.

Talents- Talent can be defined as a special aptitude. It refers to

the natural abilities that you are born with and the ability to do
something without really thinking about it. A learner may build a
career on a field such as sport, but your interests in this field also
needs to be high
E.g. you are playing tennis for the first time but you do not have a
problem keeping the ball in play.

Skills- According to a dictionary, skill refers to expertness,

practised ability, facility in action, dexterity or tact.
Skill is something that you acquire after putting in a lot of hard
work. Unlike talent, it is not inborn, but learnt. Not everyone is
talented, but if you make the effort, you can learn a new skill.
E.g. A young boy may not be able to serve the ball with a tennis
racquet, but after months of practice and hard work, he has
developed a skill to serve the ball with pace and accuracy.

Question C

What are the advantages and disadvantages of interviews as they relate

to Life Orientation? (10)

Advantages
- Allows us to gain a better understanding of the person
- There are many opportunities for asking questions.
- Probing is possible, which allows us to get deeper into the
matter
- It is personal, therefore we are able to get pure insight from
the interviewee
- The interviewee needs not to be able to read and write and
may express themselves better.
- It has greater depth than with other methods of information
collection.

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Name: Zubair Kathrada Student Number: 56155336
Course Code: SDSGC0D
Unique Number: 586873
Assignment Number: 02
Pages: 06

Disadvantages

- It is a time consuming method of gaining information.

- Only one or a few people can be interviewed at a time.
- Reliability is limited
- Direct interaction may be a disadvantage as interviewee may
not be able to fully express himself
- It may be prone to subjectivity and bias on the part of the
interviewer.

Question D

Discuss 4 general guidelines that a Life Orientation teacher can use in

conducting career counselling within a cross-cultural context.
. (8)

- Help learners who are culturally diverse to understand the

impact of discrimination on their behaviour, especially as it
relates to career decision making.
- Possessing the requisite career and general counselling skills
as well as cultural and self-awareness in order to effectively
intervene in the career development of culturally diverse
learners.
- Strive to help learners who are culturally diverse to realise the
relationship between career decisions and the consequences
thereof.
- Be able to discern the differences between career behaviour
resulting from socio economic class and career behaviour
resulting from being part of a specific racial group.

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Name: Zubair Kathrada Student Number: 56155336
Course Code: SDSGC0D
Unique Number: 586873
Assignment Number: 02
Pages: 06

Question E

Explain the four factors that could be used as guidelines in establishing

career possibilities.
. (20)

Technological development

- Technology has a profound effect on education, training and

job requirements. In addition to the necessary skills for the job,
other qualities such as communication, problem solving and
computer literacy have become more and more important in
the workplace. Workers need to be well educated and once
employed, will need constant training and retraining to keep up
with the changing technology. Even though employment
opportunities have decreased due to mechanical technology,
some industries (e.g. I.T) have because of technological
advances.

Social and political conditions

- South Africa is facing enormous political changes and different

opportunities are becoming available. Due to urbanisation,
more housing will be needed which in turn leads to more jobs
for builders and town planners.

Economic recession

- The worldwide recession has forces companies to focus on

one main (core) business. This has led to subcontracting in
which large firms transfer particular tasks to smaller firms who
carry the overhead costs and employ unskilled/semi-skilled
workers. This has caused growth in the service sector and an
increase in employment opportunities.

Portfolio careers

- Even though many companies focus only on the core tasks of

the business, many of the tasks which are non-core still need
to be maintained. Thus includes things such as cleaning,
maintenance and security to mention a few. This means a
person who is an expert in security protocol might be able to

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Name: Zubair Kathrada Student Number: 56155336
Course Code: SDSGC0D
Unique Number: 586873
Assignment Number: 02
Pages: 06

offer his services to a variety of companies that require the

service. Since security is not their core business, they are
please to pay a contractor to do the job. Portfolio careers such
as the above mentioned are increasing throughout the country.

Question F

List 6 critically important skills in determining the levels of occupational

and educational success that culturally different learners may attain.

(12)

- Handling evidence
- Analytical skills
- Human relation skills
- Learning skills
- Career development skills
- Adaptive skills

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 RESULTS
Question (a) = 27

Question (b) = 18

Question (c) = 10

Question (d) = 8

Question (e) = 20

Question (f) = 12

------------------------------

Total = 95 / 100 (95%)