Narrative enquiry of career paths and career success of former TVET students’ in Mauritius: A critical investigation

Abstract

This thesis examines how holding a formal TVET qualification can construct a career path and engage in the career success achievement process. The TVET reality in Mauritius continues to face stigmas and stereotyping: society at large considers that TVET is solely being reserved for less academically brilliant people, catering for dropouts and failures of the academic stream. This kind of poor reception towards TVET by the community has had a marked impact on making TVET appear unattractive. The TVET stream constitutes an area in which employment opportunities are extremely high. Career-minded people have not studied empirically the attributions associated with TVET qualification holders who wish to achieve success in their career journeys. Career success is an important but often overlooked outcome of TVET qualification holders’ career experience. The fact is that finding the key determinant to career success of TVET qualification holders as employees continues to be critically important to employees, being concomitantly significant for employers. Understanding the intrinsic and extrinsic career success predictors of this specific category of workers will help future employees to navigate both their professional and personal lives. The ultimate objective of this study is to critically investigate the extent of the journey of some TVET qualification holders before they reach their career success destination. Whether they faced any particular hindrances or opportunities en route is the subject of the study. The study used a qualitative research approach from an interpretive paradigm. The method adopted for the present study is a narrative enquiry. The narratives of four former TVET students holding formal TVET qualifications were collected, and an analysis from their stories iii was made. The study draws on social, human capital theories. It also partly uses the capability approach element of functioning, from Amartya Sen. Findings suggest that there were some influential factors that had pushed students into the TVET stream. A discussion thereon would digress from the main objectives of the study. The experiences of these TVET students suggest that they were adequately engaged during their studies. The study suggests that these participants had linear career paths. The predictors of their career success consisted of both objective and subjective career success elements. TVET was the key player in achieving career success. Suggestions for future research, and implications for policymakers, practitioners, researchers, and TVET providers, are provided.