BSOP-I und -II

Project lead
Prof. Dr. Andreas Frey

Project duration
August 2017 – March 2021 (BSOP-I)
October 2021 – February 2025 (BSOP-II)

Cooperation partners
BBI – School for International Hospitality & Tourism Business, Luxembourg (BSOP-I)

The success of the career and study orientation phase for adolescents and young adults is determined by key competencies as well as information management and copingstrategies (cf. Argyropoulou et al., 2007; Herzog & Makarova, 2020). Findings suggest that a constellation of key competencies, information management and copingstrategies as well as work placements are effective in being able to make the right decision during the career and study orientation phase and to have good prospects of later success in training and studying (cf. Hirschi & Baumeler, 2020). With this in mind, the analysis of the key competencies, information management and coping-strategies of adolescents and young adults in the career and study orientation phase and their effects on training and study success in the future are of interest.

School children in Secondary Level I and II from schools for general education, trainees from a variety of professions, students studying in different degree programmes, people who have dropped out of training or university as well as people in employment - both prospectively and retrospectively - regarding their key competencies and their implemented information management and copingstrategies during the career and study orientation phase are part of the survey.

The research questions are as follows:

1. Can adolescents and young adults in the career, study and further training orientation phase be recorded and typologised in a valid empirical way regarding their key competencies, coping strategies and their (online-/offline-) information management strategies?
2. Is there a significant connection between key competencies, copingstrategies as well as information management strategies and their future success in training and studying?
3. What effect does that have on career counselling?

This project addressed the extent to which trainees' and students' decisions in terms of training and studying were determined by key competencies, copingstrategies and information processing procedures, and what influence these structures had on the success of the training or study programme.

To be able to answer this question, the following surveys were used in three investigative waves on 811 pupils, trainees and students in Luxembourg and Germany: the survey on key competencies (cf. Balzer & Frey, 2018), the survey on copingstrategies (cf. Frey, 1997), the survey on decision heuristics (cf. Ertelt & Ruppert, 2011) and the survey on information management (cf. Ertelt & Schulz, 2019).

The findings from all three investigative waves conclude that there is a connection to the current status of a training or study programme within the framework of key competencies for the ability to cooperate, social responsibility, ability to deal with conflict, independency, work techniques, awareness of obligations and processing of information. Similarly, within the framework of copingstrategies, cognitive and action-related coping strategies are associated with the current status of a training or study programme, and within the framework of a career and study orientation phase, decision alternatives and information management also stand in relation to the present. (see Frey, Bühler & Ruppert, 2022; Ulrich, Frey & Ruppert, 2018; Ulrich, Frey, Ertelt & Ruppert, 2019).

It can be derived that these frameworks are important coping resources to a certain extent for a training or study programme to be completed successfully.

Argyropoulou, E., Sidiropoulou-Dimakakou, D & Besevegis, E. G. (2007). Generalized Self-Efficacy, Coping, Career Indecision, and Vocational Choices of Senior High School Students in Greece: Implications for Career Guidance Practitioners. Journal of Career Development, 33(4), 316-337.

Balzer, L. & Frey, A. (2018). Selbstkonzepte eigener Fähigkeiten. Der Fragebogen zu sozialen, methodischen und personalen Kompetenzen. Mannheim und Schwerin: HdBA.

Ertelt, B.-J. & Ruppert, J.-J. (2011). Heuristic Theory of Decision Making: Evidence and Implications for Career Guidance. In Susanne Kraatz & B.-J. Ertelt (Eds.), Professionalisation of career guidance in Europe. Training, guidance research, service organisation and mobility (pp. 193-206). Tübingen: Dgvt-Verl.

Ertelt, B.-J. & Schulz, W.E. (2019). Handbuch Beratungskompetenz. Mit Übungen zur Entwicklung von Beratungsfertigkeiten in Bildung und Beruf (4th ed.). Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien.

Frey, A. (1997). Konfliktbewältigungsverhalten von Erzieherinnen. In B. Dippelhofer-Stiem & B. Wolf (pub.), Ökologie des Kindergartens (p. 139-161). Weinheim: Juventa.

Frey, A., Bühler, E., & Ruppert, J.-J. (2022). Conflict Management Strategies of Career Counsellors. Psychology, 13, 62-77.

Frey, A., & Ruppert, J.-J. (2017). Diagnosis of Transferable Competences of Young People in the Dual Vocational Education – A German Perspective. Psychology, 8, 1546-1569.

Hirschi, A. und Baumeler, F. (2020). Berufswahltheorien – Entwicklung und Stand der Diskussion. In S. Rahn & T. Brüggemann (pub.). Lehr- und Arbeitsbuch zur Studien- und Berufsorientierung (pp. 31-42). Münster: Waxmann Verlag.

Herzog, W. & Makarova, E. (2020). Berufsberatung als Copingprozess. In S. Rahn & T. Brüggemann (pub.). Lehr- und Arbeitsbuch zur Studien- und Berufsorientierung (pp. 83-96). Münster: Waxmann Verlag.

Ulrich, A., Frey, A., Ertelt, B.-J. & Ruppert, J.-J. (2019). Unterstützung der Berufswahl durch Beratung. Bedeutung von professionellen und familiären Akteuren. In J. Seifried, K., Beck, B.-J., Ertelt & A. Frey (pub.), Beruf, Beruflichkeit, Employability (pp. 334-349). Bielefeld: WBV.

Ulrich, A., Wiench, N., Frey, A., & Ruppert, J.-J. (2019). Überfachliche Kompetenzen in der Berufsausbildung: Welche Kompetenzen können als Bewältigungsressource in der dualen Ausbildung bei Jugendlichen herangezogen werden? Mannheim und Schwerin: HdBA.

Ulrich, A., Frey, A., & Ruppert, J.-J. (2018). The Role of Parents in Young People’s Career Choices in Germany. Psychology, 9, 2194-2206.