Abstract:

The aim of this study is to study the level of competence of high school students to make professional decisions in terms of gender, class level, parental education level and academically self-perception level variables. This study was conducted on a total of 459 high school students in the 7th and 8th classes studying in the Samsun-Ili Atakum district in the 2015-2016 educational year. The study used the Professional Decision Skill (MKVY) developed by Bacanlı (2004) as a data collection tool and the Personal Information Form prepared by the researcher. The data was analyzed with the SPSS 20.00 package program. The normal distribution of the data has been examined. In the analysis of the data, unrelated samples were used to test t, one-way variance analysis(ANOVA), Kruskal Wallis H test and Mann-Whitney U test. To determine which differences are between the groups, the Tukey test analysis technique has been used. In the statistical assessment of the data, the .05 error level was taken into account. The research has found that high school students' vocational decision-making abilities significantly differ in terms of gender, class, parental education level and academically self-perception levels. In terms of professional decision-making competence, girls are higher than boys, and 7th grade students are higher than 8th grade students. There are differences between the high-level and the low-level educational groups according to the level of education of parents. According to academic success perception, there are significant differences between the groups. The data obtained was interpreted in the light of literature and recommendations were developed.

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