Exploring the Prior Experiences and Self-Efficacy of Career Coaches in Maryland

Abstract

In 2020, Maryland's legislators approved the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, a major investment in K-12 education that mandates access to career counseling for all middle and high school students (MSDE, 2024). This requirement has fueled efforts across the state to recruit and train individuals for newly created career coaching roles. While the importance of career counseling for all secondary level students has received strong support from most stakeholders, there have been questions surrounding who is providing these career coaching experiences. In light of those questions, this study explored the background characteristics, preparation experiences, and career counseling self-efficacy levels of 72 career coaches and school counselors from nine school systems in Maryland. Survey responses identified unique background and preparation experiences between career coaches and school counselors. Correlational analyses found a number of characteristics to be significantly associated with stronger career counseling self-efficacy levels. This study has implications for informing career coaching recruitment and training efforts implemented by school systems, local workforce development boards, state departments of education, and other stakeholders.