Comparison of 21st century skills, career self-efficacy and anxiety levels of students studying at fine arts high school and other high schools; and their opinions on art-related professions

The aim of this study is to compare the 21st century skills, career self-efficacy and anxiety levels of students studying at Fine Arts High School and other high schools according to high school types and to examine their views on art-related professions. In addition, the relationship between 21st century skills, career self-efficacy and anxiety levels and the differences between the mean scores of these variables according to some demographic characteristics were investigated. This research was carried out using both the relational (correlational) survey model and the survey model, which is included in the descriptive studies. Quantitative and qualitative study took place together in accordance with the sub-problems of the research. The sample of the study consists of a total of three different strata, such as Science High School, Anatolian High Schools, Anatolian Vocational High Schools, (Fine Arts High School, Industrial Vocational High School, Girls Vocational High School, Project Imam Hatip High School, etc.) in the provinces of Muğla and Denizli in the 2021-2022 academic year. It consists of 1152 students (717 girls, 435 boys). Multidimensional 21st Century Skills Scale, Career and Talent Development Self-Efficacy Scale, Career Anxiety Scale, Open Student Opinions on Art-related Professions and Personal Information Form were used as data collection tools in the research. SPSS 26.0 package program was used in the analysis of the collected data. In the statistical analysis of the sub-problems of the research; Statistical techniques such as mean, frequency, percentage distribution, standard deviation, t test, Anova, correlation test and descriptive content (qualitative) analysis were used. As a result of the analysis, the total score of 21st century skills changes significantly depending on high school types. According to high school types, in the evaluation of the sub-dimensions of the 21st century skills scale; there is a significant difference (relationship) between school types in Sub-dimension 1 and Sub-dimension 2. While significant relationships were analyzed according to 21st century skill total score averages, demographic variables such as gender, pre-school education status, and parental attitudes, no significant relationship was found according to class and socio-economic status variables. There is no significant difference (relation) in the total score of the Career and Talent Development Self-Efficacy Scale according to high school types. According to high school types, there is a significant relationship only in Sub-dimension 2 of the Career and Talent Development Self-Efficacy scale. While there are significant relationships in terms of career and talent development self-efficacy total scores, parental attitudes and socio-economic status variables from demographic variables, there is no difference according to gender, class, pre-school education status variables. Career anxiety total score, according to high school type variable, there is a significant relationship between the groups. While there was a significant difference (relationship) between school types in only the 1st sub-dimension of the career anxiety scale, no significant difference (relation) was found between the groups in the other Sub-dimension 2. While there were significant relationships between career anxiety scale total scores and demographic variables such as gender, socio-economic status, parental attitudes, and class variables, there was no relationship according to pre-school education status. According to all high school types included in the study, a positive and moderately significant relationship was found between the scores of Career Self-Efficacy and 21st Century Skills variables. There is a negative and low-level significant relationship between career anxiety and career self-efficacy variables. Considering the relationship between the career anxiety variable and the 21st century skills variable, a low negative relationship can be mentioned again. In the qualitative part of the research, written opinions of the students about the socio-economic status of the professions related to art and the society's perspective on these professions were taken. According to this, a great majority of students (75%) think that society does not value art. At the same time, students share with the majority of opinions that those who graduated from art-related programs of universities have trouble finding a job in their profession and that people working in these professions experience economic difficulties. The results were discussed, interpreted and some suggestions were made in line with the literature research.