Career development of gifted adolescents: A qualitative assessment

Although gifted adolescents seem to be advantageous in terms of career development, they are considered as one of the disadvantaged groups in terms of career development. One of the approaches frequently used in evaluating the career development of disadvantaged groups is the Systems Theory Approach, which focuses on the conceptualization of cultural and contextual effects on career development with a holistic approach. The qualitative assessment tool called Kariyerimi Etkileyen Sistemler (KES), developed based on this approach, is used to evaluate the career development of disadvantaged individuals from different cultures and different ages. The aim of this research is to examine in depth the individual, social and environmental-social factors that affect the career development of gifted adolescents. In line with the purpose of the research, phenomenological research method, one of the qualitative research designs, was used. The research was carried out with 23 gifted high school students attending a Science and Art Center in Izmir. Typical case sampling was used to identify participants. KES, a qualitative assessment tool, was used to evaluate the career development of gifted adolescents. After the language validity of the KES was made, the application was carried out with the participants, and the collected data was analyzed by thematic content analysis. As a result of the analysis, the factors affecting the career development of gifted students were discussed in three categories: "current career status", "career effects" and "action plan" . In the findings, gifted adolescents stated that the effects that most affect their careers are individual system effects. Among the systems, it was seen that the most interest among the individual system effects, the family among the social system effects, the opportunity to work abroad the most among the environmental-social system effects, and the most expected lifestyle effect from the time effects were effective on gifted adolescents. In line with the findings presented, suggestions for future research are presented. Keywords: Systems theory approach, my system of career influences, gifted adolescents