Career guidance needs to develop entrepreneuship at university level

Abstract

Socio-occupational changes and the highly flexible world in which we are immersed break pre-established patterns; this has increased the difficulties university students face in accessing employment, together with the difficulties in defining professional profiles with market value. This is the case of the Bachelor's Degree in Pedagogy, a qualification traditionally marked by its employment opportunities in formal education, without considering other possible options, such as entrepreneurship. Therefore, it is increasingly recurrent to work with Pedagogy students, in the acquisition of entrepreneurial competences that enhance their professional development, both in the classroom and with the support of professional guidance services. This study purports to find out the situation of entrepreneurship at university, identifying the needs for professional guidance in entrepreneurship of the student body of Pedagogy in all the Spanish public universities where it is delivered. A mixed methodology was used, by means of 1) a questionnaire applied to a sample of 486 final year Pedagogy students from the 19 universities where this degree is taught; 2) a semi-structured interview with 17 guidance and entrepreneurship professionals. The data were analyzed using SPSS and NVIVO software, applying the SWOT technique as a methodological integration or triangulation strategy. The results allow the identification of career guidance needs presented by the students at a time close to their insertion into the labor market.