Existing inequalities in STEM-related vocational-technical education (VTE) programs are more prevalent than within 4-year programs. Situated in Chile, this study tests whether Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) adequately explains career development among students enrolled in STEM-VTE programs. In doing so, it also examines how external factors such as supports, barriers, and secondary track differentially affect career development by gender. Using a sample of 698 students in their second year of STEM-VTE studies, we confirmed that the SCCT model produced a good fit for the data in this alternative institutional setting. The findings also showed few gender differences in the effects of external factors on self-efficacy and career expectations, except for teaching support that substantially alters these cognitive factors to more extent among males than females. Moreover, although self-efficacy beliefs were similar between gender, gains in career expectations due to these beliefs are lower for female students. We conclude by discussing implications for future research and practice.

与 STEM 相关的职业技术教育 (VTE) 项目中现有的不平等现象比 4 年制项目中更为普遍。这项位于智利的研究测试了社会认知职业理论 (SCCT) 是否充分解释了参加 STEM-VTE 课程的学生的职业发展。在此过程中，它还研究了支持、障碍和次要轨道等外部因素如何不同性别地影响职业发展。在 STEM-VTE 研究的第二年使用 698 名学生的样本，我们证实 SCCT 模型非常适合这种替代机构环境中的数据。研究结果还表明，外部因素对自我效能和职业期望的影响几乎没有性别差异，除了在男性中比女性更大程度地显着改变这些认知因素的教学支持。此外，尽管性别之间的自我效能信念相似，但女性学生由于这些信念而获得的职业预期收益较低。最后，我们讨论了对未来研究和实践的影响。