en Educational Studies پژوهشي Original <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color:#669933;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="line-height:2;"><b>Objective:</b> This study aimed to identify and validate a model of key drivers of academic and career guidance among secondary school students in Tehran Province, providing a scientific framework to improve guidance policies and programs within the education system.<br> <b>Methods</b>: This applied study employed a mixed-methods (qualitative&ndash;quantitative) design. In the qualitative phase, data were collected through document analysis and semi-structured interviews with 24 university experts and Ministry of Education specialists selected via snowball sampling until theoretical saturation was reached.<br> In the quantitative phase, the population included principals, vice-principals, and academic counselors of upper secondary schools in Tehran Province (N = 1,120). Using Cochran&rsquo;s formula, 286 participants were selected through proportional stratified random sampling. Data were gathered using a researcher-developed questionnaire and analyzed through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).<br> <b>Results</b>: Qualitative analysis identified 5 overarching themes, 16 organizing themes, and 74 basic themes underlying the academic and career guidance drivers&rsquo; model, including individual, environmental, human, structural, and curriculum-related empowerment factors. CFA results confirmed the statistical significance of all model components, and model fit indices demonstrated satisfactory validity.<br> <b>Conclusions</b>: The findings suggest that revising policies, curriculum content, educational resources, and assessment methods can enhance students&rsquo; awareness of academic fields and related careers, supporting more informed academic and career decision-making.</span></span></span></span></div> Model validation, Academic guidance drivers, Career guidance drivers, Secondary schools, Education system 0 0 http://ijer.hormozgan.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-527-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Reza Shirzadi reza.shirzadi.1393@gmail.com 10031947532846004788 0009-0006-3480-8800 No PhD student, Department of Educational Management, Ga.C., Islamic Azad University, Garmsar, Iran Fakhrodin Ahmadi ahmadif@iau.ac.ir 10031947532846004789 0009-0006-4015-2297 Yes Department of Educational Management, Ga.C., Islamic Azad University, Garmsar, Iran Hamid Shafizadeh hshafizadeh@iau-garmsar.ac.ir 10031947532846004790 10031947532846004790 No Department of Educational Management, Ga.C., Islamic Azad University, Garmsar, Iran