A Board Game Approach to Hospitality Career Education in Schools

Abstract

Although games-based learning has been widely studied across educational contexts, empirical work on the design and evaluation of board games for broadening occupational awareness among early adolescents remains limited. This paper presents the design rationale, iterative development, and pilot study of Adventures in Hospitality Land, an original educational board game introducing students aged 10.5 to 13.5 to the diversity of careers within the hospitality sector, a sector frequently underrepresented in career education and often perceived as low-skilled despite demanding transferable competencies. The study addressed three research questions: the game’s support for career awareness and engagement, the soft skills facilitated through gameplay, and how iterative design affected classroom feasibility and learning outcomes. A DBR-informed pilot was conducted under institutional ethical approval with 68 students across three age groups at a summer school in Malta. Each group played two sessions: an original Full version and a streamlined Lite version developed in direct response to Session 1 findings. Data from questionnaires, student interviews, and a facilitator focus group were analysed thematically. Engagement was consistently high across both versions, with 84.1% of students naming a previously unknown hospitality role. The Lite version substantially improved accessibility and enjoyment, perceived rules difficulty falling from 71.1% to 17.4%, whilst educational value scores remained virtually identical (60.0% versus 60.9%). Eight thematic categories emerged from the qualitative data. The paper contributes to the literature on educational board game design by demonstrating that a purpose-built, low-technology game can support career awareness and soft skills development in a single classroom session.