For young people early career planning can mean the difference between reaching their full potential or falling short of the mark.
Lost talent? The occupational ambitions and attainments of young Australians, published by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER), looked at high achieving 15 year olds and the extent to which their achievements matched their aspirations.
For the vast majority, their achievements matched their expectations, but not so for almost 15%.
Those most at risk of not fulfilling their promise are young people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, those who have low self confidence in their academic ability and those who are unhappy with school.
The research, based on extensive information from the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY), found that early career planning helps in making sure that aspirations are achieved.
“If the only difference between two high achieving students is that one of them has a clear plan for further education and the other has also an ambitious career plan, the latter is likely to get a better job earlier”, said Dr Joanna Sikora, co-author of the report.
“Ambitious career plans help young people even though most of them do not end up in the exact occupations they imagined for themselves in high school”.
Career planning also assists young people who are at the other end of the achievement scale. This group was the focus of another report. Against the odds: Influences on the post-school success of ‘low performers’ found career advice to be a significant factor in helping young people who struggled in high school achieve success.
Copies of Lost talent? The occupational ambitions and attainments of young Australians are available from www.lsay.edu.au/publications/2313.html
Copies of Against the odds: Influences on the post-school success of ‘low performers’ are available from http://www.lsay.edu.au/publications/2285.html
These projects were funded under the Research Innovation and Expansion Fund established by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. The fund informs future youth policy and increase public awareness of LSAY.
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