Gender has a strong influence on young people's career choices
This post is currently available in Finnish. Please see the original post here.Gender strongly influences young people’s interest in different fields. This is highlighted in T-Media’s study, “When School Ends – Youth Future Report 2017,” which sheds light on young people’s plans for the future and their thoughts on working life.
The perceptions of middle and high school students regarding the most attractive industries are very traditional. Girls are most interested in the healthcare sector, while boys are most interested in the technology industry.
Traditional attitudes are also reflected in beliefs about gender-based abilities: for example, 51 percent of middle school students believe that girls are better than boys at their native language, while the corresponding figure for boys is only 4 percent. In addition, girls are considered better at creative subjects and languages, while boys are considered better at physical education, science, history, and math. When it comes to personal traits, 49 percent of upper-grade students associate self-confidence with boys, compared to only 7 percent who associate it with girls.
Young people are increasingly turning to their parents for guidance when making major life decisions
When making decisions about their future, middle school students are relying more and more on their parents, relatives, and friends. The importance of their inner circle as a source of information has increased significantly over the past two years, by a total of 6 percentage points.
76 percent of middle school students and 78 percent of high school students say they value their parents’ professional achievements. It seems that their parents’ concrete actions and the choices they’ve made in their careers have a much greater impact on young people than abstract discussions about career choices.
– Support from family and friends is valuable to young people when making choices, but parents’ views on the working world, for example, may be outdated, in which case they do more harm than good. Young people need encouragement and real-life role models to have the courage to make choices that reflect who they are, notes Liisa Tenhunen-Ruotsalainen, director of the Economic Information Office (TAT).
Guidance on Finding One's Own Path for Sixth-Graders
Only 30 percent of girls and 41 percent of boys in middle school feel they received enough guidance on their career choices during middle school. The need for guidance is particularly pronounced among eighth graders: while half of all upper-secondary school students would like more information about working life, the corresponding figure among eighth graders is 61 percent.
– Young people feel that they receive sufficient information about further education and the application process during their time in comprehensive school, because they are, so to speak, guided from one school to the next. At the same time, however, it is alarming that examples from the working world remain scarce. In addition to guidance counselors, it is important for the entire teaching staff to participate in guiding young people, Tenhunen-Ruotsalainen urges.
Among high school students, the need for guidance is reflected in their interest in taking a gap year after graduating from high school. As many as 29 percent of high school students say they plan to take a gap year after finishing high school. High school girls, in particular, are planning not to apply for further studies; 38 percent of them are interested in taking a gap year.
– It seems that students are postponing their applications for graduate studies by opting for a gap year. This may be due to several reasons, such as exhaustion from high school studies or tactical maneuvering related to first-time applicant quotas, in which a young person sets their sights on a program of interest and avoids ending up with secondary options, Tenhunen-Ruotsalainen notes.
– For young people’s future, it is essential that their own path and the next steps along the way begin to take shape as early as possible. That is why high school students need more information and experiences related to the working world than ever before.
Data collection for the “When School Ends” study took place at the end of February and beginning of March 2017. A total of more than 7,700 young people responded to the survey, of whom 3,765 were middle school students and 3,946 were high school students. The survey was conducted by the research and communications company T-Media Oy on behalf of TAT.
Read more: www.kunkoululoppuu.fi/tutkimus
Contact Us
Director Liisa Tenhunen-Ruotsalainen
Economic Information Office TAT
Tel. 040 545 2198
liisa.tenhunen-ruotsalainen(a)tat.fi
Research Manager Reeta Sutinen
T-Media Oy
Tel. 040 511 9936
reeta.sutinen(a)t-media.fi
Industry-specific results and a survey on the attractiveness of higher education institutions:
Executive Producer Vesa Vilenius
T-Media Oy
Tel. 050 560 8488
vesa.vilenius(a)t-media.fi
The Economic Information Agency (TAT) is a communications agency that serves as a bridge between businesses and the next generation of professionals. TAT also oversees Yrityskylä and the "Young Generations in Business" project.
