Paper presented at the British Educational Research Association New
Researchers/Student Conference, Institute of Education, University of
London, 5 September 2007
Career Choice and Possible Selves in the Midlands:
A comparison of Year 11 pupils’ education and employment
aspirations to their wider world of hopes and fears,
pre-GCSE examination
By Jenny Symonds
PhD Researcher
Faculty of Education
University of Cambridge
Abstract
The psychological construct of possible selves was used in a survey of 200 Year
11 pupils in an English Midlands’ city to determine pupils’ types and evaluations
of future job choices in comparison to their general hopes and fears for after Year
11. The survey found that patterns of job choices differed with gender and that
the range of choices became more restricted with lower levels of achievement
and socioeconomic status, fitting with traditional theories in occupational
psychology. The majority of pupils’ hopes and fears were centred on education
and employment, with pupils most hoping to achieve their future careers and to
avoid educational failure. Pupils highly valued their future career aspirations yet
believed that their educational fears were most likely to occur out of all three
generated possible selves. Pupils were more motivated towards avoiding
educational failure than they were towards achieving employment related
success, perhaps as their impending GCSE examinations were likely to
determine their choices of education, employment or training for after Year 11.
Interestingly, pupils of mid achievement were less likely than high or low
achievers to have employment hopes or fears. Mid achievers valued their choice
of future employment less, thought it less likely to occur and were less motivated
by it. This finding has implications for careers education and guidance
practitioners who may find that pupils of mid achievement ‘slip through the net’
and are prone to disengaging from their choices of post-compulsory education
destinations.
Research Scenario
In Britain, many young people are required to choose between continuing in
education, and entering employment or training, in advance of finishing their last year
of compulsory schooling in Year 11 (age 15-16) at secondary school or high school.
This choice is often an initial step into a future career trajectory, where ‘career’ can
be described as a general ‘life process’ (Chen 1998, p.437) or a person’s ‘course
through life’ (Bloomer and Hodkinson 2000, p.590). During adolescence, changes in
the individual’s physiology and social environment can prompt rapid psychological
growth, where, as Eccles puts it, “adult roles are still being chosen and one’s future
life is still flexible” (1987 p.256). During this time individuals begin to crystallize their
career choices through matching observed roles to self (Super 1957, Holland, 1985)
and their aptitudes and abilities or ‘skill sets’ to career (Ginzberg et al. 1951). This
process is often influenced by their social surroundings (Marcia, 1989) and their
degree of self knowledge (Baker 2002). As Vondracek and Porfeli (2006) state,
preparation for the world of work is often a central part of adolescent development,
entailing movement towards autonomy and adulthood. Consequentially as the end of
compulsory schooling approaches, choosing a career which enables this progression
becomes paramount to many adolescents (Kniveton 2004), a task which may be
confounded by the fluidity of adolescent identity and the burgeoning career
opportunities existing in contemporary society.
Global influence and population growth have influenced the range of
vocational and professional choices available to young people in England. Industries
have altered in form (Russell 2001) and new ones are continuously created to
address consumer demands. The English Government’s drive to widen access to
higher education and to improve the population’s skill level has broadened the
options for people of all ages to extend their education or enter training. This may
stem from reported Governmental anxiety about England’s low retention rates in
post-16 education where among 28 organisation for economic co-operation and
development (OECD) countries (2003), the UK is the fifth lowest at 76% (Crewe
2005). Although career choices are increasing, traditional worker roles are rapidly
disappearing (Russell 2001, Chen 1998) as is the notion of a ‘job for life’ (Sanderson
2004 p.6) which describes the likelihood for people to spend their working years in a
single occupation. Contemporary career paths are prone to encompassing multiple
forms of employment (Worth 2002), increasing ‘career choice chaos’ for individuals
whose decisions are influenced by a multitude of factors, many of which are
unpredictable, such as unplanned occurrences and chance events (Pryor and Bright
2003). The resulting scenario creates a ‘world of work’ (Super 1984) whose form is
constantly changing, providing more choices and more opportunities for young
people than ever before.
To assist young people in choosing a career during the potentially vulnerable
time period of adolescence, the English Government has instigated ‘careers
education and guidance’ (CEG) in all schools, run by the Connexions counselling
service. Connexions careers counsellors, or ‘Personal Advisors’ (PAs), administer
CEG in a variety of ways. Some PAs deliver CEG presentations to whole year groups
then host individual careers education and guidance ‘drop in’ sessions throughout the
school week. CEG can also be given as part of the curriculum during personal
hygiene and social education lessons (PHSE) when PHSE teachers are qualified
CEG practitioners. PAs help pupils to identify areas of occupational interest and
match these to their skill sets. Pupils are assisted in decision-making, an ability which
may be in the developmental stages during adolescence. PAs advise pupils on
choosing subjects and achieving the necessary grades in their General Certificate in
Secondary Education (GCSE) examinations so that they might secure a position in a
course of education, employment or training for after Year 11. They guide pupils
through the emotional and intellectual demands of making applications and
accommodating rejections for these post-16 destinations1, then track all young
people after Year 11, to review their progress in their options or in their status as
NEET (not in education, employment or training), (DFES 2005).
CEG may help alleviate career choice confusion for Year 11 pupils. However,
the psychological pressures of their GCSE examinations (as documented by Ramon
and Frydenberg 2004, Denscombe 2000, Bishop 1997) when combined with
choosing a career might result in increased anxiety and a loss of affective wellbeing,
especially when the results from those examinations determine the success of pupils’
career choices. It remains then to ask to what extent are pupils focused on their
career choices and their future examinations at this time, compared to their general
hopes and fears for after Year 11?
Possible Selves
Pupils’ career choices and general hopes and fears were determined by using the
psychological construct of ‘possible selves’ (Markus and Nurius, 1987) or who we
might be in the future. Possible selves are prospective self conceptions such as
those of ‘me finding a job next June’ or ‘me achieving five A*-C GCSE grades in a
1
A course of education, employment or training for after Year 11 (DFES 2005)
2
month from now’. These imaginings are part of the self concept which is a dynamic
collection of “images, schemas, conceptions, prototypes, theories, goals, or tasks”
(Markus and Wurf, 1986, p.301). Markus and Nurius (1987) distinguished between
hoped for (positive) and feared for (negative) possible selves, a division which has
been used in investigations of adolescent behaviour, for example delinquency
(Oyserman and Saltz 1993, Oyserman and Markus 1990), academic achievement
and engagement (Oyserman et al., in press; 2002), self-regulation (Oyserman et al.,
2004) and career choice (Packard and Nguyen 2003, Kerpelman et al. 2002, Meara
et al. 1995). Possible selves have been identified in various domains, exemplified in
the exhaustive coding system developed by Oyserman and colleagues, as published
in Unemori et al. (2004) and tested in relation to English students in the current study
by Symonds (2007). This contains the categories of ‘intrapersonal, interpersonal,
career, education, acquiring material goods, extracurricular activities and health
fears’
Figure 1) Content of possible selves (Unemori et al., 2004)
Positive
Possible
Self
Intrapersonal
Interpersonal
Negative
Possible
Self
‘Fears’
Material
Goods
Career
Education
Health
Extra
Curricular
Prior coding of negative and positive possible selves into ‘life domains’ and their
application in research on adolescence made them an appropriate choice in studying
pupils’ general hopes and fears and their choices of future employment. Multiple
possible selves are thought to exist at any one time within the self concept (Markus
and Nurius, 1987) and accordingly, most surveys of possible selves ask for two or
three examples. The resulting selves may be hierarchical, as indicated by William
James’ (1890) theory that self conceptions have differing degrees of saliency and
that one is usually dominant. In relation to this, possible selves have been evaluated
for their importance (Unemori et al. 2004), their likelihood to occur and for the time
that participants spend thinking about them (Dunkel, 2000). Their perceived
accessibility and availability has been correlated to participants’ motivation towards
achieving or avoiding them (Norman and Aron 2003). Positive academic possible
selves have been linked to self-regulation at school (Oyserman et al. 2004) and
interventions with minority early adolescents have used possible selves theory to
assist school engagement and the development of constructive life pathways
(Oyserman et al. 2002). By seeking Year 11 pupils’ evaluations of their possible
selves, the current study should be able to estimate not only the frequency but also
the significance of pupils’ future career choices in comparison to their wider world of
hopes and fears.
3
Method
Sample
The research was conducted in a city in the Midlands of England. Two state
comprehensive schools were chosen for study, one from the middle and one from the
top of the BBC education league tables for the city’s Local Authority. 90 pupils in
school A (Female n. 53, Male n. 55) and 109 pupils in school A (Female n. 44, Male
n. 46) volunteered to participate (total 199 pupils).
Measures
The questionnaire asked participants to report their most likely choice of future
employment, their most hoped for possible self and their most feared for possible self
for after Year 11.
Employment possible selves. The employment self was gathered to produce data
that was comparable to that from Connexions who assisted the project. An
occupational coding frame was developed from 14 proposed specialised diplomas (to
be introduced into the English education system after 2008). Some diplomas such as
‘creative arts and media’ were split into two items to allow a more refined response.
The additional categories of ‘police and armed forces’ and ‘administrative’ were
included. The occupational coding frame received an inter-rater coder reliability rating
of 100% from two coders using 25% of responses.
Positive and Negative Possible Selves. Pupils were asked ‘What job do you
realistically think you will go into after education?’ to secure their employment
possible self. Their hopes were gathered by asking ‘What positive or happy thing
that might happen after Year 11, do you honestly daydream or think about the most?’
This question was transposed into negative terms for their fears. Responses were
classified into the codes from Oyserman and colleagues (as published in Unemori et
al. 2004). Prior to coding, the categories were tested in relation to an inductive coding
frame developed from 25% of responses, to establish their suitability for use with
English adolescents. The inductive categories were considered to be either the same
or similar to those from Oyserman and colleagues hence the established coding
scheme was used to improve comparability with international studies, in an effort to
achieve an ‘agreed objective standard’ (Coolican, 2004). Two coders using 25% of
responses gave this coding frame a high inter-rater coder agreement of 97%.
Intrinsic coding frame
1)
Recognition
Established coding frame
(Unemori et al., 2004)
1)
Intrapersonal: anxious, happy, rich,
excited about the future
2)
Partner/sex/love
2) Family/children
2)
Interpersonal: keep in touch with
friends, strengthen relationships
3)
Employment/job
3)
Employment: worried about future job
4)
Education
4)
Education: applying for education
5,6 and 7) Lifestyle quality
5)
Extracurricular: involved in club
activities, swim more
(Ordered to show fit to established coding
6)
Attainment of material goods: have a
frame categories)
regular income, buy car, buy new clothes
7)
Health-related: in shape, less tired all
the time, recover from surgery
4
Several responses were double barrelled, such as “doing my A levels and going to
university so that I can get a good job”. Any hope or fear that included education as a
means to employment was coded as ‘employment’, based on the aforementioned
perspective of career as a life pathway that encompasses both employment and
education.
Evaluations of possible selves were discerned by using a six item scale divided into
the variables of value, likelihood and self-regulation.
Value. A 2-item measure of ‘how important is this’ (1 = very important, 5 = not
important) and ‘how often do you think about this’ (1 = all of the time, 5 = no time at
all) gathered information on the perceived value of a possible self.
Likelihood. Likelihood was operationalised with a 2-item measure where pupils
responded to ‘how sure are you that this thing will happen’ (1 = completely sure, 5 =
completely unsure) and ‘what risk is there of this thing not happening’ (1 = no risk, 5
= a lot of risk).
Self-Regulation. Pupils responded to a 2-item measure for ‘things that you are doing’,
(1 = all things possible, 5 = nothing), and ‘how much effort are you making’ (1 = all
your effort, 5 = no effort at all) towards achieving a possible self.
Gender. Pupils circled the appropriate response (male = 54% and female = 45%).
Achievement. Pupils responded to which class or ‘set achievement group’ they were
in for the three core subjects of English, maths and science. (1 = top set, 2 = middle
set, 3 = lower set). Between the three subjects there was high correlation in levels of
achievement (Pearson’s R = p.<0.000). Therefore, each pupil’s reports of
achievement were condensed into one of three categories (111, 112 = top, 122, 222,
223 = middle, 233, 333 = lower), to give three main achievement groupings (high =
38%, middle = 42%, low = 18%).
Socio-Economic Status. A measure from Hoinville (1977) was extended to include
salaries estimated from the Labour Force Survey (DFES 20052). Pupils reported on
their parents’ occupations which were then classified in relation to expected income
by using national estimates.
Upper-professional
Mid-professional, Managerial
Service, Skilled Labour, Administrative
Unskilled Labour, Pension, Casual Workers
Government Benefits or not working
£50,000 or above
£20,000 to £49,999
£12,000 to £19,999
£8,000 to £11,999
£0 to £7999
The socio-economic status (SES) of fathers’ occupations were taken to indicate
pupils’ SES as fathers were more likely to be in employment and earned on average
higher incomes than mothers. The sample followed an expected pattern where most
pupils were of mid-range (2-3) SES (1 = 3.5%, 2 = 45%, 3 = 30%, 4 = 6%, 5 = 4.5%).
As the top and two bottom categories contained under 10% of the sample, the five
categories were collapsed into three (1and2 = 1, 3 = 2, 4and5 = 3), as recommended
by Oppenheim (2004). This enabled a more statistically robust analysis of group
differences. The high SES category is therefore representative of mid to high SES,
whereas the middle category represents pupils of mid to low SES. The majority of
pupils were of high SES (55%), followed by mid SES (34%) then low SES (12%).
2
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/
5
Validity. To reduce item bias following the request for pupils’ employment possible
selves, the wording for pupils’ hopes and fears included the phrase ‘This does not
have to have anything to do with a job, although it can do’.
To address the potential reflexivity of the questionnaire on the production of
pupils’ possible selves, yes/no tick boxes discerned whether pupils had thought
about each possible self before filling in the survey. The majority of pupils reported
that they had previously considered their employment choice (94%), their positive
possible self (92%) and their negative possible self (80%). Pupils may have spent
less time thinking about their negative possible self as the self concept tends to be
positively biased (Markus and Wurf 1986). A further test of this occurred through
triangulating pupils’ yes/no responses with the ‘time spent thinking about this
possible self’ item (part of the value variable). This item revealed that pupils were
less likely to think about their negative possible selves than any other reported self
(m. 15.654, df 4, F=3.379 p <0.011).
Non response. Out of 199 pupils, 23 (11.5%) did not complete the final section of the
questionnaire hence they did not report any positive or negative possible selves.
These pupils were most likely to be male (n. 18) and from the lower achieving school
(n. 19).
Results
Employment Possible Selves. Pupils chose a wide range of future employment,
where education (13%), business and finance (10%) and engineering (9%) were the
most popular choices. Females chose education (25%), health (13%) and business
and finance (11%) as their top three choices. Males chose engineering (16%), ICT
(14%) and business and finance (12%). The range of choice of jobs decreased with
achievement (A1 = 16, A2 = 15, A3 = 10). A similar pattern was observed where
pupils of high SES chose 17 domains of job, those of mid SES chose thirteen and
low SES pupils chose eight. SES and achievement are positively correlated at 0.355,
(p. <0.000), indicating that the range of options which pupils identified were likely to
decrease with achievement and socio-economic status.
Positive and Negative Possible Selves
Amounts and types of generated possible selves were analysed as frequency data.
Pupils’ hopes surrounded their future employment (50%) whereas their fears centred
on education (48%). Negative education possible selves were the most reported
possible selves in the sample. Pupils in the current sample generated less
educational hopes than in Oyserman and colleagues’ US studies of 12-13 year olds
(2004), (82% negative education possible selves). As reported in Symonds (2007),
this may relate to Year 11 pupils’ impending GCSE examinations, as Oyserman et
al.’s younger sample had a further three years of compulsory schooling within which
to situate their educational hopes compared to the current sample of school leaving
age. There were no differences in the types of positive and negative possible selves
reported between genders, socioeconomic statuses or levels of achievement.
6
Percentage of Possible Selves
Table 1. Positive and Negative Possible Selves Across the
Sample
60
50
48
50
Positive Possible
Selves
40
30
20
20
9 9
10
12
9
7 7
Negative Possible
Selves
10
2 2
1
1
0
n
so
In
r
pe
a
tr
al
In
n
so
al
r
pe
r
te
r
ee
r
Ca
io
Ed
at
uc
Ex
n
u
ric
ur
ac
tr
M
r
la
ia
er
lG
d
oo
s
a
He
lth
at
Almost half of the sample (47%) were focused on education and employment for both
their positive and negative possible selves. 33% of pupils had only one hope or one
fear focused on education or employment, whereas 20% of the sample were not
focused on education or employment for either. High achievers were less likely (13%)
than mid (23%) or low achievers (22) to have no education and employment possible
selves (X 2 = 11.780, df 3, p. <0.008). Low achievers and high achievers generated a
similar amount of possible selves that both focused on education and employment,
whereas middle achieving pupils were less likely to have either two (23%), (X 2 =
11.677, df 2, p. <0.003) or one possible self (27%), (X 2 = 29.394, df 3, p. <0.000)
focused on education and employment than low or high achievers.
Evaluation of Possible Selves
Table 2. Evaluation of Content Variables by Gender, Achievement and
Socioeconomic Status
Mean
m.
Gender
M
F
Achievement
A1
A2
A3
Socioeconomic Status
S1
S2
S3
6.7
7.2
7.1
6.5
6.6***
6.6*
7.1
8.2***
7.8*
7.3
7.7***
7.6***
6.3
7.5***
7.1***
6.9
6.4***
6.8***
6.8
7.8
7.6
7.0
7.4
7.0
6.9
6.5
7.3
5.8
5.7
6.2
5.7
5.1**
6.1
6.1
6.4**
6.5
6.4*
6.1**
6.9***
5.5*
5.8**
6.1***
5.8*
5.0**
5.6***
5.8
5.9
6.7
6.1
6.1
6.1
6.1
5.0
5.3
6.1
6.1
6.9
6.0
5.7*
6.7
6.3
6.7*
7.0
6.5
6.5**
7.5***
5.7
6.4**
6.6***
6.4
5.3**
6.5***
6.2
6.8*
7.1
6.5
6.2*
7.0
5.8
5.0*
6.4
Value
Employment
Hopes
Fears
Likelihood
Employment
Hopes
Fears
Motivation
Employment
Hopes
Fears
Method of analysis: ANOVA
Shaded values = highest value
Bold values = lowest value
Significant differences within groups: * = p. <0.05, ** = p. <0.005, *** = p. <0.000
7
Across the Sample. Pupils were most likely to value their hopes (m. 7.2), yet believed
their fears as most likely to come true (m. 6.2) and perhaps accordingly were most
motivated by them (m. 6.9). Pupils choices of future employment were less valued
(m. 6.7) than their hopes (m. 7.2) or fears (m. 7.1).
Gender. Girls valued their hopes more than boys (F = m. 8.2, M = m. 6.6) gave them
higher ratings for likelihood (F = m. 6.4, M = m. 5.1), and reported being more
motivated by them (F = m. 6.7, M = m. 5.7).
Achievement. The value of hopes decreased with achievement (A1 = m. 7.7, A2= m.
7.5, A3 = m. 6.4) as did the value of fears (A1 = m. 7.6, A2 = m. 7.1, A3 = m. 6.8),
signifying that higher achievers were more concerned about their fears and hopes
than those of lesser achievement. Low achievers most valued their job choice (m.
6.9) and thought this as most likely to come true (m. 5.8) compared to their hopes
(value = m. 6.4, likelihood = m. 5.0) and fears (value = m. 6.8, likelihood = m. 5.6),
displaying a different pattern to high and middle achievers. All pupils were most
motivated by their negative possible selves, a pattern that decreased in strength with
achievement. Interestingly when compared to high and low achievers, middle
achievers valued their choice of job less (A1 = m. 7.3, A2 = m. 6.3, A3 = m. 6.9),
thought it was less likely to come true (A1 = m. 6.4, A2 = m. 5.5, A3 = m. 5.8) and
were less motivated by it (A1 = m. 6.5, A2 = m. 5.7, A3 = m. 6.4).
Socioeconomic Status. There were no significant differences among socioeconomic
statuses except for pupils’ evaluation of hopes which decreased as socioeconomic
status fell (S1 = m. 6.8, S1 = m. 6.2, S1 = m. 5.0).
Discussion and Recommendations
Pupils’ choices of future employment differed by gender, level of achievement and
socioeconomic status. Males were most likely to choose jobs in engineering, followed
by ICT, whereas females were likely to choose jobs in education then in health.
Business and finance was the third most popular choice for both genders. The
prevalence of engineering as top job choice for males may relate to the presence of a
major national aircraft manufacturer and regional automobile manufacturer in the
Midland’s city. In accordance with this, manufacturing is the main form of occupation
in the city, employing 24.9 per cent of the working population. Young males might
visualise themselves in this industry as it may form part of their local or group
identities. The popularity of business and finance may correlate with its prevalence in
the city, as statistics from the city census statistics (2004) show that banking and
finance is the fourth most common occupation, employing 16% of its economically
active inhabitants. The most common job choice for females was education, where
26% of females wanted to become nursery nurses or teachers. This was a popular
choice among all girls, however it was especially common for girls from low socioeconomic backgrounds (46%) or of low achievement (53%). Bloomer and Hodkinson
(2000) also perceive nursery nursing to be a common choice of occupation for
females of low socio-economic status. These findings show that gender-based
occupational stereotypes are prevalent in the sample.
The range of future employment choices decreased with academic
achievement and SES. The tendency for pupils of low academic achievement and
low SES to limit their choice of realistic job has several potential explanations.
Oyserman and Fryberg (2006) note that in environments of low SES there are
restricted occupational and educational role models for pupils, hence limiting the
possible selves that pupils create. This perspective is linked to those of careers
theorists Super (1957) and Holland (1985) who propose that individuals choose a
career by essentially ‘imagining’ themselves into the role of others. Therefore in
some cases, pupils’ job choices may be confined to their observations of job roles in
their immediate social environments. The reduction of occupational roles also
8
adheres to Ginzberg’s vocational psychology model (1951), where individuals are
seen to match their skill sets to career choice. Low achieving pupils and pupils of low
socio-economic status may be less likely to recognise potential matches between
their abilities and aptitudes and a wide range of jobs, thereby limiting their choices of
employment.
Pupils’ more general hopes and fears were spread over the seven life
domains of ‘employment, education, health, material goods, relationships, personal
achievement and extracurricular activities’. However, education and employment
featured to a far greater extent than pupils’ other hopes and fears for after Year 11.
When combined, the domains of education and employment featured in 67% of all
hopes and fears across the sample and made up 70% of pupils’ hopes and 57% of
pupils’ fears. The majority of pupils (47%) had both hopes and fears focused on
education and employment. This suggests that their forthcoming GCSE examinations
and choice of post-16 destinations were impacting heavily on their self-concepts at
the time of the survey.
Pupils most hoped for success in their future careers (50%) and valued these
above their fears or initial choices of future employment. As mentioned, the high
focus on employment may align with pupils’ forthcoming school leaving
examinations, that for many necessitate a career choice. The second largest
similarity across groups was the prevalence of education related fears (48%), a
possible scenario which pupils attached more realism to than their hopes or future
job choices. Pupils were most motivated by these fears and reported doing more
towards avoiding them than they did towards achieving their employment choices or
hopes. Although highly valuing their hopes, pupils’ self concepts may have been
more effected by their fears of “failing my GCSEs”, as in many cases these are the
‘gatekeepers’ to their future choices of education, employment or training.
Girls were more likely than boys to value their hopes, to think of these as
likely to come true and to be motivated by them. A suggestion is that in highly valuing
their positive possible selves and believing that they can occur, girls may be more
likely to formulate behaviours towards achieving them than boys. This subject would
be an interesting line of research into boys’ underachievement.
Low achievers were much more likely to focus their hopes on employment
(66%) than mid (50%) or high achievers (45%), indicating that they may be more
directed towards finding a job for after Year 11 instead of continuing with education.
Accordingly, they valued their choice of future job more than high or mid achievers
who may postpone their employment realities by staying at school. Low achievers
had a smaller range of future job choices than mid or high achievers, perhaps due to
their lower success rates across a range of subjects, a feature that may limit their
skill sets and accordingly reduce their job options.
Interestingly, pupils of middle achievement were far less likely to have
employment hopes or fears (23%) than high (47%) or low (44%) achievers.
Compared to the top and bottom levels of achievement, they valued their choice of
future job less, thought it was less likely to come true and were less motivated by it.
When considering Ginzberg et al.’s (1951) model of matching skill sets to career
choice, it may be that this process is more difficult for mid achievers whose skill sets
may not be clearly defined due to having broader or less acute experiences of
successes and failures than high or low achievers.
The recommendations from this paper are directed towards educational
practitioners and careers counsellors. Firstly it is suggested that any person working
with Year 11 pupils should acknowledge the prevalence of education and
employment in their future hopes and fears, and consider that thoughts of
educational failure are likely to have a strong impact on the self concept of this year
group. A second recommendation is that high achieving pupils of low socio-economic
status may need counselling that focuses on helping them broaden their job choices
in accordance with their skill sets. Thirdly, it is accentuated that Year 11 pupils of mid
achievement are unlikely to be focused on employment or career. High and low
9
achievers may be more likely to acknowledge their future career prospects and
therefore may be more prevalent in counselling sessions. Mid achievers should be
targeted to attend sessions in order to be assisted with their career progression. In
this way, mid achievers can be aided in making informed, realistic decisions that may
prevent their disengagement from a further course of education, employment or
training.
References
Baker, H. (2002) ‘Reducing adolescent career indecision: The ASVAB Career
Exploration Program’, Career Development Quarterly, Vol.50, pp. 359–371
Bishop, K. N. (1997) ‘Student’s perceptions of coursework in the GCSE: the effects of
gender and levels of attainment’, Educational Studies, Vol. 23(2), pp. 295 - 310
Bloomer, Martin and Hodkinson, Phil (2000) ‘Learning Careers: continuity and
change in young people’s dispositions to learning’, British Educational Research
Journal, Vol. 26(5) pp. 583 - 597
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