Abstract
Understanding the academic and career aspirations of adolescents and their destinations could inform policy makers and educators about how best to provide support at society and school levels to facilitate adolescents transitioning from school to further education and work. The current qualitative study investigates seven senior secondary students from three schools with varying intakes of student ability under the “Secondary School Places Allocation System” in Hong Kong. By employing a Systems Theory Framework, the study looked into the academic and career aspirations of these students and tracked their destinations immediately after secondary school graduation. Findings show that the academic and career aspirations of adolescents and their destinations are shaped by prevailing preferences for attaining higher qualifications, preferably a bachelor’s degree, parental and others’ influences, and outcomes of public examination results. The implications of enhancing support for the societal, school, and career- and life-planning education of individuals are discussed.
Highlights
Transition from school to work is one of the key transitions in life
The current study aims to examine adolescents’ perceptions and outlooks related to their academic and career aspirations, as well as the support they have received from career- and lifeplanning education. e gap that this qualitative study fills involves exploring factors from different levels of a system’s perspective that affect the aspirations and destinations of students
Four major themes emerged from an analysis of the data in the current study. ey are as follows: (1) e majority of participating students preferred undergraduate to higher diploma, associate degree
Summary
Transition from school to work is one of the key transitions in life. In recent years, increasing educational opportunities are seeing a reduction in the tendency of secondary school graduates to join the workforce immediately after graduation. Marks et al [1] with regard to the expectations and destinations of senior secondary students in New South Wales in Australia suggest that “the main activities of Year 12 completers were full-time university study (46%) and full-time vocational study at a Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institution (11%) as well as full-time work (22%) consisting of apprenticeships and trainee work and part-time work (14%).”. In Hong Kong, studies have indicated that 70%, 44%, and 29% of senior secondary students considered a degree, higher diploma, and associate degree, respectively, as their further education destination. Is qualitative study investigates the academic and career aspirations of senior secondary students from a sample of schools with varying intakes of students according to a student’s allocation band under the Secondary School Places Allocation System [5] and tracked their destinations immediately after secondary school graduation. Follow-ups were conducted with two students from School A—Au and Aw
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