Job choice and advice

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Abstract
The study seeks to analyse the process in vocational decision making of Australian adolescents and the relative influence of the home and the school in making the decision. A sample of 796 fourteen year old boys and girls was drawn from 32 metropolitan schools stratified on the basis of economic status and sex. Schools comprised state high and technical schools, Catholic and non-Catholic independent schools. A questionnaire containing items on job choice and source of advice was administered to the subjects. Three sets of influences were explored. They were: [1] the influence of the home; [2] the influence of the school and [3] the influence of attitudes. Results indicated that at the age of fourteen, the major influence on the students' occupational aspirations and expectations was the parents. It was disturbing to find that career resources were seldom used by students. However, all students felt the need for more information on the various qualifications needed for jobs and would like a more adequate and appropriate guidance service. The females felt this more strongly than males. Males and females displayed different values and attitudes to work. Females seemed especially person-oriented while males were more oriented to extrinsic rewards such as wages and security.

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