Why students are choosing 'safe' careers over the jobs Australia desperately needs
Aussie high school students are increasingly choosing “safe” careers over their dream jobs - and there is one glaring reason why.
High school students are increasingly turning away from their dream jobs towards more traditional roles as they reach the end of their schooling, a new study has revealed.
Student Edge’s Youth Insight Study & Industry Tracking report found some of Australia’s most in-demand industries are struggling to attract interest.
By the final year of high school, 27 per cent of students are favouring the health and medicine sector, followed by science at 16 per cent, education at 14 per cent and IT/Technology at 13 per cent.
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This is compared to 22 per cent interested in health and medicine, 21 per cent in IT/Technology, 19 per cent in architecture and design and 17 per cent in entrepreneurship from those just starting Year 7.
“These rising industries as students move towards Year 12 show school students becoming far more intentional about their long-term decisions as they opt for careers with strong stability and clear study pathways into them,” Student Edge Co-Founder Damien Langley said.
“In such a rapidly changing world we can see the classic professions like healthcare, science, education, banking, accounting and law really reign supreme when it comes time to finish school and do their HSC.
“Many of the industries younger teens are most excited about fall dramatically by Year 12 as imagination gives way to reality as they mature and get to know more about themselves and the world.”
Kate Stevens, from Perth, said she wanted to pursue a career in social media and graphic design, ideally for a football team.
The 18-year-old told news.com.au her choices were spurred on by a love of art.
“When I entered high school I wanted to be like an artist that would sell my watercolour and digital paintings,” she said.
“I’ve owned my own business since I was in Year 7, so I was really hoping that would kick off.
“But then I was hit with the harsh reality of what a starving artist was.”
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Ms Stevens said she then wanted to become an art therapist, but personal circumstances made that path difficult.
Recently graduated, she now hopes to continue her art business while studying visual arts and a diploma in graphic design at TAFE.
She believes her decisions were strongly influenced by prospective incomes, and that she would be pursuing something “so much different” if that wasn’t a determining factor.
Many of her classmates went into “trades or childcare”, Ms Stevens added.
“They realised that what they really want to do is somehow unreachable for them,” she said, adding a number of them faced personal challenges.
“They took what they thought would be the easiest and the most classic paths.”
Ms Stevens said although she had a lot of exposure to those sort of careers, there was not a lot of information out there dedicated to more creative pathways.
The report found many of Australia’s critically short-staffed industries sit at the bottom of the list of interest for future workers.
Despite offering high salaries and long-term career pathways, energy and utilities, manufacturing and mining all sit at the bottom of the list – with between one per cent and three per cent of school students interested in working in them.
Student interest in building and construction – one of the country’s largest industries and facing a major skills shortage – ranged between three and six per cent, while clean and renewable energy attracts between one and four per cent, despite there being a rapidly growing demand for clean energy in Australia.
Social and community services also ranked poorly, with just five to six per cent of school students interested across all year groups amid ongoing shortages in aged care, disability support and youth work.
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“These low-ranking industries highlight a significant challenge as many of the areas most critical to Australia’s future like renewable energy, care services, farming, manufacturing and construction are not resonating with young people,” Mr Langley said.
“Many of these fields are not yet widely understood by teens so they really need more awareness and innovative ways to attract students to working in them.
“Overall, the swings in career interest as students progress through high school show what they want to do one year could be vastly different by the next.”
