Career Advisors’ and Teachers’ Day Kevin Watson The Power of the Parent?

Background Personal background Influences on school subject selection and university career choices Experience with subject choice – science

Early Studies Teachers and career advisors had significant influence At the turn of the century shift to parents having the greatest influence Now, peers and other students have the greatest influence Whitely and Porter (2000) found that influences on student decision-making about subject choices changes substantially over time

Complexity Lyons and Quinn (2012) conducted a study that involved students’ and teachers’ perceptions of the influence of students, parents, teachers, older students, friends and career advisors on subject choice and found: Students said the greatest influence was teachers, parents and then friends Teachers said friends, older students, siblings, parents and then teachers No mention was made of careers advisors This view is supported by Malgwi, Howe and Burnaby (2005) who also said the same of teacher influences

The Issue Career advisor influence on school subject choice Loss of influence (similarly for teachers) So, conduct studies to find out why A challenge for you as careers advisors are a vital resource for student subject and career decision-making The influence of school subject choice on further study and career choice is huge (ACER, 2005)

Summary School career advisors are an important component of a student’s subject / career decision-making process Currently, a student’s life and life-decisions seem to rotate on the vagaries of social media Peer pressure elevates the value of or influence of peers It is not so much that teachers, career advisors and even parents have been devalued, it is more that peers have been accorded unprecedented status in decision-making More research is recommended