industry & reform and it extends outside of the school environment .
Youth from higher socioeconomic backgrounds more often talk to family and friends about careers information , are more likely to access it online , and even speak to people in jobs of interest . You ’ ve got a difference in social capital going on outside of school as well . And in contrast to that , if you look at the students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds , they ’ re more likely to access information about what you would characterise as more vocationally oriented .
This is , for example , information sessions about going to TAFE or actual work experience programs or an organised work visit . Youth from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are more likely to engage in those sorts of activities in Years 11 and 12 .
Among the concerns that we have is that we had data following cohorts who started in year 10 . One was in 1998 through to one as late as 2015 . What we observed over time is that there seems to be an increasing emphasis on the professional or university information sessions and less information being provided on those vocational pathways – almost as if university ’ s just becoming the assumed or the default pathway .
Do we know the reasons for this difference ? Well , partly , it clearly relates to resources that schools and parents have , but a very important question is whether it ’ s due to the supply of information being provided to the students , or whether it ’ s the information that the students demand . It could be that youth from higher socioeconomic backgrounds just seek out university information sessions and careers advisors , and youth from lower socioeconomic backgrounds seek out information about TAFE .
So it might be the student demand , but one of the issues is that in the literature it ’ s believed that differences in expectations or aspirations by socioeconomic status is one of the reasons that children from less advantaged backgrounds are less likely to go on to higher education .
It ’ s a real dilemma for careers advisors . On the one hand they don ’ t want to discourage any kids from thinking about a higher education and the chance to go to university , but you also want to make sure they get the information that ’ s of most value to them .
It ’ s clear that youth from lower SES background do value that vocational and TAFE information more highly . So , it ’ s a real challenge to get that balance right . You want to provide the information that ’ s needed , but you don ’ t want to reduce the expectations or the aspirations of any of the children or youth for attending higher education .
Are there differences also in access to career information between private and public schools ? Yes , definitely . There ’ s a very clear effect there as well . Typically , in terms of accessing careers advice for teachers or guidance counsellors about university sessions and so on , 60 to 70 per cent of year 12 students will do that in the year . And there ’ s about a five-percentage point difference if you ’ re from a private school or a Catholic school , in that students are 5 per cent more likely to have access to those resources .
It ’ s actually a similar gradient when you look at socioeconomic status . To analyse social to economic status , we divided our sample of youth up into quartiles . The bottom 25 per cent in terms of family background , education , income and so on , through to the top 25 per cent . And for each quartile , there ’ s about a 5 per cent increase in access to information . So , there ’ s about a 15 per cent difference in access to , say , a careers advisor for someone from the lowest quartile through to the highest quartile .
Presumably , a lot of that ’ s about the resources available to private schools . That applies to both the non-Catholic and independent private schools , and then , on the other hand , the government schools : if you go to a government school , you ’ re more likely to get access to or to attend a TAFE information session .
In your opinion , how important is it that all students have the same access to career pathways and information ? Clearly from an equity point of view , you would like that sort of access to be equal , that all youth from school have equal possibility of different careers and achieving what they aspire to in education . It ’ s really important that we have equal access to information . We didn ’ t actually study it in this paper , but the literature
If you go to a government school , you ’ re more likely to get access to or to attend a TAFE information session .
suggests that it does make a big difference as to whether or not you access careers advice .
For example , some studies have shown that there ’ s actually a wage premium for people who engage more in career planning and attending careers guidance information . A bit down the track after leaving school and university , they actually have higher earnings . So , it seems to be there is a benefit from seeking out that information and getting a better career match to your personal interests and attributes .
Quite a few people argue that this whole thinking about building a career should be starting from quite young , in primary school , and not only seeking out information about careers that are suitable for you , but understanding about what ’ s very likely going to be the need to change careers several times during your life .
What can and is being done to address this imbalance across the country ? One of the main things that ’ s being done is the University Outreach Program . Since the targets were set following the Bradley Review of Higher Education , it was clear that if we were going to reach those targets we needed more people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds getting to university , and the university sector has been quite active in outreach programs to schools in disadvantaged areas and out in remote and regional areas . There ’ s a very big difference in your chance of going to university if you come from a remote or regional area , as opposed to a major metropolitan city .
I think TAFE or VET in schools is definitely a great initiative as far as making sure people have access to a range of programs . But our results clearly suggest that you need to be targeting more resources on careers guidance and information to schools in more disadvantaged areas , particularly in the government sector . ■
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