Jan Currie

This paper reviews recent findings from Western Australia, regarding the career choice of twelfth grade high school students. It examines the thesis that males and females are affected by different socio-cultural influences when they choose a career. Female students in most societies still occupy lower-level positions and are steered toward more nurturant and supportive occupations, such as nursing, social work, primary teaching and secretarial work. Males tend to have a wider choice of careers, and are taught to strive toward higher-level positions and occupations that tend to require a more scientific-technological background, such as engineering, architecture, motor-mechanics or medicine. It is hypothesized that the extent to which this is true depends, to a certain degree, upon one's socio-economic position and the historical circumstances in respect to women's position in the particular society. In this study it is assumed that the higher one's socio-economic background and the greater women's participation in the labour force, the more frequently a female student will aspire to a male-dominated high-status occupation. The analysis based principally on the two variables of sex and social class uses correlation coefficients to test the relative impact of those two variables and other significant factors, such as, N-achievement, parental encouragement and friend's encouragement for further education, on educational aspirations and occupational expectations. On a rather tentative basis the study is given a cross-cultural dimension by adding two smaller samples from India and the United States to discover whether the disparity between males' and females' career choices varies from one society to another, dependent upon the individual's socio-economic position and upon women's participation in the labour force of that society.

This paper reviews the major studies of career choice and occupational attainment among secondary school students and graduates both in Australia and overseas, focusing on the differential patterns that individuals pursue dependent upon their social class and sex. It first examines the basic path model that was developed by Blau and Duncan (1967) which examined the occupational attainment process among the adult male labour force in the US. In addition, it briefly summarises the findings from researchers that applied this path model (or similar procedures) in many countries around the world for students and adults of all ages. The main aim of this exercise is to identify significant factors that could be used in exploring the occupational attainment process among Western Australian secondary school graduates, focusing on determinants of three clusters of variables: educational aspirations and occupational aspirations (including career choice and career commitment), educational attainment (including academic achievement), and occupational status. This discussion begins by looking at factors that affect occupational status and then work back to the earlier stages of life. A concluding section examines past research findings in light of possible trends and suggestions for those making policy decisions about career guidance facilities and labour market or manpower projections that may affect secondary school students.