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Careers Scotland is part of Scottish Enterprise
and Highlands & Islands Enterprise.
Career Goals
and Educational
Attainment:
What is the link?
A study of school pupils’
perceptions
Table of Contents
Index of Tables 3
Introduction 5
Evidence base 5
Possible links 5
Causality5
Assistance 5
Study Methods 6
Summary participation rates 7
Respondent Profiles 8
Performance spread 9
Summary9
Notes on Results 10
Scene setting 11
Existing research 11
Research in School Career Intervention 11
Self-Efficacy Beliefs 11
Work-Based Learning 12
Summary12
Scene setting: early senior staff
interviews 13
Educational attainment
and career aspirations 13
The Influence of Family13
Following Footsteps 13
Other Influencers 14
The Influence of Pop Culture
and Television 14
The Hardest to Serve 14
Key Workers and Targeted Interventions 14
University-Bound Sixth Year Students 14
Early Leavers 15
Winter Leavers 15
Work-Based Training 15
Quality and Availability of Information 15
Reflections on interviews 16
Types of Goals 17
Types of goals 17
Issues of control 17
Summary on goal preferences 21
Some possible implications 21
Goals and Relationship to Pupil
Activity 22
Self-awareness and self-judgments 22
Influence of gender 23
Influence of goals 23
Selected post-school options and selfjudgments
25
Aspects of Motivation and Views of
Schooling 26
Rating statements 26
Quality checking for no goals 26
Perception ratings 26
Teachers and Careers Scotland staff
reflections 27
Perceptions by gender 28
Types of goals and ratings 28
Wanting to leave school and goals 29
Is school interesting or boring? 30
Linking school subjects to post school
contexts 31
Styles of education and activity 31
Educational Ambition and Goals 32
A scoring system 32
Qualifications sought by key groupings 33
Teacher and Careers Scotland staff
reflections 34
Goals and Educational Attainment 35
Scale of results 35
Actual results 35
Discussion of results 37
Reflections on Findings 38
Policy makers 38
Teachers and Careers Advisers 38
Pupils 38
Parents 39
Summary39
Conclusions and Recommendations 40
Conclusions 40
Recommendations 42
Select Bibliography 43
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
1
Index of Tables
Table 1: Study participation levels . . . . . . 7
Table 2: Respondents by school year . . . . . 8
Table 3: Comparison of year breakdown of
respondents with year breakdown in
all of Scotland’s publicly funded
schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Table 4: Survey respondents by school year
and gender. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Table 5: Comparison of gender breakdown of
respondents with gender breakdown
in all of Scotland’s publicly funded
schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Table 6: Main list of schools and school
rolls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Table 7: Rankings of post school options
by S3 pupils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Table 8: Rankings of post school options
by S4 pupils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Table 9: Rankings of post school options
by S5 pupils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Table 10: Rankings of post school options
by S6 pupils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Table 11: Self-judgments mean scores on
learning engagement by year . . . 22
Table 12: Self-judgments mean scores
on learning engagement
by gender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Table 13: Self-judgments mean scores on
learning engagement by Category of
respondent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Table 14: Percentage of pupils in each goal
category by year . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Table 15: Forecast of numbers in each category
based on school census data and
survey returns. . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Table 16: Self-judgments mean scores on
learning engagement by goal
preference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Table 17: Comparison of percentage of
Category 2 individuals and those
disagreeing with the future career
statement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Table 18: Mean ratings of statements by
school year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Table 19: Mean rating of statements by
main category of respondent . . . 27
Table 20: Mean rating of statements
by gender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Table 21: Mean rating of agreement by goal
preference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Table 22: Correlation coefficients . . . . . . . 29
Table 23: Scoring system for
qualifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Table 24: Mean qualification point score
by school year . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Table 25: Mean qualification point score by
gender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Table 26: Mean qualification score by goals
category. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Table 27: Comparison of questionnaire returns
and examination results data . . . 35
Table 28: Actual result scores
by school year. . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Table 29: Actual results by gender . . . . . . 36
Table 30: Actual results by goal category . . 36
Table 31: Actual results by goal category
and gender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Table 32: Actual results by goal category
by S4 and S5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Table 33: Actual results by goal category
by ‘Highers’ performance
of school . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
Introduction
In 2003, Inter-ed was commissioned by Careers
Scotland to undertake research with the aim of
establishing if a link exists between career
goals and educational attainment. The specific
interest was with school pupils in Scotland, and
particularly those in senior secondary.
Evidence base
Although there has always been an interest in
establishing an evidence base for professional
practice among careers professionals in
Scotland, it has only been with the advent of
Careers Scotland that research funds have been
available to pursue independent research of this
type. Studies had taken place around this issue
in other parts of the world, and particularly in
North America, but in the Scottish context it
remained to be established whether linkages
were present.
We wish to note at the outset that this
commitment to establishing an evidence base
was very evident given the enthusiastic support
received for our researchers as we travelled
around Scotland interviewing a wide range of
study participants. We have arrived at the end
of this study, convinced that careers
professionals in Scotland are keen to extend the
evidence base for their work and thereby
strengthen their professional practice.
Possible links
At the commissioning stage, it was recognised
that this research, if successful, could arrive at
one of three possible major conclusions.
Firstly, that there was no demonstrable link.
This would not mean that career goals and
career planning was of no benefit, but would
mean that its benefits did not include any
noticeable relationship to educational
attainment.
Secondly, that there was a negative link. A
negative link (or negative correlation) would
mean that having career goals was associated
with a poorer educational performance than
those without career goals. Some of our early
interviewers hypothesized this might be the
case, as uncertainty about the future might be
a driver for achievement to ensure as wide a
choice as possible when the time came to leave
school.
Finally, a positive link or correlation might
exist, suggesting that, among the other
benefits of having clear goals, they were
associated in some way to higher educational
attainment.
Although the first task of the research was to
attempt to establish which of the above three
possibilities existed, a further task was to try to
find some plausible explanations whatever the
link. Agreement at the outset was that this
would be pursued by establishing the beliefs,
perceptions and explanations of pupils
themselves as a prime source of explanatory
narrative. In addition, the narrative of pupils
would be tested against the explanations of
teachers and Careers Advisers.
Causality
It was recognised that the complexity of factors
affecting educational attainment would make it
beyond the scope of this research to establish
clear
and educational attainment. The challenge was
to establish if there was a link, and to capture
the explanations offered by those at the heart
of this study: school pupils in Scotland.
causal connections between career goals
Assistance
This study has only been possible because of
the assistance provided by Careers Scotland
staff, teachers in our target schools,
interviewees from a range of agencies and
finally from over 1500 pupils in Scotland’s
schools who gave of their time to assist in this
study. We are grateful to them all.
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
3
Study Methods
This study was designed to satisfy the need for
triangulation.
investigation we used a range of research
methods to ensure we did not rely solely on one
data collection method. This is reflected in
many of the report sections where, for example,
we draw upon both survey and focus group
findings in discussing key issues.
This study involved the following methods of
investigation.
1.
range of published research. This was used
to inform study design, and has also been
used to inform the scene-setting chapter
which follows. A select bibliography is
presented at the end of this report.
2.
1 That is, for all major areas ofPreliminary desktop review of a limitedPreliminary semi-structured interviews.
Early interviews were held with a range of
key strategic players at senior levels in
Scotland. This was used to establish the
current explanations of those who influence
strategy and policy. This assisted in
establishing some of the subsequent detail
of the study, and has also been used to
inform the scene-setting chapter which
follows. Although the particular individuals
interviewed must remain anonymous, we can
report they included senior personnel from
Scottish Enterprise, Careers Scotland,
Directors of Education and Local Enterprise
Companies.
3.
young people was held among 7
representative regions in Scotland. Within
each region, a subset of schools was
established to ensure a representative
spread of schools. Further details on the
sample follow. The surveys used a variety of
judgment capturing techniques. These
included free response questions, statement
rating items, self judgment scoring and item
selection. We embedded within the surveys
some items for internal consistency checks.
As will be seen, high degrees of internal
consistency have been achieved, as have
high degrees of consistency across the
different questioning methods. Furthermore,
we note the different questioning methods
allowed us to use a variety of analysis
techniques, including content analysis and a
range of statistical measures.
4.
14 focus groups was held with pupils
throughout Scotland following the survey.
These were used to search for explanations
which would assist in interpreting survey
findings. Seven of the focus groups involved
S4 pupils, and these included some
intending to leave school at the earliest
opportunity. Seven focus groups were
composed of S5 and S6 pupils. The focus
groups were held after a preliminary analysis
of survey returns. This allowed us to focus
discussions on key survey findings. However,
we emphasise that, to avoid contaminating
pupils responses, pupils were not made
aware of actual survey results during the
focus groups.
5.
focus groups with teachers was held, aimed
at capturing their insights into links
between career goals and educational
attainment. Within these focus groups we
did share some of the early survey findings
and sought teacher reflections on how they
would interpret them.
Surveys of young people. A major survey ofFocus groups of young people. A series ofFocus groups of teachers. A series of 12
4
1 See Hall D. and Hall I. (1996) Practical Social
Research (London: Macmillan ) pp 44-45 for a
discussion on the advantages of triangulation in
social research.
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
6.
focus groups were held with Careers
Advisers. These were aimed at capturing
their perceptions of links between career
goals and educational attainment. In
addition, and as with the teacher focus
groups, we shared some of the early survey
findings and sought their reflections on how
they should be interpreted.
7.
including an interim reporting meeting, were
held which allowed the researchers to have
their interpretations tested by senior Careers
Scotland staff as the study progressed.
8.
Scotland staff.
place with a number of careers staff, usually
at schools, who were keen to find out more
about the study. Although not part of the
scheduled research, a number of the
contributions made via such unscheduled
meetings were of real value.
Focus groups with Careers Advisers. ThreeLiaison meetings. Liaison meetings,Informal discussions with CareersInformal discussions took
Summary participation rates
Table 1 describes the scale of participation in
the study.
Table 1 Study participation levels
Research Activity Participant numbers
Interviews 15
Survey of pupils 1570
Pupil focus groups 139
Teacher focus groups 44
Careers focus groups 18
The scale of this study was therefore
considerable, involving in excess of 1500 pupils.
The specific profile of respondents follows.
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
5
Respondent Profiles
A key to the success of the study was to ensure
a strong participation rate from school pupils in
the survey. This short chapter describes in more
detail the profile of respondents and the form
of analysis undertaken with the returns. We
begin by reviewing respondents by stage in
Table 2.
Table 2 Respondents by school year
School year No. %
S3 451 28.7
S4 56836.2
S5 353 22.5
S6 197 12.6
Not stated 1 0.1
Total 1570 100
We can compare the above sample of
respondents with the actual percentage of
pupils across all publicly funded schools in
Scotland, from the schools census
year 2002-03.
Table 3 describes the comparison.
2 for academic
Table 3 Comparison of year breakdown of respondents
with year breakdown in all of Scotland’s publicly funded
schools.
School year Census Survey
S3 31.3% 28.7%
S4 31.1% 36.2%
S5 23.6% 22.5%
S6 14.0% 12.6%
Not stated — 0.1%
The most noticeable disparity is a 5% overrepresentation
of S4 respondents in our sample.
However, overall the pattern of survey
respondents is very similar to the actual
proportion of school pupils in each of the
senior years in school.
Table 4 which follows details the gender
breakdown of our respondents.
Table 4 Survey respondents by school year and gender
School year Female Male All
No. % No. % No. %
S3 227 50.3 224 49.7 451 100
S4 290 51.1 27848 .9 568100
S5 194 55.0 159 45.0 353 100
S6 114 57.9 83 42.1 197 100
Not stated 1 100 1 100
Total 826 52.6 744 47.4 1570 100
As can be seen there is a consistent small
majority of female respondents from each
school year.
The most recent schools census allows us to
compare the gender profile of respondents
those of Scotland’s school population in the
academic year 2002–2003 (the year of the
survey and of the recent schools census).
3 with
Table 5 Comparison of gender breakdown of respondents
with gender breakdown in all of Scotland’s publicly
funded schools
School year Female Male
Census Survey Census Survey
S3 49% 50.3% 51% 49.7%
S4 49.1% 51.1% 50.9% 48.9%
S5 51.1% 55% 48.9% 45%
S6 52.7% 57.9% 47.3% 42.1
As is evident from the above, there is a small
over-representation of female respondents in
each of the school years surveyed, and the
general pattern of increasing female population
proportion through the senior years is mirrored
in the survey responses.
6
2 See
00272-06.asp
census.
3 Our thanks to Thomas Robertson and Mal Cooke
of the statistics branch of the Scottish Executive
for supplying the gender breakdown of the
schools census which at the time of writing had
not been published.
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENThttp://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/for further details on the school
In summary, the sample of respondents is a fair
reflection of the school population as a whole
in terms of year and gender.
Over 98% of respondents came from the
following schools. (25 respondents came from
other schools in the areas, completing
questionnaire forms available via Careers
Scotland centres.)
Table 6 indicates that, by size of full secondary
school roll, the main schools in our sample had
an average roll of 925 compared to 821 for
Scotland as a whole. The mean deviation
(average number distant from the mean) was
221 in our sample compared to 291 for Scotland
as a whole.
Thus, our sample of schools were on average
larger than Scotland’s schools as a whole, but
the range of size was considerable for such a
sample.
In terms of catchment areas, our sample of
schools covers a wide socio-economic range,
such as Cults Academy in Aberdeen from a
relatively affluent area, to rural schools in
relatively deprived areas, such as Doon Academy
in East Ayrshire.
Performance spread
The measuring of school performance is a
controversial area. That said, to gain some
insight into the spread of schools by
educational achievement, we used the Scottish
Executive 2002 examination data relating to
Higher Grade performance as a benchmark.
Some 389 schools across Scotland achieved a
measure of performance as did 24 of our 25
schools listed in the previous Table. One school
in our sample was in the top quartile of
performing schools by this measure, 8 in the
second quartile, 9 in the third quartile and 6 in
the bottom quartile. The missing school from
our sample for which no Higher ranking was
possible, was in the bottom quartile for
Standard Grades.
Thus although we have a good spread across
the second, third and bottom quartiles, our
sample contained fewer top quartile schools
than would have been ideal. (In part of course
this reflects the dominance of independent
schools in the top quartile, and this study is
solely concerned with state schools).
Summary
Our sample of schools and pupils is broadly
comparable to schools and enrolments
throughout Scotland, but with an underrepresentation
of the top performing schools as
measured by league tables. The scale of our
survey and its results are sufficiently robust to
suggest that the results are likely to be a fair
representation of the views of school pupils
across Scotland.
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
7
Table 6 Main list of schools and school rolls
Area School S1–S6 Roll
Aberdeen Bridge of Don Academy 679
Cults Academy 1143
Hazlehead Academy 992
Northfield Academy 1034
Dumfries and Galloway Annan Academy 1125
Dumfries Academy 910
Stranraer Academy 1142
East Ayrshire Doon Academy 395
James Hamilton Academy 810
Kilmarnock Academy 858
Stewarton Academy 885
Edinburgh Portobello High School 1466
St Augustine’s R.C. High 857
Tynecastle High School 781
Wester Hailes Education Centre 510
North Lanarkshire Brannock High School 747
Cumbernauld High School 837
Dalziel High School 983
St Aidans High School 1387
Perth Community School of Auchterarder 373
Crieff High School 614
Perth Grammar School 940
West Dumbarton Clydebank High School 1112
Our Lady & St Patricks High School 1375
Vale of Leven Academy 1167
Mean Roll (Mean Roll all 925
Scotland’s schools) (821)
Mean deviation (Mean 221
deviation all schools) (291)
Notes on Results
This report does not report on every type of
statistic used by the researchers to explore the
relationship between having goals and
educational attainment. More than 1000 test
statistics of various sorts have been used as we
explored the data. The data as presented in this
report has been constructed to be robust, but
also accessible to the non-specialist reader.
In particular, we observe that many of the
tables used, and specifically those presenting
ratings of various sorts, were tested against
other data. For example, in some cases this
involved ensuring correlation coefficients
calculated using comparable data identified the
same pattern of relationships. An effort has
therefore been made to ensure that the
evidence presented is robust.
We have also used a range of significance
testing to ensure that the relationships we have
sought to draw particular attention to, are in
fact statistically significant at the 0.05 level.
We have consequently chosen not to present
tables of data where no significant differences
were found.
Finally, we have sought to ensure that our
interpretations are supported by both the
available empirical data, and the qualitative
data captured from the different groups taking
part in our researches.
We have attempted to set out the results in a
logical sequence. We start by describing the
participants in the study, move on to discussing
their perceived relationship to different aspects
of education, continue into discussing their
personal ambition regarding qualification
attainment, and finally present and discuss
actual educational results. It is encouraging to
us that this has presented a set of consistent
messages that in our judgment would be unwise
to ignore.
Inevitably, in a study of this type, those
involved in the research reach the end of the
study with insights as to how the study could
have been improved, and of questions that
remain unresolved. We have therefore chosen to
make a small number of conclusions and
recommendations aimed at suggesting to
Careers Scotland how future research might be
undertaken and focused, to ensure that some of
the important issues raised in this study are
effectively developed.
One of the major concerns as we embarked on
this study was whether we would attain the
quality of response needed from pupils. We are
pleased to report that survey forms were
completed with care and accuracy in the great
majority of cases, and that internal consistency
checks were positive.
Furthermore, those pupils who took part in
focus group work contributed effectively to the
study.
8
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
Scene setting
Existing research
Existing research, and particularly from a large
number of studies from the USA, leaves little
doubt that career interventions generally yield
positive results, and individualised interventions
yield the most gains. Campbell et al (1983)
describe five broad categories of positive effect
in a review of a large number of research
studies:
•
individualised career development learning
experiences (i.e. experience-based career
education or career guidance work) resulted
in improved school involvement and
performance.
Analysis of 41 studies showed that
•
career development processes resulted in
measured gains in personal and
interpersonal work skills in the majority of
those studies.
Analysis of 31 studies showed that various
•
classroom career guidance instruction,
employer- based career education, and
hands on career exploration activities
resulted in improvements in career
preparation.
In 12 of 14 studies, career guidance,
•
primary intervention, 80% produced
improvements in students’ and adults’ career
planning skills.
In 34 studies where career guidance was the
•
in career awareness and exploration skills
resulted from experience-based career
education, career education classroom
activities, and one to one career guidance
sessions.
These meta-analyses confirm the value of career
interventions, and one to one guidance sessions
in particular. Oliver and Spokane (1988) found
individual career guidance, although costly, is
the most efficient of career interventions when
gains are measured against hours of effort. Ten
or more sessions, and more comprehensive
sessions, yield about twice the beneficial effects
of briefer interventions.
In 31 of 44 studies, the most improvement
Research in School Career
Intervention
Border and Drury (1992) confirmed Oliver and
Spokane’s findings, measuring positive effects
of career guidance on educational performance,
attitudes toward self and others, classroom
behaviours, attendance, self-concept, in-school
behaviour, life and coping skills, peer
relationships, career development, and learning
motivation.
Both of these meta-analyses were conducted in
the United States.
Self-Efficacy Beliefs
Brown (1999) has recently reported on the
importance of self-efficacy. He reports that selfefficacy
beliefs are influenced by various
internal, external, and interactive factors and
reflected in career-related outcome expectations
and performance. Bandura’s (1977) classic
research on self-efficacy postulates that an
individual’s beliefs or expectations about his or
her capacity to accomplish certain tasks or
demonstrate certain behaviours determine
whether or not the task or behaviour will be
attempted, the amount of effort the individual
will contribute, and how long it will be
sustained if it is attempted.
Thus in our study we have been interested to
capture both what individual pupils say they
want to achieve by way of qualifications in
school as well as their actual accomplishments.
Low self-efficacy serves as a barrier to career
development. Bandura (1997) identifies four
things that affect self-efficacy expectations.
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
9
•
in which accomplishments are received with
either positive or negative consequences.
Performance accomplishments — the manner
•
interpretation.
Vicarious learning – through observation and
•
others.
Verbal persuasion – messages conveyed by
•
anxiety.
Brown concludes efficacy-based career
interventions must increase the range of
students’ experiences and promote the personal
and contextual factors that raise self-efficacy.
This gives rise to interventions and practices
that emphasise contextual, problem-based, and
workplace/community-based learning. We note
that later in this report, we therefore report on
pupil perceptions of current work experience
opportunities, and on types of learning.
Physical/Affective status – stress and
Work-Based Learning
Wonacott (2002) reports that studies repeatedly
confirm that learning in the workplace increases
engagement in schooling. Studies of youth
apprenticeship programmes, and other
workplace-based interventions found for
example increased attendance and decreased
dropout rates. In this study we report later on a
demand from many pupils for an increase in
opportunities to use the workplace as part of
the learning experience.
Wonacott does not specifically address career
aspirations, but Haimson and Bellotti (2001)
conducted a national evaluation of work-based
learning in the US, and most students reported
that it helped them clarify their career goals.
Students rated most highly those experiences
that provided one-on-one contact and
customised activities, rather than group
worksite tours or school-based enterprises.
In spite of these positive effects of work
experience, there are contradictory findings
which indicate inconclusiveness regarding its
impact on educational attainment, suggesting
caution about the intensity or number of hours
involved in work based learning or in part-time
work is justified. We note that later in this
report we present findings which suggest that
part-time work, may to some degree be linked
to pupils with positive school attitudes.
However, the University of Paisley has just
completed more extensive and compelling
research in the area of part-time work for
school pupils in Scotland for Careers Scotland.
Summary
We are unaware of any previous research that
specifically addresses the link between career
goals and educational attainment in the manner
required by Careers Scotland. However a review
of related literature has encouraged us to
undertake this study from the perspective of
pupils, in part because of the importance of
self-efficacy and self judgment. If we could
capture the views of pupils regarding their
motivation, their ambition and their goals for
example, this would hopefully allow us to shed
some light on this complex matter.
We now move on, before reporting on our
survey and focus group findings, to report on
early interviews with senior personnel with a
keen interest on the interaction between career
goals and educational attainment.
10
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
Scene setting: early
senior staff
interviews
In addition to setting the scene by way of a
literature review, we also conducted a series of
interviews with senior personnel from Careers
Scotland, Scottish Enterprise and Education
Authorities. The majority of those interviewed
either were, or had direct influence with,
educational policy makers in Scotland.
Educational attainment and career
aspirations
The most striking result of the interviews was
the difficulty all interviewees had in
pinpointing the relationship between
educational attainment and career aspirations.
They all highlighted the complexity of the
issues facing young people as they make
transition choices and the individualised nature
of influences on educational achievement and
career aspirations.
The Influence of Family
There were some common themes identified by
our interviewees, however. One of the first to
arise in almost every interview was the
importance of the family. All of these
professionals agree that parents are key
influencers.
Most of the interviewees agreed that young
people are strongly influenced by their families
concerning career aspirations, never straying far
from options that are familiar to them. Some
claimed this is often reinforced by parents who
think,
enough for my children,’
changing nature of labour needs and
opportunities in the market place or the full
spectrum of career opportunities that could be
considered by their children.
Similarly, parents who never pursued
qualifications after leaving school, it was
argued, may assume that their children are just
as unlikely to pursue further education or
training, again oblivious to the changing nature
of skills programmes and lifelong learning.
When families demonstrate a narrow range of
opportunity knowledge, it was argued that
Careers Advisers may be left wondering if a
young person’s career aspirations reflect any
sort of robust decision-making process, or if
they simply fall into an obvious route, which
may or may not fit with their particular skill
set.
Because therefore of the importance of family,
our interviewees argued that the results of
research into the links between educational
attainment and career goals should be made
available to parents, in an easily digestible
form.
’if it was good enough for me, it is goodoften oblivious to the
Following Footsteps
It was also argued that young people often
assume they will follow the example of family
members, or enter a traditional trade area,
unaware that labour markets had changed
considerably in recent years.
Careers Scotland interviewees spoke of the use
of parents’ groups and careers evenings, to
which parents are invited with their children, as
a means of involving families in career choices.
However, it was recognised that it was often
difficult to get the parents of those most in
need of support to participate. Nonetheless,
the need to make parents aware of the nature
of the relationship between career goals and
educational attainment was re-inforced.
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
11
Other Influencers
Peer influence was also recognised as hugely
important for teenagers, as is youthful
perception of what is ’cool’ or attractive as a
job or career. Interviewees acknowledge the
difficulty in counteracting negative peer
influence, especially when it comes not only
from peers within the school, but also from
peers without. It was therefore argued that
Careers Scotland will have to carefully consider
how best to make pupils themselves aware of
the results of this research.
The Influence of Pop Culture and
Television
The influence of popular television programmes
on career aspirations came as something of an
unexpected development during interviews. One
after another, Careers Scotland staff related how
interest in specific occupations rises when there
is a popular show that features a main
character in that vocation. Examples included
forensic scientists (interestingly cropping up in
our focus groups) who work on criminal
investigations, animal care professionals, and
criminal psychologists (again, cropping up in
our focus groups). Our focus groups with young
people confirmed the importance of popular
culture as a source of career goals.
The Hardest to Serve
Some interviewees despaired at the uphill climb
some students face in overcoming difficult
family situations that negatively influence their
career aspirations and their educational
achievement. With some parents leading chaotic
lifestyles some young people end up taking on
the role of carer at home, responsible for
siblings, or even attempting to care for problem
parents, conditions that severely limit
educational achievements and career options.
This insight is strongly supported by data
recently published as part of the Scottish
Census 2001. Many thousands of teenagers in
Scotland are acting as unpaid carers in the
family home.
Interviewees were therefore aware of how family
circumstances were likely to impinge both on
career choice and educational attainment.
Key Workers and Targeted
Interventions
The Key Workers programme seems, according to
a number of interviewees, to be going some way
to addressing the needs of the hardest to serve.
Careers Scotland staff members take on a small
case load of those who face the most barriers in
making successful school to work transitions,
providing much more one-on-one assistance and
trying to work with other agencies to meet the
broad range of problems that threaten
transitions.
Programmes such as On-Track and Get Ready for
Work were cited as examples of targeted
interventions that can make a difference in
guiding the transition choices of the hardest to
serve. A few interviewees spoke of the
effectiveness of these approaches, but the
labour-intensive nature of the intervention
limits the number of young people who may
benefit. It was hoped by some interviewees that
developing a stronger evidence base through
this and other Careers Scotland sponsored
research would allow such programmes to be
even better informed.
University-Bound Sixth Year Students
At the top end of the educational continuum,
interviewees were of the view that clear goal
setting needs still existed. As one interviewee
put it,
educationally, does not mean they are effective
career planners."
just as much as some fourth year early leavers,
require careers transition assistance. While some
might claim the problems these students face
choosing amongst university courses or
rejecting their parents’ narrow or unrealistic
expectations seem less onerous than the
obstacles faced by the hardest to serve,
interviewees were none the less clear that
transition support needs existed.
Younger students who are on track for further
academic study also need assistance, both in
planning their progression routes, and in
overcoming the negative influence of peers who
may not share their aspirations for achievement.
"Just because a student does well,Thus, sixth year students may,
12
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
Thus the perception of interviewees was that
needs are likely to exist in all secondary school
years and across all levels of educational ability.
Some interviewees specifically requested that
our study should therefore disaggregate any
findings by school year (a suggestion which we
have readily agreed to in this report).
Early Leavers
According to one Careers Scotland interviewee,
most early leavers come from disadvantaged
families. As the end of S4 approaches, these
young people meet with staff to discuss their
transition choices, but there is little room to
influence them at this point.
with young people who are thinking about
leaving at the end of fourth year before they
get to the point of no return. They’ve made up
their minds by the time they talk to us, and
often that decision was made without a lot of
considered information or advice."
recognition of the interest displayed in early
leavers, we sought to capture some data on this
group, and report on it later in this report.
"We need to workIn
Winter Leavers
For those young people who want to leave
school early and turn 16 after September 30,
the period between when school starts in
August and when they are legally permitted to
leave school at Christmas can be one of marking
time and, according to one careers staff
member, negatively influencing one another. As
they wait out the months, many become
disengaged from school. This staff member
believes these students may be better served
with more work placements or making an early
start with a pre-vocational course at college. As
will be seen this seems much in tune with some
of the views presented by young people
themselves during our focus group sessions. We
also found support for this interpretation of the
needs of winter leavers from many of the
teachers taking part in our focus groups.
Work-Based Training
Although many pupils take the opportunity to
engage effectively in work experience, it was
recognised that finding useful placements can
be challenging in many areas. A lack of wellmanaged
and relevant placement opportunities
is likely to constrain the potential impact of
what can be a hugely positive influence on
career transition choices. One Careers Scotland
interviewee pointed out,
for boys who think they want to be mechanics
to do a work placement at the cat and dog
home."
"It isn’t very useful
Another Careers Scotland interviewee
emphasised the value of work experience early
in a young person’s secondary education. Work
experience just before a young person is ready
to leave school is unlikely to have much
influence on either educational achievement or
aspirations that require a progression route that
has already been missed.
One LEC staff member pointed out the great
variability in the kinds of experiences young
people have with work-based learning. Much
depends on the preparatory work that is done
with both the young person and the employer.
Although all these cautionary points may have
merit, it is nonetheless instructive to note that
our own research, which we report on later,
suggests that an extension of work experience
opportunities would be widely welcomed by
pupils.
Quality and Availability of
Information
Overall, most Careers Scotland interviewees felt
that they had access to — and were therefore
able to provide to students — good quality
information on careers, training programmes,
and FE/HE courses and entry requirements.
Destination analyses in particular were
mentioned as helpful data.
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
13
Some felt there was room for improvement in
the information available on labour markets,
and especially projections into the future. It
was also pointed out that students are making
use of the Internet as a careers research tool,
as well as the careers libraries that are available
in most schools.
That said, all our interviewees were of the view
that, whatever the results, researching into
possible links between career goals and
educational attainment should be very useful
for careers professionals, and potentially of
value to teachers and pupils themselves. There
was strong support for the actions of Careers
Scotland in developing a more comprehensive
evidence base.
Reflections on interviews
At first read, it may be thought that our
interviews have strayed into areas that are not
central to this piece of research. We would
disagree. The concerns held by our interviewees
about influences on the young, the need for
effective interventions, and the need for robust
information, serves to highlight the importance
of career guidance. That most interviewees were
unable to be sure about whether there is a link
(and of what type) between career goals and
educational attainment was particularly
revealing, suggesting the focus of this piece of
research has real merit.
Although this study will not address all issues
raised in these early interviews, the interviews
were helpful in guiding us along some lines of
research which seemed at face value to be
relevant to our study into the association
between career goals and educational
attainment.
We are grateful to those interviewees who
agreed to take part in this study.
14
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
Types of Goals
This and subsequent chapters draw upon
empirical findings from our survey of pupils,
and also qualitative data taken from focus
groups with pupils, teachers and careers staff.
This chapter discusses the nature of goals and
some possible implications. All quotations come
from participants in the study.
Types of goals
This study confirms that goals can take many
forms and can involve a complex range of
matters. For example, some students have a
very clear career goal, this may be linked to the
need for a specific qualification, which in turn
is linked to a specific form of post-school
education which in turn may be linked to
specific course entry requirements thus setting
out required school qualifications and grades.
Professional careers, such as medicine or law,
are the most obvious but not the only career
goals of this type. In such circumstances, there
is a clear link between career goals and
educational requirements.
However, many pupils have goals which are
about creating career choice within a field of
knowledge. For example, a pupil may aspire to
"working in a job where I’d be helping people".
This might lead him or her to focus on studying
at a further education college or a university to
gain qualifications within the social sciences,
such as psychology or social administration, but
with no specific career or specific qualification
in mind. It was noticeable in all these types of
examples that, when asked, pupils saw some
form of enjoyment or satisfaction from work
being very important to their future.
Other pupils may aspire to a career where
main thing is to make money"
possible avoiding having to study.
to go to classes? … I want money".
discussion, such pupils displayed much less
interest in pursuing a satisfying and enjoyable
career, seeing work in purely instrumental
terms: supplying money to meet living
requirements. Interestingly however, few
seemed to have any realistic grasp of how much
money different jobs would provide. Among
those who wanted to go directly into work and
avoid extending their studies, many had a very
poor grasp of the labour market. This confirms
the view of our early interviewees that a serious
issue remains the lack of understanding of the
modern labour market among pupils.
Finally, a significant number of pupils who took
part in discussions had little clear focus on post
school goals, whether in terms of work or post
school study. They would, as more than one
individual put it,
will turn up".
"theand so far as"Who wantsIn"Wait and see… something
Issues of control
Indeed, focus group discussions with pupils,
suggested different perceptions of life (and this
was confirmed by discussions with teachers and
Careers Scotland staff). On one hand, some
pupils saw themselves as having some clear
control of their life and future. They felt they
could do something to influence their future
through both education and work. On the other
hand, others tended to see themselves as
victims of life. Waiting for something to turn
up, or having very little personal ambition was
a feature of a number of participants and
discussions suggested such a view of life was
often reinforced within the family…
says don’t bother, something will turn up"
"My mum,
"What’s for ye will no’ go bye ye"
Given this complex situation, it was helpful that
the survey included a series of options from
which pupils were asked to select up to three
rank ordered choices for post school goals. The
results provide some very interesting data,
particularly when disaggregated by year at
school.
Now, it has to be borne in mind that when
presented with a list from which the respondent
is asked to select three options, we are not
measuring the degree of commitment. Thus, this
is a task where individuals who may have little
real sense of purpose at present, can still make
a selection. That said, the results do enable us
to provide a broad picture of pupils’ apparent
preferences.
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
15
In Table 7 above, we have highlighted the three
most popular first choices (that is, the most
popular choices among all those ranked 1). We
have also highlighted the three most popular
choices based on all rankings. That is, the most
popular choices as measured by frequency of
occurrence among the top three rankings.
By a considerable margin the most popular
among first choices is
university
steady job to earn money
position
studying full-time at(39.1%), followed by getting a(19.4%) and in thirdgetting a job and also studying parttime
(11.2%). However, there are some very
interesting features of each of these choices.
Notice how, although dominating in terms of
achieving first rankings, studying at university
features much less frequently as a second or
third choice. In comparison, getting a steady
job is just as likely to feature as a second or
third choice, while getting a job and studying
part-time is much more likely to be a second or
third choice.
Exploring this further in discussions suggests
the following explanations. University is viewed
as very challenging and hard work, but with the
potential to be a stepping-stone to significant
career opportunities and earnings success. For
those convinced of the merits of going to
university, it is seen as dwarfing all other
choices in terms of potential for delivering a
satisfying and rewarding life. However, for those
with other first choices, university is viewed as
hard work, but less rewarding on other fronts. It
is therefore less likely to be a second or third
choice. Getting a steady job on the other hand
is generally viewed positively, particularly
among those who do not aspire to full-time
study after school. Getting a job with part-time
study on the other hand seems to be viewed
more as a fall back position, particularly for
those whose first choice of full-time study is
not realised.
Thus, different options fulfil different roles in
the decision-making process. Some are viewed
as clear first preferences, while others are fall
back positions delivering some of the benefits
of first choices (such as being able to continue
studying).
In terms of less goal driven options, we note
that leaving school and waiting to see what
turns up is the first preference of 1.8% while
taking a year out before deciding what to do is
the preferred option of 5.4%. Together, this
means having an option as first preference
which defers deciding on future goals until after
leaving school is favoured by 7.2% of S3 pupils.
Extrapolating on the basis of the recent 2002
schools census, would mean that over 4,400
pupils in S3 in Scotland have a first choice of
leaving school without having clear goals as to
their future.
In turning to consider S4 preferences, we can
see some similarities, but also the increasing
dominance of particular options.
16
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
Table 7 Rankings of post school options by S3 pupils
Option Ranked 1 Ranked 2 Ranked 3 All
No. % No. % No. % No. %
1. Getting a steady job to earn money. 83
19.4 75 18.0 101 25.0 259 20.8
2. Becoming a Modern Apprentice to learn a trade. 388 .9 26 6.2 29 7.2 93 7.5
3. Studying full-time at university. 167
39.1 55 13.2 184.5 240 19.2
4. Studying full-time at a further education college. 46 10.864 15.4 33 8.2 143 11.5
5. Studying full-time at another type of adult college. 7 1.6 12 2.9 22 5.5 41 3.3
6. Joining a training programme such as Skillseekers. 3 0.7 11 2.6 21 5.2 35 2.8
7. Getting a job and also studying part-time 48
11.2 99 23.7 84 20.8 231 18.5
8. Taking up to a year out before deciding what to do. 23 5.4 43 10.3 39 9.7 105 8.4
9. Doing a variety of work to earn as much money as possible. 7 1.6 24 5.84 5 11.1 76 6.1
10. Leaving school and waiting to see what turns up. 5 1.88 1.9 12 3.0 25 2.0
Totals 427 100 417 100 404 100 1248100
The above table suggests that S4 pupils are
more focused on seeking full-time study post
school than S3 pupils. Two factors confirm this.
First, an even higher percentage at 44.3% have
ambitions to study full-time at university on
leaving school, and, second, studying full-time
at a further education college has moved up to
the third most popular first choice at 12.8%.
Having an option as first preference which
defers deciding on future goals until after
leaving school is favoured by 7.1% of S4 pupils
— remarkably similar to the 7.2% of S3 pupils
favouring such deferral. Extrapolating on the
basis of the recent 2002 schools census, would
mean that over 4,300 pupils in S4 in Scotland
have a first choice of leaving school without
having clear goals as to their future.
Turning to S5 pupils, we see further
development of a trend towards preferring fulltime
study post school. It should be kept in
mind that data for S5 and S6 now refers to
smaller cohorts of pupils that have chosen to
stay on at school. Nonetheless, the data is very
revealing.
In S5, not only is seeking a university place
now a very dominant first preference at 55.1%,
but the next most frequent first choice is
studying full-time at a further education college
at 13.2%. We note too that a further education
college destination is a second choice among no
less than 21.1%. Further interrogation of the
data confirms that 79% of those whose second
choice was further education, had university
studies as their first choice. Put another way, of
all those who had university as a first choice,
some 28.7% had further education as a second
Table 8 Rankings of post school options by S4 pupils
Option Ranked 1 Ranked 2 Ranked 3 All
No. % No. % No. % No. %
1. Getting a steady job to earn money. 75
14.1 85 16.3 118 23.3 278 17.8
2. Becoming a Modern Apprentice to learn a trade. 53 9.9 32 6.1 27 5.3 112 7.2
3. Studying full-time at university. 236
44.3 55 10.5 22 4.3 313 20.0
4. Studying full-time at a further education college. 68
5. Studying full-time at another type of adult college. 5 0.9 13 2.5 19 3.837 2.4
6. Joining a training programme such as Skillseekers. 6 1.1 22 4.2 14 2.842 2.7
7. Getting a job and also studying part-time 42 7.9 10820.7 104 20.5 254
12.8 116 22.2 50 9.9 234 15.016.3
8. Taking up to a year out before deciding what to do. 29 5.4 49 9.4 82 16.2 160 10.2
9. Doing a variety of work to earn as much money as possible. 12 2.3 36 6.9 489.5 96 6.1
10. Leaving school and waiting to see what turns up. 7 1.3 7 1.3 23 4.5 37 2.4
Totals 533 100 523 100 507 100 1563 100
Table 9 Rankings of post school options by S5 pupils
Option Ranked 1 Ranked 2 Ranked 3 All
No. % No. % No. % No. %
1. Getting a steady job to earn money. 33
9.7 46 14.3 66 21.2 145 14.9
2. Becoming a Modern Apprentice to learn a trade. 22 6.5 14 4.4 25 8.0 61 6.3
3. Studying full-time at university. 188
55.1 39 12.1 82.6 235 24.1
4. Studying full-time at a further education college. 45
5. Studying full-time at another type of adult college. 9 2.6 7 2.2 10 3.2 26 2.7
6. Joining a training programme such as Skillseekers. 2 0.6 9 2.815 4.8 26 2.7
7. Getting a job and also studying part-time 11 3.2 52 16.2 62 19.9 125 12.8
8. Taking up to a year out before deciding what to do. 25 7.3 73 22.7 62 19.9 160
13.2 6821.1 23 7.4 136 14.016.4
9. Doing a variety of work to earn as much money as possible. 5 1.5 12 3.7 31 10.0 484.9
10. Leaving school and waiting to see what turns up. 1 0.3 2 0.6 9 2.9 12 1.2
Totals 341 100 322 100 311 100 974 100
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
17
choice. Interestingly, for those with university
as a first choice the most popular second choice
(for some 31.4%) was taking a year out. This
confirms impressions gained in focus groups
that for some, their ambition to go on to
university is all consuming and they have no
career fallback position.
Having an option as first preference which
defers deciding on future goals until after
leaving school is favoured by 7.6% of S5 pupils
— remarkably similar to the 7.1% and 7.2% of
S4 and S3 pupils favouring such deferral.
Extrapolating on the basis of the recent 2002
schools census, would mean that over 3,500
pupils in S5 in Scotland have a first choice of
leaving school without having clear goals as to
their future.
By S6, we see a rise, yet again, in the
percentage giving first choice preference to
study at university (61.2%) and to further
education college (14.4%). Furthermore, in line
with our findings for S5 pupils, some 77% of
respondents whose second choice was further
education, had university as a first choice.
Having an option as first preference which
defers deciding on future goals until after
leaving school is favoured by 6.4% of S6 pupils
— a little less than the 7.6% of S5, 7.1% of S4
and 7.2% of S3 pupils favouring such deferral.
Extrapolating on the basis of the recent 2002
schools census, would mean that approximately
1,750 pupils in S6 in Scotland have a first
choice of leaving school without having clear
goals as to their future.
Discussions suggested that while it is a
relatively small percentage who have a
preference for leaving school before deciding on
future goals, rather more are currently
undecided but wish they were clearer about
their future. This is confirmed later by data that
we shall report on.
We note that for those pupils with a desire to
pursue options other than full-time study, very
few see training programmes such as
Skillseekers as a first option. Indeed, the data
for S3 and S4 which includes those who will be
leaving school at the earliest leaving date
available after reaching the age of 16, clearly
suggests that
money
either
trade
Skillseekers.
above data that the pursuit of further and
higher education is much more valued than is
the pursuit of vocational type training
programmes.
getting a steady job to earn, is a more attractive first option thanbecoming a modern apprentice to learn aor joining a training programme such asIt is therefore very clear from the
Table 10 Rankings of post school options by S6 pupils
Option Ranked 1 Ranked 2 Ranked 3 All
No. % No. % No. % No. %
1. Getting a steady job to earn money. 16
8.5 32 18.7 38 23.0 86 16.4
2. Becoming a Modern Apprentice to learn a trade. 6 3.2 12 7.0 6 3.6 24 4.6
3. Studying full-time at university. 115
61.2 15 8.8 7 4.2 137 26.2
4. Studying full-time at a further education college. 27
14.4 39 22.815 9.1 81 15.5
5. Studying full-time at another type of adult college. 2 1.1 1 0.6 7 4.2 10 1.9
6. Joining a training programme such as Skillseekers. 2 1.1 1 0.6 6 3.6 9 1.7
7. Getting a job and also studying part-time 7 3.7 29 17.0 29 17.6 65 12.4
8. Taking up to a year out before deciding what to do. 12 6.4 32 18.7 31 18.8 75 14.3
9. Doing a variety of work to earn as much money as possible. 1 0.5 84.7 24 14.6 33 6.3
10. Leaving school and waiting to see what turns up. 0 0 2 1.2 2 1.2 4 0.8
Totals 188 100 171 100 165 100 524 100
18
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
Summary on goal preferences
It seems clear from the above that the principal
goal preferences relate to pursuing further
study, that there is a small but consistent
minority of pupils who actually want to leave
school before establishing their future goals,
and that straightforward employment is a more
popular option than any particular type of
vocational training option.
Some possible implications
Even among those pupils with apparent goals,
many teachers and Careers Scotland staff
pointed to examples of unrealistic goals.
Indeed, in the first focus group held, one pupil
in S4 said he was going to be a pilot, the idea
coming from his Dad, but admitted he did not
know what was required qualification wise.
Indeed, he seemed slightly surprised at the
question.
mathematics, but its really just being trained
after school I suppose…"
"I suppose I might need
A number of individuals had derived goals from
watching TV or reading magazines. At the time
of the study, a number of such individuals
wanted to be forensic psychologists or forensic
scientists, and although one participant was
very clear on educational requirements including
the type of degree needed, others were rather
unclear as to what was involved.
Indeed, across a wide range of focus group
participants, having clear goals did not
automatically mean the individual would be well
informed about educational requirements,
although some were. Thus, it was far from clear
from focus groups alone that we would find a
link between career goals and educational
attainment.
However, a range of plausible explanations did
emerge from pupils which suggested there may
be a link. The most regularly cited were:
1.
vocationally oriented, degree, certificate
or diploma programmes.
particularly to pupils aiming to go to
university, but also applied to some with
further education in mind. Examples ranged
from law to speech therapy, civil
engineering to nursing. Pupils claimed that
knowing exactly what was required affected
both their choice of school subjects and
their commitment to learning.
2.
programmes in a particular subject or
skill area.
mostly ones where their long term career
goal was not as specific as those in group 1,
but who had a broad area of interest they
wished to pursue. Often this was associated
with a desire for full-time study prior to
seeking work. Examples included wishing to
study in the area of new technologies, or
arts or social sciences. Qualification entry
needs were often less specific than those for
group 1.
3.
type areas as preparation for work.
applied to a range of pupils, particularly in
S3 and 4, whose ambitions were work
related after school. They saw the
development of their
helpful to getting and keeping a job. Some
saw an advantage in gaining qualifications
in such skill areas.
However, many of those who did not have
ambitions to go on to university or further
education college were less forthcoming and
less clear about possible links between their
own ambitions and their achievements at
school.
A significant number of pupils claimed that
their particular career goals had developed from
finding out what they liked or were good at at
school, confirming that goals and educational
achievement may be linked, but the order in
which they are linked can vary.
Knowing entry requirements for specific,This appliedKnowing entry requirements for a range ofThis applied to a range of pupils,Wanting to be successful in practical, skillThis"practical skills" as
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
19
Goals and
Relationship to
Pupil Activity
Arguably, a key determinant of educational
performance is the extent to which pupils fully
engage in learning while at school. This is an
extremely difficult matter to assess as an
outside researcher. To ask others such as
teachers to assess this at the level of the
individual raises complex ethical issues, and is
likely to be heavily prone to judgment biases.
Self-awareness and self-judgments
We noted in earlier discussions of research, that
self-awareness is an important matter in career
guidance. Using this concept of self-awareness
we sought to get individuals to judge
themselves in relation to a range of factors. The
use of self-judgment techniques in education is
a developing area and early research suggests
considerable insights can be gained by the use
of such methods, albeit that most recent work
in this field has involved adult learners.
the advantages of using self-judgment
techniques is that it invokes self-reflection.
In our survey, we asked pupils to score
themselves on a 0–100 scale in relation to 6
indicators of engagement in learning. The
tables that follow display results disaggregated
by a range of key factors.
As can be seen, pupils although in terms of
mean scores have awarded themselves relatively
high scores, have not simply given themselves
either the same scores or the top scores in each
area. This suggests some degree of
discrimination.
Differences in scores of 2 percentage points or
less are unlikely to reflect any significant
difference in self-perception.
that S5 and S6 pupils score themselves higher
than S3 and S4 pupils in terms of the effort
they put in when in classes, the effort they put
in to their homework, and their willingness to
help classmates. Other scores are broadly similar
with the interesting and surprising scoring of
effort put in for exams where S3 scores are
noticeably higher than other years.
We note also that although all mean scores are
relatively high, the full range of scores (0 to
100) was used across all six factors. Thus,
although a minority, a significant number of
respondents in each area gave themselves low
scores. For example, for factor one, the effort
put in while in class, some 20% of all pupils
gave themselves scores in the range 0–50 only.
Even in the highly mean rated area of working
hard to do your best in exams, some 11% of
pupils gave themselves scores in the range
0–50. Remembering that respondents were
drawn from S3–S6 this suggests that even in
senior secondary a significant number of pupils
admit to relatively low levels of effort.
4 One of4 Table 11 suggests
4 The Open University has pioneered the use of
self-judgments in its "Professional Judgment and
Decision Making" course. In Scotland, The
Scottish Police College used self-judgments as
part of its award winning Superintendents course,
and Dundee University has recently embarked on
the use of self-judgments within some of its
degree programmes.
Table 11 Self-judgments mean scores on learning engagement by year
Statement S3 S4 S5 S6
1. The effort you put in when in classes. 73.7 74.9 77.878 .7
2. The effort you put in to your homework. 62.4 63.0 68.2 68.6
3. Your willingness to help classmates. 73.9 74.0 79.3 81.8
4. Being keen to do your best at school. 82.2 82.5 83.1 84.1
5. Working hard to do your best in exams. 87.9 85.4 85.0 84.7
6. Working hard to do your best in assessments. 81.1 78.5 80.2 78.3
20
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
Influence of gender
Table 12 disaggregates scores by gender; we
find that females rate themselves more highly
than males.
We note in particular that females consider they
put in significantly more effort to homework
and to assisting classmates. This latter point
suggests that females may be more social and
supportive of one another, a factor which was
suggested in some focus groups, where females
were more likely to suggest supporting one
another regarding their studies than males.
In our study, we also asked individuals to
identify which of the following categories they
would place themselves in:
Category 1.
to work at or study after I leave school, that
has led me to choose the subjects I am taking
at school.
It is because I know what I want
Category 2.
study at school are mainly subjects I either
enjoy or am best at. I haven’t thought about
whether or not they are needed for my future
work or study.
The subjects I have chosen to
Category 3.
enjoy or am best at school that has led me to
decide on what I want to work at or study when
I leave.
We crosschecked responses with other
statements pupils were asked to rate in the
study (we report later on the detail of this) and
by some follow up work in focus groups. This
confirmed that those who identified Category 2
did so because they had at the time of the
study either no goals at all or only such very
general goals (
I leave" "I might go to the local college"
they would be of little benefit in deciding on
detailed educational issues such as which
subjects to choose at school. It therefore seems
reasonable to conclude that Category 2
respondents have no
future.
Category 1 and 3 respondents have identified
that they have goals specific enough to relate
to school subjects, although in the first case
they perceive it is their post-school goals that
have led them into a particular subject choice,
whereas category 3 respondents perceive it is
their subject preferences that have led them to
particular post-school goals.
It is because of the subjects I"Probably looking for a job when) thatclear goals as to their
Influence of goals
We have used these categories as a further level
of disaggregation and the results are portrayed
in Table 13.
In all areas Category 2 individuals, those who
lack clarity regarding future goals, score
themselves lower than pupils with clear goals.
In 5 of the 6 areas, the differences are
significant.
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
21
Table 13 Self-judgments mean scores on learning engagement
by Category of respondent
Statement Category
1 2 3
1. The effort you put in when in classes. 77.0 71.0 78.4
2. The effort you put in to your homework. 67.857.5 67.4
3. Your willingness to help classmates. 77.6 74.6 75.5
4. Being keen to do your best at school. 85.5 76.6 84.9
5. Working hard to do your best in exams. 88.9 81.3 86.2
6. Working hard to do your best in assessments. 81.8 74.7 81.1
Table 12 Self-judgments mean scores on learning engagement, by
gender
Statement Male Female
1. The effort you put in when in classes. 75.2 76.1
2. The effort you put in to your homework. 61.1 67.9
3. Your willingness to help classmates. 71.4 80.4
4. Being keen to do your best at school. 80.9 84.4
5. Working hard to do your best in exams. 84.6 87.1
6. Working hard to do your best in assessments. 78.6 80.4
We note in particular, students without clear
goals rate themselves approximately 10%ge
points lower in terms of effort at homework,
5%ge points lower in terms of effort at exams
and approximately 6%ge points lower in terms
of effort at assessments. Unsurprisingly given
these figures, they rate themselves
approximately 8%ge points lower in terms of
being keen to do their best at school. Only in
terms of willingness to help classmates are
scores of pupils without clear goals at a similar
level to those with goals.
It is also worth noting that Category 1 and
Category 3 respondents give remarkably similar
ratings, suggesting that for the areas under
investigation in this section, there is little
difference in terms of impact regardless of
whether goals lead to or follow from subject
choice at school.
In terms of self-perception regarding aspects of
effort while at school, the above table suggests
there is real significance in whether or not
individuals have clear goals linked to subject
choices while at school. That being the case it
is important to note the proportion of pupils
falling into each category, as this will allow us
to make a forecast of the number of pupils
across Scotland who fall into the different
categories.
Our survey suggests the percentage falling into
each category, by school year is as follows.
Table 14 Percentage of pupils in each goal category by
year
Category
Year 1 2 3 NR Total
S3 46.6% 30.2% 22.2% 1.1% 100%
S4 44.7% 27.5% 26.6% 1.2% 100%
S5 38.8% 26.4% 34.0% 0.9% 100%
S6 39.1% 27.4% 33.5% 0% 100%
All 43.2% 28.0% 27.9% 1.0% 100%
NR: no response
As is evident from the above, the most common
category pupils perceive themselves to fall into
is Category 1: Having goals that influence
choice of school subjects. However, all
categories attract significant numbers, and
indeed Category 2 which contains those without
clear goals remains significant right through all
secondary years.
We also analysed the data by whether or not
schools were in the top 50% (top two quartiles)
in terms of Higher performance, or in the
bottom 50%, since Careers Scotland staff
suggested this might inform targeting
strategies. The results showed that there were
only marginal differences between these school
types in terms of the percentage in each
category, and nothing that could be construed
as significant.
The above data allows us to make forecasts of
the numbers in each category across Scotland.
Table 15 Forecast of numbers in each category based on
school census data and survey returns.
Category
1 2 3
School year (Goals) (No Goals) (Goals)
S3 28,634 18,557 13,641
S4 27,283 16,785 15,991
S5 17,925 12,196 15,707
S6 11,825 7,664 7,637
All 85,667 55,202 52,976
The above forecasts are applicable to the
academic year 2002–2003, the academic year of
the school census and of the survey. For Careers
Scotland, it is no doubt interesting to note the
large numbers in Scotland’s schools that fall
into Category 2.
In focus groups, we were intrigued to find that
while some pupils without clear goals were keen
to begin thinking about their future, there were
a number who were not. Although focus group
work does not allow us to quantify the numbers
not anxious to clarify their future, we did
confirm the following interpretation with
teachers and Careers Scotland staff.
22
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
Among those not particularly keen to address
their future, the most typical explanation
suggested that they saw themselves as victims
of the future, unable to control future events.
As cited earlier, at the most extreme some seem
supported by their immediate family in not
addressing the future purposefully, hoping
"something will turn up".
concerned, but are not taking any action to
address the situation. For example, in our focus
groups, those who claimed they were likely to
seek out some form of careers advice were likely
to be pupils with some idea of what they might
like to do (such as seek a Modern
Apprenticeship, go to the local FE college or
some other broad aspiration). They were likely
to seek assistance to gather detailed knowledge
of requirements and/or to clarify their precise
focus. Many of those with no clarity as to their
future somewhat surprisingly seemed less likely
to indicate they would be taking any specific
action to become more focused regarding their
future. They were more likely to be resigned to
whatever fate brings along.
Others may be more
Selected post-school options and
self-judgments
Finally, in this section, we provide some data
relating to the apparent first choice preferences
of pupils regarding types of post-school goals.
We have combined the data across all years to
ensure we have significant numbers in the main
category choices. Great caution has to be
exercised in interpreting data where the overall
number of cases in a particular area is small.
It must be remembered that the first preference
goals, were those selected from a given list,
making it easy for everyone to select
something. This does not capture the strength
of preference.
Although considerable caution must be used in
interpreting the data, it is, rather
unsurprisingly, clear that those goals where
post school aims clearly involve further study
with education institutions (such as 3, 4, 5
and 7) generally attract particularly strong
scores. This relationship although unsurprising
is nonetheless important. Those who are most
positive about their commitment to learning in
school seem most likely to wish to continue
their learning post school: the most obvious
manifestation of this being in relation to those
students whose aim is to go on to university.
This clearly demonstrates the logical link
between commitment to learning in school and
commitment to learning beyond school.
Table 16 Self-judgments mean scores on learning engagement by goal preference
First preference goals Number Statements for self-judgment
of cases 1 2 3 4 5 6
1. Getting a steady job to earn money. 20870.0 56.4 71.3 75.3 83.0 76.6
2. Becoming a Modern Apprentice to learn a trade. 119 69.0 51.6 70.1 73.4 84.3 77.9
3. Studying full-time at university. 706 80.8 72.0 80.2 88.2 88.4 82.6
4. Studying full-time at a further education college. 186 74.4 63.0 76.2 82.1 84.3 78.0
5. Studying full-time at another type of adult college. 23 77.2 62.6 71.1 84.6 88.0 84.8
6. Joining a training programme such as Skillseekers. 13 63.8 58.9 78.1 67. 78.1 74.2
7. Getting a job and also studying part-time 10869.6 61.0 70.8 79.5 84.4 77.0
8. Taking up to a year out before deciding what to do. 89 78.1 65.6 78.1 84.2 84.3 78.5
9. Doing a variety of work to earn as much money as possible. 25 71.0 54.7 75.0 72.3 80.6 72.5
10. Leaving school and waiting to see what turns up. 13 59.5 47.9 65.4 73.4 76.862.8
Key to statements 1. The effort you put in when in classes. 2. The effort you put in to your homework. 3. Your willingness to help
classmates. 4. Being keen to do your best at school. 5. Working hard to do your best in exams. 6. Working hard to do your best in
assessments.
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
23
Aspects of
Motivation and
Views of Schooling
We were keen to capture general views of school
and pupils’ perceptions of themselves in relation
to school. This has raised a range of interesting
insights. Once more, this chapter combines
survey data with qualitative data captured
during focus groups.
Rating statements
We presented pupils with a series of statements
as part of the survey, and asked them to rate
them for agreement using a 0-10 scale where 10
represents complete agreement, 0 complete
disagreement, and 5 represents a broadly
neutral or uncertain position. This allows us to
assess the extent of agreement or disagreement.
Quality checking for no goals
We used this part of the survey to run a quality
check on our earlier estimates regarding those
with no goals. We did so by presenting the
statement
of job or career I want in the future"
calculated the percentage of respondents giving
scores of 0 to 4; in other words scores
suggesting disagreement. In the following
table, we compare the percentage disagreeing
with the statement, to the percentage of
Category 2 individuals previously presented in
table 14.
"I know (or knew) exactly the type. We then
Table 17 Comparison of percentage of Category 2
individuals and those disagreeing with the future career
statement.
School year Category 2 Disagreement
(No Goals)
S3 30.2% 31.3%
S4 27.5% 26.6%
S5 26.4% 27.5%
S6 27.4% 20.4%
With the exception of those from S6 (where we
note there was a particularly large number of
neutral scores of 5) the percentages of those
disagreeing with the above quoted statement is
very similar to the percentage selecting
themselves as Category 2 individuals. This
suggests considerable consistency in the
responses of pupils to the survey questions.
Perception ratings
Addressing the key statements relating to
school, we start by presenting data
disaggregated by school year and mean ratings.
Table 18 demonstrates that similar patterns of
responses are to be found across all years. In
most cases the differences in year scores are
small and do not suggest any material
difference in views. These aggregated responses
paint a generally positive view from our pupil
respondents regarding their attitudes towards
education. We note that positive statements
have been strongly agreed with, and negative
statements strongly disagreed with. However, it
must be kept in mind that the range of scores
in all cases was from 0–10. Thus, although this
paints the views of the great majority, there
were some who disagreed.
Table 18 Mean ratings of statements by school year
Statement S3 S4 S5 S6
1. I like (or liked) being at school. 6.15 6.47 7.01 7.74
2. I try (or tried) my best in all classes. 7.487.70 7.88 7.94
3. Leaving school as soon as possible is what I want(ed). 2.23 2.26 1.89 1.99
4. Gaining qualifications before leaving school is important. 9.14 9.24 9.22 8.97
5. I don’t want the kind of job which needs qualifications. 1.73 1.92 1.46 1.31
6. My family encourage(d) me to do well at school. 9.15 9.05 8.89 8.87
7. I don’t want to have to study after leaving school. 3.20 3.19 2.70 2.16
8. I am (or was) keen to get as many qualifications as soon as possible. 8.74 8.88 8.95 8.88
24
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
For example, over 200 individuals, making up
almost 13% of respondents, gave scores of 0 to
4 representing clear disagreement, to statement
1 regarding liking school.
More interesting still, are the findings when
disaggregated by goal category.
Here we can observe some significant
differences. In all cases, those with goals
(category 1 and category 3 individuals) gave
significantly stronger ratings to positive
statements than those without. They also gave
significantly lower ratings to negative
statements. See, for example, statement 1
where those with goals more strongly agree that
they like school and statement 5 where they
more strongly disagree that they don’t want a
job which needs qualifications.
Furthermore, taking the example of the first
statement once more, we found that over 18%
of respondents in category 2 gave scores of 0 to
4 indicating disagreement: a clear dislike of
school.
These 8 statements, testing opinion based on
statement reacting techniques, deliver the same
message as the 6 self-judgment scores discussed
in the preceding chapter: those with goals
present with more positive attitudes than those
without. If this were the case for a majority of
areas, but not all, some considerable caution in
interpretation might be in order. However, that
this is the situation across all 14 areas,
involving the use of different survey
techniques, suggests very strongly that those
with goals bring to school and schooling more
positive attitudes than those without goals.
That this analysis too is based on pupils’ selfreflections
makes it even more compelling.
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
25
Table 19 Mean rating of statements by main category of respondent
Statement Category 1 Category 2 Category 3
(Goals) (No Goals) (Goals)
1. I like (or liked) being at school. 6.83 6.15 6.93
2. I try (or tried) my best in all classes. 7.987.10 7.90
3. Leaving school as soon as possible is what I want(ed). 1.76 2.75 2.04
4. Gaining qualifications before leaving school is important. 9.32 8.84 9.31
5. I don’t want the kind of job which needs qualifications. 1.24 2.31 1.74
6. My family encourage(d) me to do well at school. 9.14 8.78 9.08
7. I don’t want to have to study after leaving school. 2.51 3.87 2.69
8. I am (or was) keen to get as many qualifications 9.19 8.32 8.89
as soon as possible.
Teachers and Careers Scotland staff
reflections
Discussions among teachers and Careers
Scotland staff suggest that this may not come
as a great surprise. Both groups of professionals
thought that pupils with clear goals were
perhaps more likely to understand the relevance
of education to their future, and some teachers
suggested it may be a source of relieving
anxieties about the future thus creating less
stress among pupils.
Although such claims could not be tested in
this study, they seem to us plausible
explanations worthy of further examination in
the future.
Perceptions by gender
We also undertook a gender analysis, and in line
with the findings regarding self-judgments, we
find that female respondents were
systematically more positive than males as
judged by mean ratings to statements.
Although in some individual cases, such as
statement 6, the difference in mean scores is of
little significance, in others, such as statement
7, the differences are relatively large.
Nevertheless, as with goals, perhaps the most
notable aspect of all is the systematic nature of
ratings across all statements. As with having
goals, being female is also associated with
ratings that are more positive across all areas.
This again was an issue which may not be
surprising to teachers. Teachers are well aware
of research showing better performance among
females, and suggested that by the senior years
of school greater maturity among female pupils
was evident at times. Nonetheless, it is
interesting to note the extent of such
differences in attitudes.
Types of goals and ratings
In terms of types of goals as selected from the
list of ten possibilities already discussed, the
agreement ratings associated with each type of
first preference goal is presented in the
following table.
Although we again remind the reader to
exercise caution in interpreting this table, we
wish to draw the attention of the reader to two
features. First, we note that only those who
gave first preferences as
programme such as Skillseekers"
school and waiting to see what turns up",
mean agreement ratings above the neutral pivot
score of 5 to statement 3. Thus, these were the
only groups which on average agreed that
"Joining a trainingor "Leavinggave
"Leaving school as soon as possible is what I
want".
first preferences as
Apprentice to learn a trade",
variety of work to earn as much money as
possible"
what turns up",
Second, we note that those who gave"Becoming a Modernor "Doing aor "Leaving school and waiting to seegave ratings above the neutral
Table 21 Mean rating of agreement by goal preference
First preference goals Number Agreement scores (see key for statements)
of cases 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1. Getting a steady job to earn money. 208 5.9 7.2 3.5 8.4 2.7 8.8 5.0 8.3
2. Becoming a Modern Apprentice to learn a trade. 119 5.5 7.0 4.4 8.7 3.0 9.0 5.3 8.2
3. Studying full-time at university. 706 7.3 8.1 1.0 9.6 1.0 9.2 1.7 9.3
4. Studying full-time at a further education college. 186 6.5 7.7 2.7 9.1 1.7 8.8 2.7 8.8
5. Studying full-time at another type of adult college. 23 6.0 8.2 2.88 .80.7 7.6 2.7 8.3
6. Joining a training programme such as Skillseekers. 13 4.86.5 5.1 9.5 2.88 .6 4.5 8.4
7. Getting a job and also studying part-time 1086.5 7.6 2.0 9.0 1.8 9.0 3.1 8.5
8. Taking up to a year out before deciding what to do. 89 6.4 7.6 2.0 9.4 1.8 9.1 3.4 9.0
9. Doing a variety of work to earn as much money as possible. 25 5.5 6.9 3.89.2 3.2 9.0 6.4 8.5
10. Leaving school and waiting to see what turns up. 13 5.0 6.9 6.9 6.9 4.7 8.5 5.9 6.7
Key 1. I like (or liked) being at school. 2. I try (or tried) my best in all classes. 3. Leaving school as soon as possible is what I want(ed). 4. Gaining
qualifications before leaving school is important. 5. I don’t want the kind of job which needs qualifications. 6. My family encourage(d) me to do well at
school. 7. I don’t want to have to study after leaving school. 8. I am (or was) keen to get as many qualifications as soon as possible.
26
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
Table 20 Mean rating of statements by gender
Statement Male Female
1. I like (or liked) being at school. 6.586.72
2. I try (or tried) my best in all classes. 7.53 7.87
3. Leaving school as soon as possible is what I want(ed).2.25 2.05
4. Gaining qualifications before leaving school 9.11 9.23
is important.
5. I don’t want the kind of job which needs qualifications. 1.99 1.43
6. My family encourage(d) me to do well at school. 8.98 9.06
7. I don’t want to have to study after leaving school. 3.47 2.49
8. I am (or was) keen to get as many qualifications 8.71 8.98
as soon as possible.
pivot score of 5 to statement 7. Thus, these
were the only groups to agree on average with
the statement
after leaving school".
"I don’t want to have to study
In general terms, we would conclude from table
21 and from table 16 in the previous chapter,
that different goals are associated with
different perceptions of school, schooling and
their relationship to aspects of education. We
cannot and do not claim they are causally
connected, but they are associated with
differing perceptions.
Wanting to leave school and goals
Before leaving this section, one further issue
emerged during focus groups. In discussions,
and contrary to what might have been
expected, it appeared that pupils who were
most keen to leave school early, were often in
their focus group among the least settled
regarding what they actually wanted to do in
the future. Given that statement 3 in the above
tables (
what I want"
agreement on a 0–10 scale, we were able to
calculate correlation coefficients for wanting to
leave school in relation to all other rating type
statements.
Furthermore, as was reported earlier, we had
also asked respondents to rate their agreement
with the statement
job or career I want in the future".
are able to compare correlation coefficients
involving each of these two factors in relation
to the range of other variables that have been
assessed.
Table 22 following presents the correlation
coefficients in relation to the variables we have
been examining.
Table 22 makes interesting reading. In every
case the nature of the correlations are direct
opposites. When knowing the career wanted is
positively correlated with another variable,
wanting to leave school as soon as possible is
negatively correlated and vice versa.
Furthermore, although the correlations may be
weak in some cases, the general pattern is very
consistent. Thus, knowing the career wanted is
positively correlated with positive educational
attributes and wanting to leave school as early
as possible is negatively correlated.
This is further support for the argument that
there is some association between having career
goals and positive educational attributes, but it
also suggests those who want to leave school as
soon as possible are likely to have negative
"Leaving school as soon as possible is) allowed respondents to rate for"I know exactly the type ofWe therefore
Table 22 Correlation coefficients
Statements Variable 1 Variable 2
Correlation Correlation
Coefficients Coefficients
a. I like (or liked) being at school. -0.42 +0.07
b. I try (or tried) my best in all classes. -0.21 +0.09
c. Gaining qualifications before leaving school is important. -0.32 +0.02
d. I don’t want the kind of job which needs qualifications. +0.30 -0.05
e. My family encourage(d) me to do well at school. -0.125 +0.05
f. I don’t want to have to study after leaving school. +0.344 -0.13
g. I am (or was) keen to get as many qualifications as soon as possible. -0.30 +0.10
h. The effort you put in when in classes. -0.27 +0.11
i. The effort you put in to your homework. -0.30 +0.10
j. Your willingness to help classmates. -0.14 +0.10
k. Being keen to do your best at school. -0.32 +0.13
l. Working hard to do your best in exams. -0.18+0.17
m. Working hard to do your best in assessments. -0.18+0.15
Variable 1: Wanting to leave school as soon as possible
Variable 2: Knowing exactly the kind of career wanted
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
27
views of their relationship to aspects of
schooling. This resonated strongly with the
evidence being picked up in focus groups, and
led us into exploring in further depth the
reaction of pupils to the school experience.
Is school interesting or boring?
In focus groups we asked pupils to indicate how
far they found school interesting, enjoyable or
boring, and why. We found that for many, the
most positive feature of school was the
camaraderie of mixing with friends. Even some
who disliked classes, liked the social aspects of
school. Perhaps unsurprisingly, those most likely
to say they enjoyed the educational aspects
were those who were successful educationally.
Those who disliked school in the main used a
variety of ways of conveying this, but one
aspect, which continually was mentioned was,
"it’s boring".
through discussion what made things boring.
Interestingly, and particularly in the light of
this study, the most common explanation
offered was that they were being taught things
they didn’t need. Typical of comments was
We sought, therefore, to test out
"there’s nae point tae it. Whit guid is poetry
when I’m goin’ tae join the army?"
trigonometry, who needs it?"
it appears that a key feature of boredom is that
pupils are not making the connection between
what they are being taught at school and the
world beyond school.
The reverse situation lends support to this
interpretation. For example, one group of S6
pupils (all destined for university) were able to
relate what they were studying to a range of
factors beyond school. These explanations
included future work as in
a good job after university, I’ll need to be good
at using the English language…"
pupils were able to relate their studies to more
than the world of work. It related too, to their
post school education;
getting enough Highers to go to Glasgow
University, its about making sure I can make
the most of it when I get there… My uncle told
me that psychology involves quite a lot of
statistics, so I wanted to keep my Maths going
in sixth year."
the group also argued that school education
was about enhancing their quality of life, as
when one argued that
get to university)
able to take part in musical activities in the
future… I also think doing something because
you like it, makes some of the other classes a
bit more acceptable."
pupils seem in part to relate to their ability to
make a connection between schoolwork and life
beyond school.
Boredom then seems in some part to reflect a
lack of understanding of the connection
between school subjects and life beyond school.
We chose to explore this further in focus
groups, aimed at finding out if it was likely to
be solely a function of school, or if other
factors were involved.
It was therefore particularly interesting to find
out the reaction of pupils when asked what
their life was like out of school. For example,
we asked them to tell us what organised
activities they took part in outside of school,
and how far their life outside of school was
interesting or boring. What we found was
initially surprising to us, but not to teachers or
Careers Scotland staff. Those pupils who were
most likely to take part in organised activities
and "see. In other words,"If I am going to getBut these"It’s not just aboutMost insightful of all, some of"I don’t need Music (tobut I like it and I want to beThe positive views of such
28
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
Correlation co-efficients fall into three
main categories. First, a positive
correlation will present as a positive
number above 0 and up to a maximum
of 1. The larger the number the
stronger the correlation. That is,
correlating factor A with factor B, if a
positive correlation exists it means that
increases in A are associated with
increases in B. Second, a negative
correlation will present as a negative
number below 0 and towards the
maximum value of –1. That is,
correlating factor A with factor B, if a
negative correlation exists it means
that increases in A are associated with
decreases in B. Third, no correlation is
present if the correlation co-efficient is
0. This means there is no discernable
association between the factors.
outside school, were in fact those who seemed
most positive about school. Furthermore, those
who said school was really boring, were also the
most likely to describe their life in general as
boring. This even seemed to apply to part-time
work out of school. In our focus groups, it
appeared that those pupils who were reasonably
positive about school were most likely to have
some kind of part-time job.
In a very real sense, some pupils, and we
estimate at least 20% of those who took part in
focus groups, seem to have little skill in how to
create a more purposeful and interesting life for
themselves. This also seems to be related to
living in difficult and often poor circumstances.
There would, therefore, seem to be some
grounds for believing that the numbers
presented in earlier tables suggesting those
without clear goals were less positive about
aspects of school, may in fact reflect an
inability on their part to link schooling with
their life and future life beyond school. This
suggests a complex situation which will not be
amenable to easy or simplistic solutions.
Linking school subjects to post
school contexts
However, perhaps most important of all is the
fact that high achievers appear better able to
link the content of what they are being taught
to a variety of post school contexts, and this
adds to their motivation to do well in school.
Styles of education and activity
We also explored the styles of education
preferred. We did so by asking first of all which
subjects or activities at school were most liked.
For those not intent on pursuing an academic
career beyond school, the most frequent
answers were, firstly,
do things, like PE"
experience placements which the majority of
pupils in our focus groups experienced and also
highly valued while in S4. Work experience was
highly valued for a variety of reasons, but
notably because it was activity based and
because pupils could make sense of the
experience, seeing it could be of some relevance
to their life beyond school.
However, a criticism of work experience was
that it lasted only for one week, and could only
be experienced once. As a number of pupils
pointed out, it was valuable for them in
deciding not to pursue a job in the area of their
work experience, but they did not get the
chance to try a different type of work
experience. There was a strong demand for more
work experience type opportunities. We note
that this is in tune with the research we cited
earlier, which claimed that there is evidence
that it can encourage more positive views of
education generally.
For the more academically inclined pupils, many
wanted to see more emphasis on application of
knowledge in some subjects. Most noticeable
here was mathematics, where some Higher
Mathematics pupils would have liked to see
more applied mathematics rather than what is
perceived as mainly theoretical study.
Indeed, one mathematics teacher was strongly
sympathetic, saying that when she was asked
why particular topics were in the mathematics
syllabus, the only honest answer she felt able
to give was
exams".
"subjects where you got toand, secondly, work"because you need it to pass your
Interestingly, many of the more academically
inclined pupils argued for the equivalent of a
work experience programme for them in 5th or
6th year, but focused on providing real
experience of university. There was much
support for weeklong university programmes
where they could experience the teaching and
study skills typical of university life. This was
particularly strongly supported among pupils
where none of their immediate family had any
experience of attending university.
In summary, pupils want to see more linkage
between their work in school and life beyond
school, and they want to see greater experience
based opportunities. For the non-academic pupil
in particular, life in school appears difficult to
make sense of. If it is the case that some
teachers find it difficult to link particular topics
to relevance beyond school, how much more
difficult must it be for pupils?
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
29
Educational
Ambition and Goals
Given the data on attitudes already discussed,
we sought to capture the ambition of pupils
regarding qualifications. Would the apparently
more positive attitudes among those who are
female and those with goals reveal themselves
in the form of having greater expectations or
ambitions regarding school qualifications? This
was the reason we asked respondents to
indicate what qualifications they wanted to
achieve by the time they left school. This was a
free response question, using yet another survey
device. Free response questions enable
respondents to reply as fully as they wish.
A scoring system
Responses required to be coded. Few
respondents indicated specific grades they
wanted, but did suggest qualification types and
subject. We therefore chose to develop a
scoring system which would allow us to provide
an ambition score for each respondent.
However, we also wished to relate this to
qualifications actually attained: the subject of
the next chapter. We therefore based the
scoring system on scores provided for actual
results.
The scoring system we used for actual results
was as follows:
Table 23 Scoring system for qualifications
Qualification Type Grade Achieved Point Score
Access All 10
Intermediate 1 A 40
Intermediate 1 B or C 30
Intermediate 2 A 60
Intermediate 2 B or C 50
Standard Grade 1 or 2 50
Standard Grade 3 or 4 30
Standard Grade 5 or 6 20
Higher A or B 80
Higher C 70
Advanced Higher A or B 100
Advanced Higher C 90
Based on the above, we awarded the average
points for a specific qualification to those
stated by respondents in the survey as
qualifications they wanted to achieve. Thus,
based on the above, if a respondent stated she
wanted to achieve Higher English we awarded
75 points as the average of 80 (for an A or B)
and 70 (for a C).
It is recognised that any scoring system is
arbitrary to a significant degree. What is
important is that it reflects important matters
in a systematic way. Thus, for example, we used
the Scottish Credit and Qualification System to
identify different levels. Thus, Highers are
further up the SCQF framework than Access. We
also used a scoring system to reflect gradings,
and therefore gaining a 1 or 2 at Standard
Grade attained a higher number of points than
attaining a 3 or 4.
By following the above rules, we found that
varying the level of points had no material
impact on the general pattern of results.
In addition, we discussed gradings with a small
group of teachers, including from the major
subject areas of English and Mathematics, to
ensure they made some sense from their
perspective.
We then established the rule that if a
qualification was sought at a variety of levels,
for example if a respondent indicated they
wanted to achieve both a Standard Grade and a
Higher English, we would credit only the points
for the highest level qualification sought in the
particular subject area.
This, therefore, produced an overall score for
each respondent which reflects the level of
attainment sought, and also the breadth of
subjects studied.
Based on this, we have analysed qualifications
sought, by the same variables as have proved
meaningful in earlier chapters. Let us turn now
to our findings.
30
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
Qualifications sought by key groupings
First, we provide mean point scores by school
year of respondents.
Table 24 Mean qualification point score by school year
S3 S4 S5 S6 All
Mean qualification score 322 374 405 370 365
Mean deviation 125 126 124 156 132
The mean deviation is a measure of spread
around the mean score. Put simply, it gives the
average point difference each respondent is
distant from the mean. The above suggests a
wide dispersal of scores and ambitions in each
of the years.
The data paints a picture of rising ambition
through S3, S4 and S5, but falling back in S6.
(However, inspection of survey documents
suggests to us that S6 respondents in particular
are likely to have under-reported, particularly of
results previously attained in S4.)
In earlier analysis, we noticed that there were
significant gender divisions. In particular, we
noted that female pupils were generally more
positive about their contribution within school,
and also generally more positive about key
aspects of education. That being the case, we
might expect to see this reflected in higher
ambition from females: and so it proves as can
be seen from table 25.
Table 25 Mean qualification point score by gender
Female Male
Mean qualification score 378351
Mean deviation 130 132
By a mere 2 points, the female distribution is
slightly more clustered around the mean than is
the case with the male distribution. More importantly
however, we note that the mean score for
all females is significantly higher, indeed some
27 points higher, than male respondent scores.
This suggests that the earlier noted more
positive attitudes of females, may be linked to
higher educational ambition.
The key question now is whether the more
positive attitudes of those category 1 and
category 3 individuals (that is those with goals)
is similarly linked to greater educational ambition.
Table 26 confirms this indeed is the case.
Table 26 Mean qualification score by goals category
Category
1 2 3
(Goals) (No Goals) (Goals)
Mean qualification score 376 329 388
Mean deviation 126 135 127
Table 26 presents a clear picture in some key
regards. Respondents with no goals are significantly
less ambitious in terms of their educational
hopes than those with goals. Indeed,
category 2 individuals are 47 points lower than
category 1 and 59 points lower than category 3
individuals in terms of educational ambition.
This is an even stronger difference than has
been found when disaggregating by gender. It
is therefore more significant than gender.
Interestingly, those with goals are slightly
tighter in terms of distribution around the
mean. In other words, slightly more
homogeneous in terms of educational ambition
than those without clear goals.
Given the scale of our survey, and the size of
differences, these are significant differences
unlikely to occur by chance. Although they do
not prove any causal connection, they are of a
scale that it would be unwise to ignore the data.
Teacher and Careers Scotland staff
reflections
We discussed the above data with teachers and
Careers Scotland staff. They readily provided a
series of explanations, some of which we have
already recounted in this report. The point we
make here is that for the great majority of staff,
this resonated with their own expectations. The
data therefore lends weight to the more
intuitive insights of staff who believe there is a
connection between pupils having clear goals,
and having a clearer sense of why school is
important to their future.
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
31
Goals and
Educational
Attainment
Some weeks after our survey, pupils in S4, 5
and 6 throughout Scotland sat their end of
academic year examinations. We had sought
individual permission to subsequently access
their results from the Scottish Qualifications
Authority, who had indicated a willingness to
assist in the study. A majority of survey
respondents had agreed to us accessing their
results.
However, by Autumn of 2003 it became clear
that there were some practical difficulties in
accessing results in this way, and we had to
revert to asking Careers Scotland staff to access
results directly from each individual.
Given both the timing (after all S6, and some
S4 and S5 had left school) and the practical
issues involved, we are deeply grateful to the
staff of Careers Scotland for having provided the
results which have enabled us to complete this
part of the study.
Scale of results
Only S4, S5 and S6 pupils sat examinations, and
therefore this chapter does not include data
from S3 pupils. Not all pupils agreed to release
results, and in addition, not all individuals were
able to be contacted to confirm their individual
results. However, as the following table reveals
we have captured a significant majority of
results overall and particularly for S4 and S5.
Table 27 Comparison of questionnaire returns and
examination results data
Year Survey Exam Results
respondents Respondents
*
S4 568403 (71.0%)
S5 353 253 (71.7%)
S6 197 63 (32.0%)
Total 1118719 (64.3%)
* As %ge of survey responses
Examination results from over 70% of S4 and S5
survey respondents were accessed. However, it
was only possible to access results from 32% of
our S6 survey respondents. In some of the
tables to follow, we disaggregate data only for
S4 and S5. We omit S6 disaggregation because
of the small number of cases in some
categories.
Actual results
The following tables present actual results
achieved from our respondents. As is evident,
the patterns found throughout this study are
maintained. We start by reviewing results by
year. It should be kept in mind the points
reflect the actual results and grades received,
and therefore are based on slightly more
sophisticated scoring than expected results.
Thus, although the general pattern of results
can be compared with the general pattern of
expected scores, we cannot make a direct
comparison of specific scores.
Table 28 Actual result scores by school year
S4 S5 S6
Mean qualification score 312 413 473
Mean deviation 72 99 111
As can be seen, the pattern of results actually
obtained, is as would be expected. As pupils go
through the final years accumulating
qualifications their points scores are rising on
average. So too, however, is the range of
attainments as indicated by the rising mean
deviation. Remembering that our scoring system
ensures a reflection of level and breadth, the
above scores are in keeping with what might be
expected.
More interesting from the study point of view, is
to compare overall results on the basis of
gender. As the reader will be aware there is a
considerable body of research which
demonstrates females tend to achieve more at
school than males. We saw earlier that they
were more ambitious regarding achievement,
and as the following Table indicates, this is
reflected in the points scores actually obtained.
32
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
Table 29 Actual results by gender
Female Male
Mean qualification score 365 336
Mean deviation 93 87
This confirms that females perform to a higher
standard than males in terms of educational
performance as measured by our scale. The 29-
point difference is significant, and is entirely in
tune with all earlier findings where females
scored higher by the range of positive
indicators used in this study. The range of
scores as measured by the mean deviation
indicates a slightly wider distribution of scores
for females in comparison with males in our
sample.
Turning to consider results of respondents based
on whether or not respondents had clear goals,
we find confirmation that goals are a significant
indicator of educational performance.
Table 30 Actual results by goal category
Category
1 2 3
(Goals) (No Goals)(Goals)
Mean qualification score 361 334 358
Mean deviation 86 97 90
Once more, we find a significant difference
between the scores of those who have goals
and those who have not. Indeed, the points
differences of 27 points comparing category 1
and 2 individuals, and 24 points of a difference
comparing category 3 and 2 individuals, means
that the difference between having goals and
not having goals is of a very similar order of
magnitude to gender differences. We note that
the category 2 cohort with no clear goals has a
slightly wider distribution of scores than the
two other categories with goals.
Furthermore, further disaggregation allows us to
confirm the consistency of such findings. For
example, disaggregating by both goals and
gender shows us that goals are significant for
both females and males.
Table 31 Actual results by goal category and gender
Female Male
Category 1 (Goals) 371 346
Category 2 (No Goals) 340 328
Category 3 (Goals) 382 336
Here we see that differences hold good when
categories are further disaggregated by gender.
Having goals is associated with higher results
scores for both sexes.
The relationship also holds good when
disaggregated category by school year as the
following Table shows for S4 and S5. We did not
disaggregate for S6 since some cells would have
been based on too few numbers for the results
to have been robust.
Table 32 Actual results by goal category by S4 and S5
S4 S5
Category 1 (Goals) 322 426
Category 2 (No Goals) 298375
Category 3 (Goals) 312 428
It is interesting to note that the divergence in
scores between having goals and no goals is
very pronounced in the case of our S5
respondents.
Finally, Careers Scotland at the time of an oral
presentation of results, explained that they
were interested in whether or not these findings
were true for different types of school. There
was a particular interest in schools operating in
different circumstances which was likely to be
reflected in different patterns of performance.
We interrogated the data and believe that our
analysis is true for different categories of
school.
For example, earlier in this report we indicated
that the schools in our sample spanned a wide
range of geographic areas, of scale and of
educational performance (as SCQF attainment).
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
33
Table 33 reports on actual results for those
schools in the top two performance quartiles
(that is top 50% of schools in terms of Higher
results) compared to schools in the bottom two
quartiles. Once more we see the data displays
the same pattern.
Table 33 Actual results by goal category by "Highers"
performance of school
Top two Bottom two
quartile quartile
schools schools
Category 1 (Goals) 363 355
Category 2 (No Goals) 349 326
Category 3 (Goals) 372 367
Thus, whether the school is in the top 50% of
performers in Scotland, or in the bottom 50%,
the pattern of results remains consistent. We
would also point out however that the
difference in attainment comparing those with
no goals to those with goals is greatest
amongst schools in the bottom 50%.
Discussion of results
We believe the above tables provide a
compelling set of data. Disaggregated in a
number of important ways, we find a consistent
message. Regardless of whether you are male or
female, and regardless of your year of study,
and regardless of whether you are or are not in
a top performing school in terms of Highers,
having goals is associated with ending up with
a better set of examination results as measured
by our points system.
Therefore, there is a link between having goals
and educational attainment. The link is a
positive one: having clear goals is associated
with stronger educational performance in
school.
This is a simple, but arguably important
conclusion. We now move on to discuss the
importance of the findings of this study.
34
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
Reflections on
Findings
The results of this study may not allow us to
infer causal connections because of the
complexity of issues involved in both
educational attainment and goal setting, but
such is the consistency and strength of both
the quantitative and qualitative data, it would
in our judgment be very unwise not to take
these findings into account.
In particular, we believe the results deserve
consideration on a number of fronts.
Policy makers
This study should be considered as a
contribution to the evidence base used by
education policy makers. It would seem wise,
for example, to review the need to embed
awareness of the issues discussed in this report
among the wider educational community,
perhaps as part of in-service training or special
briefing arrangement.
Furthermore, there would appear to be scope for
improving amongst teachers and pupils alike an
understanding of the link between subject
curriculum and the world beyond school. This
could take a number of forms, some of which
are outlined more fully in our recommendations
section which follows.
There would also appear to be a case for
ensuring that work experience opportunity is
maximised for pupils who intend moving from
school directly into the labour market, and
considering work experience programmes at
university for S5/6 pupils contemplating the
move to higher education.
These are only some of the matters that seem
to us to merit consideration by policy makers.
We have therefore made a range of
recommendations relevant to the policy
community in the following section.
Teachers and Careers Advisers
Much of this study may not come as a surprise
to teachers and Careers Advisers, but the report
should provide a good deal of evidence to
support their professional insights. In particular,
this study contains evidence that may be of
value in their professional work with pupils and
parents.
The evidence within this study arguably
supports the case for closer working together
between Careers Advisers and teachers. We make
a number of recommendations in the next
section as to how this may be taken forward.
Of particular importance could be teachers and
Careers Advisers working together to map out
the connections between subject content taught
in schools and its relevance in the wider world,
including the world of work.
Pupils
Given the importance of this study to pupils, it
makes sense to consider how best the lessons of
this study can be used to influence the
perceptions of young people.
As we recommend later, there may be a case for
developing case studies that can be used at an
early stage in careers guidance work to help
pupils understand the connection between
setting goals and school experience. For example,
drawing to pupils attention the fact that those
with clear goals not only seem to benefit in
terms of school performance, but also enjoy
school more than those without goals, may help
them reflect more purposefully on goal setting.
Perhaps of even greater importance to pupils, it
would be helpful if clearer linkages could be
made between subject content and life beyond
school, as discussed above.
CAREER GOALS AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
35
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