Loading
Between July and September 2023, the department’s researchers interviewed more than 16,000 young people, who had completed or left high school the previous year, about their post-school choices.
The department says that creative arts, management and commerce continue to decline in popularity for those finishing year 12, while some societal divides remain entrenched.
Students from government schools are less likely to go to university than their non-government-educated counterparts, girls are more likely than boys to pursue a degree and students from the regions and the bush show a preference for vocational training or apprenticeships.
Paul Kidson, an expert in educational leadership with the Australian Catholic University, told The Age the choices of many of the young people in the survey were likely to have been heavily influenced by the experience of the state’s long COVID lockdowns in their final years of high school.
“Campus life is something that students really missed during those extended lockdowns, that’s in secondary schools,” the academic said.
“So it could well be that they’re saying, ‘well, I want to look at being part of an educative campus life experience that I missed out in my senior years.’ ”
Kidson added that modern high school graduates displayed a high degree of flexibility with their choices.
Loading
“Recently graduating cohorts … are more flexible and varied in their motivations,” the former school principal said.
“Some of them might go, ‘I’ll try a little bit of this, I’ll try a little bit of that, and if that doesn’t work out, that’s okay. It’s not my whole career.’ ”
Get the day’s breaking news, entertainment ideas and a long read to enjoy. Sign up to receive our Evening Edition newsletter here.
