In Wave 3 of the GENERATION Survey conducted in 2024, Year 12 students were asked where and to whom they had turned to for advice when planning for their future. Overall 95% of Year 12 students reported undertaking at least one activity to help them with their future planning. A high proportion of students were turning to teachers and career advisors within their schools. While others reported visiting a university, TAFE or private training providers or attended a careers information session at an institution. A high proportion of Year 12 students also reported they had spoken to or listened to someone in a job of interest.
Over two-thirds of Year 12 students spoke to a teacher about their career plans in the last year.
A third of Year 12 students spoke with a mentor for help to make their decision about their future.
63% of Year 12 students who planned to attend TAFE after leaving high school had spoken with their schools’ career advisor. This is compared with 61% of students who planned to attend university.
Year 12 students wanted to have better access to career advice and guidance from their school. For example one student said: “More career information and work experience opportunities”.
Overall 95% of Year 12 students reported undertaking at least one of the listed activities to help them to make decisions about their future.
Over two thirds (69%) of Year 12 students had spoken to a teacher at their school about their career plans in the last year. 56% of Year 12 students reported had either spoken with or listened to someone who worked in a job of interest. The third most popular source of information and advice for Year 12 students was their school career advisor with 55% turning to them for advice about their career plan.
Just over half (54%) of students either attended a university careers information session or visited a university campus. Around 1 in 8 (13%) students attended a TAFE or private training provider careers information session or visited a TAFE or private training provider.
Of the school sectors, Year 12 students from an Independent school were more likely to have spoken to a career advisor within the last year. 68% of students in Independent schools had spoken with a career advisor within the last year, compared to 52% of students in Government schools and 58% of students in Catholic schools.
There was also variation across states. Victoria was the state the highest proportion of students turning to their school's career advisor, with 65% of students. 59% of students in NSW, 52% of students in Queensland, 50% of students in the ACT, 47% of students in Western Australia, 44% of students in South Australia and 39% of students in Tasmania spoke with their school's career advisor in the last year.
Year 12 students were asked to imagine that they were the principal of their school and could change policies, provide extra services and supports. What would you change to give you the best chance of meeting your goals and aspirations for your final year?
One of the themes highlighted by GENERATION participants was the importance of career advice and they wanted to have better career advice or support from their school.
Year 12 students wanted their school to provide them with more information and advice for to assist them in planning for their future careers. GENERATION participants wanted all students at their schools to have access to career guidance as either one-or-one or group sessions with a career advisor or counsellor:
"A compulsory meeting with a guidance career counsellor to talk about what I want to do and how to get there and possibly pathways I should consider."
Additionally, as shown above, young people are turning to talks from professionals for career advice, qualitative results showed that several Year 12 students wanted their school to run more careers sessions or careers expos so they can hear from a range of different professionals:
"A careers day at school where we speak to people of different professions."
Additionally another student wanted their school to:
"Provide more support in career decisions eg mentoring with members of potential career contacts, work experience, etc."