Framing ‘Choices’: A longitudinal study of occupational aspirations among 13‐ to 16‐year‐olds

(1999) - Andy Furlong, Andy Biggart

Journal: Journal of Education and Work
Link:: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1363908990120102
DOI:: 10.1080/1363908990120102
Links::
Tags:: #paper #Longitudinal #Aspirations #Occupational
Cite Key:: [@furlongFramingChoicesLongitudinal1999]

Abstract

The 'framing' of occupational aspirations and expectations are examined through a longitudinal study of 13- to 16-year-olds. The relative impact of gender, social class and area on the development of occupational aspirations and expectations is assessed, together with an examination of levels of stability between the ages of 13 and 16. While males and females tend to aspire to very gender-specific occupations, ideas about the suitability of occupations areformed at a relatively early age and overall levels of change are quite small. Bivariate analysis highlights the impact of gender, area, social class and academic attainment on occupational aspirations. Multiple regression is used to assess the relative impact of factors associated with variation in status levels of occupational aspirations: after controlling for expected academic attainments, other factors were found not to have a significant impact on occupational aspirations. These findings suggest that the impact of area and social class operate via depressed academic attainments and that efforts to broaden the occupational horizons of young people need to begin prior to entry into the secondary school.

Notes

“Thesefindings suggest that the impact of area and social class operate via depressed academic attainments and that efforts to broaden the occupational horizons of young people need to begin prior to entry into the secondary school.” (Furlong and Biggart, 1999, p. 21)

“On the level of opportunity structures, social class is significantly linked to occupational aspirations, both directly and indirectly via the close relationship between class and attainment (Roberts, 1975; Marini & Greenberger, 1978; Jacobs et al., 1991).” (Furlong and Biggart, 1999, p. 22)

“Being a continuous variable measuring the relative status of occupations, the Cambridge Scale is ideally suited to the study of aspirations.” (Furlong and Biggart, 1999, p. 24)

“In this article we have shown that males and females typically aspire to very gender-specific occupations. While both aspirations and expectations tend to decline over time, ideas about the suitability of occupations are formed at an early stage and overall levels of change are quite small.” (Furlong and Biggart, 1999, p. 15)

“On the other hand, local employment contexts are central when it comes to translating aspirations in to jobs (Ashton et al., 1982)” (Furlong and Biggart, 1999, p. 16)

“we recognise that such an approach may cause additional frustrations: recent research from the United States has shown that although females are increasingly aspiring to non-traditional occupations, their ability to translate them into successful labour market outcomes has been less successful. (Levine & Zimmerman, 1995)” (Furlong and Biggart, 1999, p. 16)