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Do students know the education required to achieve their career objectives? Is this information related to their education pathways? To address these questions, the Youth in Transition Survey (YITS), Cohort A is used to compare high school students' perceptions of the level of education they will require for the job they intend to hold at age 30, with the level required according to professional job analysts at Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC). Given the structure of the HRSDC rating, the focus is on students intending to work in a job, which according to HRSD requires a university degree. The correlation between the knowledge of educational requirements and future university enrolment is then examined.
Two questions in YITS are used to measure student perceptions of educational requirements for their intended career. The first question is:
- "What kind of career or work would you be interested in having when you are about 30 years old? (Tell us one only)."
The answers to this question are coded into the NOC (National Occupational Classification), which contains information on educational requirements, based on employer interviews conducted by professional job analysts at HRSDC. The skill level is meant to reflect the most commonly accepted level recognized by employers for entry into an occupation. Of the four skill levels, the only one that clearly corresponds to a well-defined education level is skill level A (a university degree). For this reason, our study focuses on students who aspire to work in a job which, according to HRSDC requires a university degree.
The second question used to measure student perceptions of educational requirements for their intended career is:
- "How much education do you think is needed for this type of work? (MARK ALL THAT APPLY.)"
The education students believe is required for their intended occupation is then compared with the HRSDC benchmark. The results suggest that about three out of four students who intend to work in a job requiring a university degree are aware of the education they will require. Evidence suggests that knowledge of educational requirements is related to academic performance and socio-economic background. Differences by intended occupation are quite small. Moreover, students who know that a university degree is required are more likely to attend university, even after accounting for differences in academic performance, sex, and socioeconomic background. In fact, the knowledge of educational requirements is as strongly related to university attendance as other well-documented correlates such as sex, academic performance, and parental education. Finally, higher university attendance rates are observed when students learn earlier (rather than later), that a university degree is required for their intended job.
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