You gotta have faith to achieve your goals

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Study shows a majority of students want to pursue further studies but they don't believe they can control their own career path

By staff Writer |
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A job fair in Tuen Mun. Five per cent of students wanted to work after they finished school

Are you confident in your own skills? Four in five Hong Kong students in their final year of secondary school want to continue their studies, but most do not know how to achieve their goals, or believe that they can.

A survey quizzed 2,000 Form Six pupils and found most of them lacked the confidence in their ability to control their own career path.

The survey found 67 per cent of them had low self-efficacy - or belief in themselves - which was linked to having different sorts of parents.

City University's Dr Cherry Tam Hau-lin, who helped organise the study with the Boys' and Girls' Clubs Association, said "caring and encouraging parents are more helpful in lifting self-efficacy".

The survey showed that more than 80 per cent hoped to continue studying, and 5 per cent wanted to start working when they finished school. Teaching, nursing and social work were the most popular professions, followed by the creative industries.

Interestingly, more of the people in the survey were interested in the jobs with better opportunities than well-paid ones.

However, 65 per cent said they simply did not know how to pick a career.

"The result really tells the importance of career planning for teenagers at an early stage," Tam said. The study also suggests that students lack personal experience, so schools and society need to offer more information on hands-on internships and mentorship opportunities when helping pupils with career planning.

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