Career orientation of secondary school students (m/f) in the Netherlands

Abstract

In this paper, a new perspective is developed to promote a positive relationship between young people and technology. An in-depth study of the values young Dutch secondary school students feel are essential in their future profession was made. Following organisational psychologist Edgar Schein, we distinguish career anchors, each with their own core value. These core values show that differences between young people are considerable and explain why it is often so difficult to get grip on the decisive factors in the choice of a career. Although all girls have to deal with the masculine image of technology, they are not a homogenuous group as they pursue different values. Many of the anchors can be fullfilled by following study and career path in technology. However, current careers in technology are insufficiently associated with values such as creativity, service, autonomy and entrepeneurial. The educational system has been emphasizing the functional, expert anchor, but is gradually changing and preparing for the rise of the creative society that has been described by the economist Richard Florida. In contrast with Schein, we show that career anchors can already be indentified in secondary school students and added a new anchor identity.