Faculty of Education - Theses

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Author: Kidd, Garry J. × End date: 1987 × Start date: 1987 × Type: Masters Research thesis ×

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    The predictive power of measured interests in tertiary course choice: the case of science
    Kidd, Garry J. ( 1987)
    The importance of career considerations in the processes which determine participation in science and mathematics in secondary school is rarely disputed. Similarly, vocational goals appear to be influential in the process of choosing a course of tertiary study. There are, however, few examples in the literature of the behavioural sciences where measures of occupational interests have been employed in empirical studies of students' school subject or tertiary course choices. In this study, Holland's (1973, 1985) theory of personalities and occupational environments is advanced as an integrative conceptual framework for the exploration of educational issues such as participation and tertiary course choice. It is proposed that a longitudinal study entailing examination of the structural relations between measured occupational interests, school subjects studied, and choice of tertiary field of study, will provide evidence of a substantive and profound relationship. The participants in the study were three cohorts of male Year 10 students (N = 262) attending a single - sex independent school in Melbourne. The Career Assessment Inventory and tests of scholastic aptitude were completed by all Year 10 students in 1981, 1982, and 1983. Other sources of data included details of school subjects studied by the cohorts in Years 11 and 12, final examination results (Year 12), and details of their VUAC applications for college or university courses. Measured interests and school subjects studied were classified in terms of Holland's RIASEC typology, and the applicants' tertiary course preferences were considered in terms of an hierarchical structure of Victorian tertiary courses. A basic causal model of tertiary course choice facilitated a structural analysis of the relations between the variables of interest. The results of the application of multivariate and simple bivariate analyses to the data indicated a clear pattern of strong relationships between occupational interests measured in Year 10, school subjects studied in Years 11 and 12, and preference for science and technology college or university courses. Two elaborations of the basic causal model provided data for an analysis of the effects of a more comprehensive set of interests contrasts on the criterion, and data for estimates of proportion of variance accounted for by the combination of variables included in the basic model. A substantial proportion of the variance in science and mathematics subjects actually studied in Years 11 and 12, and in first preference for a science and technology field of tertiary study, was explained by interests measured in Year 10. The results of the investigation provide compelling evidence of the predictive power of measured interests in tertiary course choice, particularly in the case of science. The results are considered within the conceptual framework provided by Holland's (1985) account of the developmental antecedents of career decision making. Implications for educational and vocational counselling are discussed; the application of Holland's theory to the educational domain is held to support the notion of its generality.