{"id":71123,"date":"2023-12-19T00:50:41","date_gmt":"2023-12-19T05:50:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=71123"},"modified":"2023-12-19T00:50:41","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T05:50:41","slug":"university-isnt-right-for-everyone-pushing-young-people-to-go-can-have-devastating-effects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/university-isnt-right-for-everyone-pushing-young-people-to-go-can-have-devastating-effects\/","title":{"rendered":"University isn\u2019t right for everyone. Pushing young people to go can have devastating effects"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nAustralian school students feel immense pressure to go to university, often at the exclusion of all other pathways, which can lead to devastating mental health effects.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s among the headline findings of our decade-long program of research on the aspirations and post-school trajectories of young Australians.<\/p>\n

Our\u00a0research<\/a>, published today in the journal\u00a0Educational Review<\/a>, reveals the unintended consequences of government higher education policies, inadequate school career advice, and a wider public devaluing of the vocational education and training sector.<\/p>\n

Our research<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Since 2012, we\u2019ve conducted one of the largest\u00a0studies<\/a>\u00a0to date on the aspirations of Australian youth, involving more than 10,000 students in Years 3-12.<\/p>\n

Recently, we followed up with 50 of these young people\u00a0post-school<\/a>\u00a0to see where they ended up in terms of their career and educational pathways.<\/p>\n

Our findings reveal some significant and, at times, devastating insights into how young Australians \u2013 particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds \u2013 have experienced the \u201cpush\u201d towards higher education.<\/p>\n

Pressure to attend university and the devaluing of TAFE<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The young people in our research consistently said university was explicitly pushed as the only post-school pathway worth pursuing during their schooling. Other pathways were often deemed to be \u201cnot good enough\u201d. One university graduate told us:
\nI think there\u2019s quite a lot actually of [\u2026] pressure given, not from all teachers, but some teachers, to really go towards higher education [\u2026] I\u2019d say I felt pressured as a group, or as like, as a generation [\u2026] I just think that was just an overarching expectation.<\/em><\/p>\n

This pressure frustrated some students. Angus* fulfilled his dream of becoming a chef by training at TAFE and eventually working in a top restaurant in London. In his first interview in 2014 he described restaurants as a place he \u201cfits in\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, he also told us he had been repeatedly told by his teachers that \u201ccheffing\u2019s a horrible job\u201d:
\nAlmost every teacher at my school wanted to push me into their career path, [and I was told], \u2018You\u2019re very smart [\u2026] you should go to uni\u2019 [otherwise I] might not become successful [\u2026] They always pushed me towards university. Regardless of what my feelings were, to be honest, I never felt truly supported by my career adviser.<\/em><\/p>\n

Limited career education in school<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Young people also overwhelmingly said the career education provided at school was unhelpful, impersonal, and pushed them towards university.<\/p>\n

Career guidance was mainly focused on achieving a high ATAR (university entrance rank), with one student describing how her career adviser spent \u201cmore time trying to calculate my ATAR than imparting actual advice\u201d.<\/p>\n

Alternative entry pathways into university often weren\u2019t openly discussed or fully understood. Such pathways were often devalued in favour of achieving the best ATAR possible. One young person told us:
\nI think with the pressure in schools on ATARs and that sort of thing \u2013 and they have to put that pressure on because they want you to do well. But it sort of develops a stigma around, well, if I don\u2019t do Year 11 and 12 [\u2026], then I can\u2019t get into university, without [young people understanding] there\u2019s actually [alternative] pathways.<\/em><\/p>\n

Stress and poor mental health<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Many young people therefore felt high levels of stress and poor mental health during the final years of high school and the beginning of university, with some \u201closing the plot\u201d or feeling \u201cburnt out\u201d.<\/p>\n

The most extreme mental ill health reported in our interviews was experienced by Dahlia, a young Indigenous woman.<\/p>\n

When we first spoke to her in 2016, she was a high achieving Year 11 student with aspirations to become a criminal psychologist.<\/p>\n

When we next spoke to her in 2021, she described how the pressure of Year 12 caused her to drop out of school. During this year, Dahlia had severe mental ill health and made an attempt to end her life.<\/p>\n

She later completed a traineeship in early childhood and care, before entering university to study a combined degree in primary and early childhood teaching. Dahlia was eager for her experience to be a warning about the pressure and stress of Year 12 exams:
\nIt was just a burn out, like, I was just so overwhelmed. I felt like I was so pressured to do the best and I felt like I wasn\u2019t the best [\u2026] then I\u2019d get anxiety about not being as good as everyone thinks I am [\u2026] that\u2019s why I really wanted to do this interview, because I wanted to put it out there that high school is not the be all, end all [\u2026] getting that high [Year 12] mark isn\u2019t the be all, end all.<\/em><\/p>\n

Where to from here?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The pressure to attend university compounds stress and poor mental health for some young people. This isn\u2019t surprising given the transition to adulthood is the peak period for the\u00a0onset of mental disorders<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We must urgently address the limited career education available to students and the narrow version of success linked to\u00a0Year 12 exams and the ATAR<\/a>\u00a0in schools and society.<\/p>\n

This would involve:<\/p>\n