Elementary Students Prefer YouTubers Over Doctors... 4 Out of 10 Middle Schoolers Say "No Desired Job"

Ministry of Education and Jikneungwon Announce '2022 Survey on Career Education Status in Elementary and Secondary Schools'
Middle and High School Students' Top Desired Occupation: Teacher

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyun-joo] Elementary school students prefer content creators such as YouTubers over doctors as their future career aspirations. About 4 out of 10 middle school students said they "have no desired occupation."

The Ministry of Education and the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training announced the results of the "2022 Elementary and Secondary Career Education Status Survey" on the 19th. The online survey was conducted from June 7 to July 20 nationwide, targeting 22,702 elementary, middle, and high school students, 11,946 parents, and 2,800 teachers.

The number one desired occupation among elementary school students has been athlete for four consecutive years (9.8%). The second place rose one rank from a year ago to teacher (6.5%). Third place was creator (6.1%), fourth was doctor (6.0%), and fifth was police officer/investigator (4.5%).

Teacher was the top desired occupation for both middle and high school students. For middle school students, the second most desired occupation was doctor (5.5%), third was athlete (4.6%), and fourth was police officer/investigator (4.3%). For high school students, the second was nurse (4.8%), third was soldier (3.6%), and fourth was police officer/investigator (3.3%).

Since COVID-19, there has been a growing trend of students responding that they have no specific career aspirations. The percentage of students with no desired occupation was 19.3% for elementary school, 38.2% for middle school, and 27.2% for high school. The Vocational Institute attributes this to restrictions on career experience activities after COVID-19 as well as the impact of changes in industries and occupations.

As for reasons for having no desired occupation, middle school students (52.5%) and high school students (47.7%) most frequently cited "I still don't know what I like." Elementary school students gave similar proportions of answers: "I don't know what I am good at (strengths) and what I am not good at (weaknesses)" (39.2%) and "I still don't know what I like" (37.8%).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.