"I Want to Be Like Son Heung-min"... 'Athlete' Ranked as No. 1 Dream Job Among Elementary Students

Teacher Remains the Top Career Choice for Middle and High School Students for 12 Consecutive Years
The Number of Students With a Dream Job Has Declined Over the Past Decade

The most desired career among elementary school students in Korea is athlete, while teacher tops the list for middle and high school students.

On July 26, the Ministry of Education and the Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI) released Issue No. 10 of the national authorized statistics report "Reading Our Education through Data," which analyzes the current status of career guidance across elementary, middle, and high schools nationwide.

According to the survey results, "athlete" ranked first as the most hoped-for occupation among elementary school students. An analysis of changes in the top three jobs for 2015, 2020, and 2025 revealed that teacher was the most preferred career in 2015, but athlete ranked number one in both the 2020 and 2025 surveys.

Second and third place were occupied by doctor and creator, respectively. In particular, the entry of creator into the top ranks is interpreted as a reflection of the expansion of the digital content industry and the impact of online platforms.

Students are performing in a talent show during the vacation ceremony in a fourth-grade classroom at an elementary school in Changwon, Gyeongnam Province. Photo by Yonhap News

Among middle and high school students, teacher has remained the most desired career for 12 consecutive years since the national statistics began compiling this data in 2015. For middle school students, athlete and doctor ranked second and third, respectively. For high school students, nurse was ranked second, while life scientists and researchers jumped to third place, a significant rise from seventh place the previous year.

In contrast, the proportion of students who answered that they had decided on a desired career dropped significantly. Among elementary school students, this rate fell by 13.2 percentage points from 91.3% in 2015 to 78.1% last year. Among middle school students, the figure dropped from 73.0% to 59.9%, marking the lowest level. Among high school students, the rate declined by 10.4 percentage points, from 81.7% to 71.3% during the same period.

High school students' career aspirations also changed. Last year, the proportion of students hoping to enter university was recorded at 64.9%. This figure continued a two-year downward trend, falling from 77.3% in 2023 to 66.5% in 2024. Meanwhile, the percentage of students planning to get a job doubled, rising from 7.0% in 2023 to 15.6% last year, and the rate of those hoping to start a business also increased from 1.0% in 2015 to 3.3% last year.

KEDI interpreted these changes as a result of a more student-driven approach to career design. With the introduction of the 2022 revised curriculum and the high school credit system, students have increasingly compared a variety of career paths—not just university admission—such as employment and entrepreneurship, choosing routes that better suit their abilities and goals.

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