Galina Akhmerova: ‘It’s easier for young people to go into a field knowing what exactly awaits them there’
Labour market expert — about the problem of 40% of Russian school graduates who have not decided on their path
Over 1,1 million first-year students have started the academic year in Russia. IT specialties have been especially popular with them. Applicants from all over the country submitted more than 1,5 million applications for them, and all budget places for them, which is more than 24,5 thousand, have been closed. Nevertheless, in the spring, over 40% of Russian school graduates did not know where to study. Why and how companies should build communication with the younger generation — Galina Akhmerova, the founder of the Darwin Foundation for the Development of Accessibility of Modern Education, former top manager of BARS Group, and creator of the mobile application for career guidance of teenagers Round, writes about this in the author's column for Realnoe Vremya.
What profession should I choose?
More than 40% of the eleventh-graders surveyed in Russia in the spring have not decided on the choice of their professional path.
"42% of eleventh-graders have not decided on a profession at the moment and do not know who they want to become in the future. 30% say that they have already chosen their vocation. 28% of teenagers believe that it is not worth planning in the current situation, since life is too unpredictable," it was reported in the materials of the educational company Maximum Education.
Only one third of graduates decided on a profession, and 21% of them choose a creative profession, 17% choose the direction of information technology, 9% see themselves in psychology, 7% — scientists, and 6% preferred to be doctors, teachers, lawyers.
Thus, we have 70% of schoolchildren who either have not decided on a profession or do not see the point in it. There were a lot of comments to the previous article that young people do not want to be engineers because of low wages, but here are pure statistics that show that the problem is not in the engineer's salary, but that the children simply do not know where to go and who to be.
“The school, first of all, prepares for passing the Unified State Exams”
This is due to the fact that most choose a specialty based on a set of USEs, which they will be able to pass for higher scores. Today, the school primarily prepares for passing the state exams, not for graduates to be ready for adulthood and understand who they really want to be.
For help and direction tips, we, caring adults, and career guidance programmes are there. The Round app allows students to try different directions, go through micro-training and already be immersed in the environment. It will be easier for young people to go into the sphere knowing exactly what awaits them there.
The school-colleges/universities-employer relationship is very important and necessary in modern realities. Since it is the employer who is the most interested person in this chain. Already in September-October, we will organise Round fest: tech, which will bring together various technology companies to declare themselves to future potential employees and interest the younger generation.
Considering that statistics show that 70% of schoolchildren do not know where to go, the beginning of the school year is a great opportunity to show them different directions.
Reference
The author's opinion may not coincide with the position of the editorial board of Realnoe Vremya.