Career Guidance – Choose subjects with your future in mind

Grade 9-learners are currently wrestling a very difficult issue: choosing which subjects they will take with them for the rest of their school careers, and ultimately be tested on during the National Senior Certificate exams in 2017. There are many factors that need to be taken into consideration, and it is an exceptionally hard choice to make, which will have a profound impact for the rest of their lives.

“Grade 9s must choose their subjects with care, and not before they have thoroughly done their homework about the implications of their choice,” says Dr Felicity Coughlan, Director of The Independent Institute of Education, SA’s largest and most accredited private higher education institution.

“Although it’s a big ask for 15-year olds to make such an important decision at a relatively young age, it should be looked at as an exciting first step into their future as adults. And if they stick to certain guidelines, the challenge can certainly become less intimidating,” she says.

Here’s how:

WHO DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP? WORK FROM THERE…

Many young people will hope to pass matric well enough to be able to study further. Some will have aspirations for degrees that are very strict about required subjects and performance. If you are clear about what you want to do, check out the websites of both public and private higher education institutions to verify their requirements, and let that guide your subject choices.                Very importantly, look at a range of different institutions and courses within your field to allow yourself some choice after matric.

WHAT IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?

For those who are not yet 100% sure about what they want to be when they grow up, Coughlan suggests making choices that will keep a wide range of options open.

“There is a list of designated subjects which are the ones that higher education institutions require for admission.  Ensure that all your subjects are drawn from that list, unless you are absolutely sure you want to pursue a career that won’t require higher education. But don’t make that decision lightly, as you may well change your mind later on.”

GATEWAY SUBJECTS LEAVE YOU WITH ROOM TO MANOEUVRE LATER

Certain subjects such as Maths and Science allow you to keep your options open, as many areas of further study require them. If you are one of the many who struggle with precisely these subjects, it may be worth keeping only one of them so that you can focus your efforts.  Maths Literacy must only be taken as a last resort, as doing so will severely limit your choices.

WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY?

It is so important to pursue a field which genuinely interests you, as the vast majority of your life will be spent working, and everything is just so much better when you do something you love.

Determine which subjects mirror your interests and career dreams, and include them.

WHAT ARE YOU GOOD AT?

Choose at least two subjects that you really enjoy and in which you can do well – even if your friends think those are not ‘cool’ or ‘real’ subjects.   Remember that admission to higher education is performance-based, so it makes sense to do very well in some subjects rather than badly in all of them because you chose only gateway subjects.

For example, if you know you will need Maths but are struggling with it, it may make sense not to do Science and instead to do a subject that requires less mathematics, such as Hospitality, so that you can raise your overall score.  This will also help to reduce your stress and enable you to give more time to Maths so that you can do better in that challenging subject.

BRING ON THE WORLD OF WORK!

If you don’t want to pursue a degree after matric, making subject choices will be a more flexible endeavour. The South African National Senior Certificate has four levels of pass. One of them is the degree pass, but you could also qualify for diploma or higher certificate study. These two qualifications, which are normally vocationally or career-focused, could give you access straight to the world of work and even degree study if you wanted to do this later.

There are also options in public and private FET Colleges, or you may even want to start your own business. In these cases, a pass that enables access to higher education may not be as important, and it makes sense to include Business or Information Technology-geared subjects.

ABOVE ALL, REMEMBER:

Keep your options as wide open as you can for as long as you can, so that if your needs and interests and aspirations change by the time you are 17, you are not boxed into a corner by the decisions you made today.