0
Son Heung-min of LAFC. / Reuters-Yonhap

Athletes remained the top career choice for elementary school students. Meanwhile, the proportion of high school students aiming for college decreased, while those hoping to find employment or start a business increased.

According to Data on Korean Education (Elementary and Secondary Career Education Survey) released by the Ministry of Education and the Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI) on July 26, the percentage of high school students hoping to enter college stood at only 64.9% last year. Starting at 72.5% in 2015, this rate had consistently stayed in the 70% range and rose to 77.3% in 2023, before dropping to 66.5% in 2024 and declining further last year, marking a distinct downward trend for two consecutive years.

During the same period, the percentage of students hoping for employment rose significantly. Last year, 15.6% of students expressed a desire to seek employment, more than doubling from 7.0% in 2023. The proportion of students seeking entrepreneurship also expanded from 1.0% in 2015 to 3.3% last year.

However, concerns over future career paths remained substantial. The percentage of students responding that they have a dream job dropped by more than 10 percentage points across all school levels. For elementary students, the rate fell 13.2 percentage points from 91.3% in 2015 to 78.1% last year, while middle school students saw a drop from 73.0% to 59.9%, recording the lowest among all school levels. High school students also saw a decline from 81.7% to 71.3%.

KEDI stated that the 2022 revised curriculum requires career-linked education during transitional school stages, adding that rather than assuming college admission as the sole option, students are proactively designing pathways aligned with their aptitudes and career goals by comparing various possibilities such as higher education, employment, and entrepreneurship.

Preferred career choices reflected changing social environments. Last year, the top choice for elementary students was athletes. Teaching, which held first place in 2015, yielded its top spot to athletes starting in 2020, while content creators ranked third last year, following doctors at second place.

For middle and high school students, teaching ranked first. It has maintained the top position for 12 consecutive years since the survey became an officially approved national statistic in 2015. For middle school students, athletes ranked second and doctors third. For high school students, nursing ranked second, followed by life scientists and researchers at third. Life scientists and researchers jumped significantly in ranking from seventh in 2024 to third last year.

                                                                                                             Park Ji-sook