Careers guidance for students adds to the teacher's burden

The term "career planning", or "life planning" is a buzzword these days, at least within the education sector. Teachers have been asked to help guide students in choosing a path of study leading to the career that is right for them.

Most 16-year-olds don't have a concrete idea of what career they should aim for, yet they are being asked to choose elective courses in senior secondary school years. The responsibility has fallen on teachers to help them chart their future courses.

Starting this academic year, the Education Bureau is providing a HK$500,000 annual subsidy to each school to incorporate career planning into school life, so students have more counselling support and exposure to different types of jobs through talks, workshops or company visits.

Schools have been asked to revamp their traditional practice of simply disseminating basic career information. Bureau guidelines are highlighting teachers as significant adults who can help the youngsters develop better self-understanding and, as a result, become better able to realise their own potential and set off on the path of self-actualisation.

Effective life-planning education, as the bureau calls it, is considered vital to students' holistic development. One key learning goal, as identified in the bureau guidelines, is to enable students to "understand their own career/academic aspirations and develop positive attitudes towards work and learning".