Decision making for the first time
When you’re younger nearly all your decisions are made by someone else, usually parents/carers: Where you live, what school to go to, even who you are friends with. It wasn’t until the age of 15/16, at the end of secondary school, when I had to start making decisions of my own and most likely is the same for the majority of people. These choices are very stressful, being that they can be the most important of someone’s life. Also at this time, there are added pressures such as hormones, getting boyfriends/girlfriends, being stressed with exams.
Certain organisations exist to give advice and direction, and most probably parents/carers will be ready to give their verdicts. However, these voices do not always agree with a young person’s intentions, and if they don’t know what to do, the services are often unhelpful. Maybe I’ve just had a bad experience but I seem to believe the majority of these advice centres are fairly stuck in their ways. Consistently suggesting to me that studying at sixth form and continuing to university in the best route, regardless of what outcome it would deliver. I was instructed to avoid studying a National Diploma for it narrowed my options. Many friends were told to attend a sixth-form and study core subjects because they were uncertain of their career path. While this advice usually helps to get jobs in the long-run I think people should be given a better direction.
There are a few handy guides for finding which careers can be attained from studying which subjects. These I feel were a lot more useful in decision making, but were overwhelming with information. I am aiming to deliver a scheme which simplifies the process for students. I want to adopt the language of pictograms to reference skills gained in different subjects and how they overlap. These skills could help determine a student’s future with a function that decides which career paths are suitable to particular needs. I want the scheme to be applied across the school including subject corridors, exercise books and the school planner. This is so all years are comfortable and confident with how it operates. Students would start thinking about their careers from a younger age.
In order to create the scheme I plan to gather information from schools, which subjects they do and what is involved. I am also keen to learn what schemes they may already have in place and get a better understanding of their careers advice sessions with companies set up by organisations such as Aim higher, Connections and UCAS.
I am extremely pleased with the decisions I’ve made, and certain risks I took definitely paid off. I now do something which I love and feel passionate about, which when I started my journey of graphic design at the age of 15, I was very optimistic about. I’m reaching the point in my life where I will again face with endless opportunities, and a scheme like this from my future self would be most appreciated.
Bibliography
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Careerscape. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.cascaid.co.uk/careerscape/ [Accessed 16 May 2012]
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Neurath, Otto. (1998) International Picture Language. University of Reading, Reading & Language Information Centre.
Oikawa, Sacko (2008) Pictogram and Icon Collection: From Public Signage to Web Icons. PIE Books.
