Subject choice time – you can have your say

Although you may not feel comfortable about helping your child with making subject choices, this is a good time to talk about their future aspirations.

You are one of the biggest influencers of your child’s career decision making, and they will hear what you have to say. You don’t have to make the decision for them, but rather ask open-ended questions like:

• "What subjects do you like doing? Why?"
• "Which job would use your favourite subjects?"
• "What’s your dream job? Have you thought about the subjects that you may need to get there?"
• "Don’t worry if you don’t know what you want to do after school yet. Maybe you should keep your subject choices broad until you make up your mind?"
• "I understand that you don’t like your … teacher but … is a very important subject, especially if you want to consider doing … as a job."

When your child chooses their subject for the next year of school they may not follow your advice, but it is important to help them start their thinking process.