Lifelong Learn. 2017, 7, 46-66
Gender Non-traditional High School Study: Reasons for Choice and Evaluation of Experience
Career choices of most pupils at the end of the primary school conform to gender norms. Only a few of them continue to study in a field traditionally considered appropriate for the opposite sex. The qualitative study presented here maps the reasons for such choices based on a sample of 25 female and 31 male students who study gender-atypical secondary school program for one to three years. The data were collected using a questionnaire with open-ended items and analysed using the qualitative thematic analysis. The results revealed that the reasons for school choices of boys and girls differ to certain extent. Their situation also differs with respect to the support they receive from their close ones and the acceptance by their classmates. The parents of girls disapproved of their choices more often than the parents of boys. Girls were also ridiculed more frequently by their peer groups.
Keywords
career choice, non-traditional choice, gender, token, counselling.
