This master’s thesis explores future planning of adolescents in their final year of vocational, professional, and technical secondary education and are gradually entering the transition to adulthood. It analyses how adolescents plan and perceive their future and the process of growing up. It examines their support network and how they view the support of their significant others. The findings are further connected to the theory of misleading trajectories, with a focus on their impact on adolescents’ decision-making and future planning.
The theoretical part outlines social changes in the postmodern era and how these changes manifest in different aspects of young people’s lives. In recent decades the appearance of a new developmental stage of emerging adulthood has emerged, reflecting prolonged schooling and consequently delayed employment. Adolescents thus experience certain transitions that are typical for adulthood, not only in the fields of education and labour market entry but also in their private lives. Life courses are increasingly less structured by normative events ‒ individual biographies are becoming more individualized and unpredictable. Moreover, young people’s development is further complicated by employment and social policies that do are not changing in line with broader changes in the society.
The results show that in terms of content, adolescents plan highly diverse life paths. Their most detailed planning takes place in the educational sphere, as the continuation of education is their most important and closest step after finishing secondary school. In terms of careers, most adolescents consider not only their preferred professions but also alternative options that are more pragmatic and generally easier to achieve. When it comes to private life, their plans are far less defined, particularly regarding partnerships and starting a family, as these are events they perceive as distant. In the process of growing up, adolescents receive the greatest support from family members and friends.
|
