| Summary: | Young people are arguably facing more ‘complex and contested’ transitions to adulthood and
an increasing array of ‘non-linear’ paths. Education and training have been extended, identity is
increasingly shaped through leisure and consumerism and youth must navigate their life trajectories
in highly individualised ways. The study utilises 819 short essays compiled by students aged 14–16
years from 19 schools in Australia. It examines how young people understand their own unique
positions and the possibilities open to them through their aspirations and future orientations
to employment and family life. These young people do not anticipate postponing work identities,
but rather embrace post-school options such as gaining qualifications, work experience and
achieving financial security. Boys expected a distant involvement in family life secondary to
participation in paid work. In contrast, around half the girls simultaneously expected a future
involving primary care-giving and an autonomous, independent career, suggesting attempts to
remake gendered inequalities.
|
|---|