The Development of a Diagnostic Approach to Subject Selection Counselling
At regular intervals in their secondary schooling all Western Australian secondary students are required to select subjects or units that will form their course of study for the following semester or year. To assist students in making appropriate subject selections, schools provide counselling services as well as vocational courses. However, little is known about the basis on which individual students select subjects or the mechanism of the decision-making process involved. In 1987 research was conducted into the process of subject selection. Six Year 10 students were carefully tracked as they proceeded towards their selection decision. Specific attention was given to the manner in which students were influenced by information and other interventions. The subject selection process employed by each student in this study reflected the uniqueness of the individual in the perception of his or her own abilities, existing subject interests, intended post-secondary goal and the locus of control. Together these individual characteristics clearly affected the type of information search carried out and counselling sought. On the basis of data collected a typology of student subject selection was constructed.