As part of a larger study within a sociology of knowledge framework, a questionnaire designed to identify beliefs about unemployment and employment was administered to 1667 Year 10, 11, and 12 students in North Queensland high schools during the final weeks of the school year. Respondents were asked to rank 15 items on unemployment beliefs, six internal/dispositional (ID) and nine external/socio-environmental (ES), and 14 items on employment beliefs, eight ID and six ES, on a 4-point scale. Significant differences between the two groups were found only on three items. School leavers rated ‘experience’ and ‘qualifications’ more highly while school stayers rated ‘luck’ more highly. The results are discussed in relation to a concern about students leaving school with naive beliefs about their employment future in a time of increasing youth unemployment.
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