Professional interests of final grade primary school students in Serbia: a case study

Abstract

Interestsareamong the most significant predictorsof educational choices, degree completion, occupational choices, and job satisfaction (Su, Rounds & Armstrong, 2009). In choosing an occupation, Super (1980) attaches the greatest importance to professional interests and believes that interests in certain occupations are formed as a result of intra-individual and individual-environment interactions (cited in: Brančić, 1986). Despite definitional differences, professional development theorists have reached the consensus that interests have a dispositional basis. They have also illuminated the complexity and development of the phenomenon as well as the factors that influence the formation of interest (Rounds & Su, 2014). It has been widely assumed that the establishment of interests occurs in childhood. Research evidence has demonstrated that the patterns of student interests are fairly stable between grades 8 and12. A key assumption involved in these studies is that interests themselves do not change much over time and that they serve a guiding function in career decision making about careers (Tracey, Robbins & Hofsess, 2005).