Vocational Interests of Middle and High School Students in the UAE

Abstract

This paper investigated the vocational interests of students in the UAE and determined its relationship to gender and grade level. The Emirates Scale for Vocational Interests- Revised (ESVI-R) was used to attain the goal of the investigation. The ESVE-R was administered to 1920 students in the different emirates who were in the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grades. Accordingly, the sample was comprised of 866 (45.1%) male and 1054 (54.9%) female students. The data were analyzed using the appropriate descriptive and inferential statistical protocols. The results showed that there are significant gender differences in most of the subscales of ESVI-R whereas there are significant differences in some of the subscales according to students' grade level. The study concluded that the vocational interests of the students demonstrated stability along grade levels and that there was a notable shift in the vocational interests of female students in the trajectory of seeking an equal opportunity with their male counterparts.

Keywords: Vocational interests, gender differences, grade level, UAE school students.