Adecco Group Thailand revealed the result of The 8th Annual Career Survey of Thai Children for the year of 2017 that becoming a Teacher is the most popular career choice amongst the children surveyed. The reason most kids wanted to be a teacher is because they want to educate children and teach them to be good people. Former champion for seven years, Doctor, finish in second place by a narrow margin, followed by being a Soldier, an Athlete, and a Police Officer respectively. This year, being a professional Athlete is still a popular choice, ranked in top five of career choices, as most children love to play sports, which keeps them healthy and can earn an above average income. There are also some children who want to be Farmers, as inspired by his Majesty the Late King Bhumibol and his concepts. They also would like to serve as a Soldier for the King as well.
This year, there are many new career choices that those surveyed respondents would like to pursue, for example, being a professional Animator (create, design and visualize animations) because they love watching cartoons, or being a professional Video Game Caster or Commentator (play and test games and record them in a video format and stream it via online channels; like YouTube) as they love playing computer games. One of the children wanted to be a Rescuer as it gives him an opportunity to help people. Another child wanted to be a CEO of a global company as there is still no Thai CEO in the world ranking, so he wanted to show the world that Thai people also have potential to become a leader of a major company.
When asked about the best / coolest job that they can imagine, becoming a Soldier came out on tops, followed by Police Officer, Doctor, Footballer and Teacher. There are some different answers when asked about the coolest job and the career choices this year, for example, they wanted to be a Teacher but they think the best / coolest job is being a Soldier. Or, their dream career is being a Soldier but professional footballer is the best / coolest job. However, there are some consistency in their popular career choice and the best / coolest job, for example, if their popular career choice is becoming an Athlete, the best / coolest job is being a professional footballer. When asked about their salary expectation, most children would want a salary range between THB 15,000-30,000. THB 90,000,000 is the highest expectation and the lowest is THB 0, as some of them would like to do what they love to do and since they love what they do, money is not necessary, but being proud and happy will be what they want in return.
When asked what the first ‘three things they would do’ if they were the Prime Minister of Thailand, most of their answers were remain the same as last year, which are to develop our country, to help people in general and those in need and to reform Thailand’s education system. Many children said they would provide free education and free medical treatment to everyone. From their response, it seems that most of them are having the same idea of helping people and would like everyone to have a better living. Their own parents remain their idols - as they raise and teach them to be a good person. His Majesty the Late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, or our beloved King Rama 9, is their next choice of idols as he spent all of his life working for the benefit of his people. Cristiano Ronaldo, a Portuguese professional footballer who plays for the Spanish club Real Madrid and the Portugal national team, came in the third place, followed by Ble Patumrach, a young talented Thai folk song singer and writer, and Lionel Messi, the Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for Spanish club FC Barcelona and captains the Argentinian national team, respectively.
Mathematics is the subjects they like most in school, physical education, Thai language, Computer and English were also amongst the subjects they liked. When asked about the most fun thing they did on weekends or on holidays, the top answer was playing, either playing games, playing football or playing with friends. Reading, travelling, playing games on their smartphone and watching TV were things they enjoyed doing as well. This year, we can see the trend on having technology as part of their lives more as they can have easy access to smartphone and new technologies at their young age. Thailand is the most popular country they would like to live in, followed by Japan, United States of America, England and France respectively.
"The survey of Thai children’s dream career for the year 2017 reveals that this year is the first year that becoming a Teacher is the most popular dream job and it has replaced being a Doctor which was the most popular dream career for the last seven years. It reflects the thought of the children that they need to educate others and has strong commitment to teach others to be a good people. This is also consistent with the answer of what they wanted to do if they were the Prime Minister – to help Thai people and develop Thailand’s education system, and provide free education countrywide. It shows that children appreciate and value education most. Therefore, both public and private sector should work together to develop a better education system for our children, along with ethics, to ensure that our children will be grown up being both intelligent and decent people, which are the foundation of the sustainable future of our country. " said Tidarat Kanchanawat, Regional Director Thailand and Vietnam - Adecco Group Thailand.
