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Dear Sharon

Your son’s indecision is not unexpected at this age; he is still exploring career ideas and anything you can do to provide a positive and encouraging influence can boost his confidence when searching or making decisions about his career choices. 

When choosing subjects it is important to keep as many options open as possible. To help you with this process we have provided some links to institutions and their admission requirements:

There are a number of study routes for aspirant Personal Trainers:

• FET College: for example explore the  sport management diploma offered by Northlink web page: http://www.northlink.co.za/sport.asp?nav=prospective
• University of Stellenbosch: BSc Sport Science web page: http://www.maties.com/portal/page/portal/Maties/English/Undergraduate%20Prospectus/Sciences/Programmes%20in%20Biological%20Sciences/BSc%20in%20Sport%20Science .
  • Subjects Required: English, Afrikaans, Mathematics,  Physical Sciences (while Life Science is not required it will be useful)
• Sports Management through the University of Stellenbosch requires a BSc Sport Science. Please consult the following pages for admission requirements: http://www.maties.com/portal/page/portal/Maties/English/Undergraduate%20Prospectus/Sciences/Programmes%20in%20Biological%20Sciences/BSc%20in%20Sport%20Science
  • Subjects Required: English, Afrikaans, Mathematics,  Physical Sciences (while Life Science is not required it will be useful)

Dietetics may be accessed through a BSc degree from the University of Stellenbosch:
Please consult the following web page for admission requirements: http://www.maties.com/portal/page/portal/Maties/English/Undergraduate%20Prospectus/Health%20Sciences/Allied%20Health%20Sciences/BSc%20in%20Dietetics

• Subjects required : English, Afrikaans, mathematics, Physical Sciences and Life Science.

It is important that your son gets to explore these different career areas so that he can make realistic decisions based on knowledge and experience.

I am sure you already know the many helpful ways you can assist and encourage your son’s career development; if you will bear with me I would like to list them for the benefit of the other users of our website:

Work together with your son, in an open minded way, to identify his career goals by

• Helping him gather information about himself and develop a positive self-concept
• Help him use his self-knowledge to generate career ideas
• Help your son identify and explore the career fields that suit him
• Explore future career trends for each of the career fields identified and then identify and explore appropriate career pathways
• Most importantly you need to encourage lifelong learning

Help your son gather realistic information about himself by:

• Acknowledging the full range of his strengths and interests
• Positively engage your son in learning about topics that interest him through reading, hobbies and activities; this may also give him a head start while making him feel comfortable and connected to his future. Go with activities he enjoys.
• Instil an understanding within your child that he is a capable and resourceful person and build confidence by inspiring him to dream and plan for his future.
• Actively listen and be open to talking about special moments such as activities in and out of school.
• Encourage him to explore his options when and where they arise.

Talk to as many relevant people as possible about the decisions ahead:

• Talk to his school counsellor and teachers
• Consider getting a career development assessment done

I hope this information will assist you to help your son with his subject choice decision. Please let us know how he gets on.

Lynn and the Career Planet Team