AAt the age of 14/15, there will be few children who will not have heard the question “What do you want to be when you grow up†, and relatively willingly thrown into a profession or a ‘nothing’. I’m carefree. But when it comes to choosing an area of study at the end of the 9th year or a higher education course after completing secondary education, the issue becomes more serious. And, for more and more students, a cause for increased disturbance. “Anxiety levels have been increasing and are felt at increasingly earlier ages. Before it was more about the grades. What was unusual was that they felt anxiety in relation to this issue of decision-making in the area of study. They are worried about whether or not they will be successful in the course they choose,†reports Raquel Raimundo, one of the psychologists who, for over 15 years, has been providing school guidance sessions at Colé gio Valsassina, in Lisbon.
