Impacts of assessments on students’ STEM career interest: A Vietnam quantitative study

Currently, the demand for STEM workers has encouraged education to focus on the orientation of STEM careers for students, especially raising the STEM career interest of students in the learning process. To this purpose, the evaluation activities in high schools not only provide information about the level of student capacity development but also need to provide information to help students orient their careers in the future. Based on this, a sample survey of 597 high school students was used to conduct the study. It used the Social Occupational Cognitive Theory (SCCT) to examine the influence of students’ STEM learning outcomes as evaluated by instructors and their assessments of their STEM abilities. To evaluate the effectiveness of the suggested theoretical model, this study uses the partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM). The research results show that STEM self-efficacy significantly impacts STEM career interests. Meanwhile, the results of the student’s assessment through the score of STEM subjects do not directly affect the student’s interest in a STEM career but are only indirectly affected via the mediating role of STEM self-efficacy, albeit with weak effect strength. The results are not much influenced by the gender and the type of school students study.