For years, the conversation around teenagers and the future has leaned heavily on anxiety, doomscrolling, climate dread, the sense that the next generation is bracing for the worst.
New research suggests that picture is only half right.
NAB's latest Education Insights Report, surveying more than 400 Australian secondary students, found overall optimism about the future has jumped sharply, from 55.8 to 68.1 out of 100, in just twelve months. Yet the same students are clear-eyed about the ground they're standing on, pointing to cost-of-living pressure, social media comparison and academic competition as very real challenges shaping their transition into adulthood.
It's a combination that has implications for how schools approach everything from careers guidance to financial literacy and wellbeing support. As the report's authors put it, students aren't asking adults to remove every obstacle, they're asking for the confidence, skills and pathways to meet them head-on.
Below, The Educator speaks to Dean Pearson, Head of Behavioural & Industry Economics at NAB, about students' changing career goals, the confidence gap holding many back, and how schools can prepare them for what's ahead.
TE: The report shows students are more optimistic than ever, yet financial success has now overtaken work-life balance and passion as their top career goal. For school leaders trying to balance ambition with wellbeing, what does that shift really mean for how careers advice and pathway planning should look in 2026 and looking ahead into 2027?
I would see it as students becoming more alert to the realities of adulthood. For many young people, financial success is really shorthand for security, independence, choice and the ability to build a life with some control in it.
The implication is that conversations around careers and pathway are becoming far broader. Students are not just considering jobs, courses or destinations, but how study, work, money, purpose, lifestyle and wellbeing fit together over time.
The opportunity is to help students connect ambition with wellbeing rather than treating them as competing goals. What they are seeking is support in understanding the trade-offs that come with these different pathways.
The question is therefore not simply, “What do you want to be?”, but rather, “What kind of life are you trying to build, what will help you get there, and what trade-offs might you need to consider along the way?” This puts financial success in perspective. It should not be viewed as the only goal, but as one part of a broader conversation about confidence, capability and a good life.
TE: Competition, not knowing where to start, and money worries are now the top three barriers young people report facing. Some might say that is a confidence and guidance gap as much as a financial one. What can schools realistically do to close that gap without adding another program to an already stretched timetable?
The barriers for students are not only financial, they’re also about confidence, visibility and guided first steps. When young people tell us these are their biggest barriers, it indicates that while the future still feels possible, it might not always be easy to interpret.
The encouraging part is that closing that gap does not necessarily require schools to add another major program. The opportunity is to strengthen the moments that already exist in school life. Subject selection, careers conversations, work experience, wellbeing check-ins, financial education, parent nights and partnerships with employers or tertiary providers can all become practical rehearsals for adulthood.
A student worried about competition may need guidance from their teacher to understand that careers are often less linear than they appear. A student who does not know where to start may need clearer first steps, relatable examples, and reassurance that uncertainty is normal. A student worried about money may need practical confidence around budgeting, debt, work, scams, digital payments and the trade-offs attached to different pathways.
So the answer is integration rather than addition. Schools are already close to students at the moments when many of these decisions begin to form. The task is to keep connecting academic learning, wellbeing, pathways and financial capability so students can see how they fit together.
But schools should not be expected to carry that responsibility alone. Families, employers, universities, TAFEs, financial institutions and community organisations all play a role. Schools remain central because they are trusted, but young people benefit most when a wider ecosystem helps them see credible options and practise good decisions.
Ultimately, the aim is not to remove uncertainty from young people’s lives, it’s to help them navigate it earlier with more support and less worry.
TE: A notable contrast in the report is that while students say life is objectively harder, they're also more optimistic than they've been in years. What should school leaders take from that apparent contradiction when they're trying to support student wellbeing?
The main message is that optimism and pressure are not opposites. Young people can recognise that life is harder and still believe their own future can be better. In some ways, that is a very mature perspective of the world. They are not denying the pressures around them; they are trying to understand how to move through them.
For school leaders, that matters because wellbeing support should not only be about reducing pressure, important as that is. It should also be about strengthening agency. Students need trusted adults who acknowledge that the pressures are real, while also helping them see what remains within their control.
That also means schools do not have to choose between high expectations and care. The research suggests many students still want to strive. What young people need, is a supportive environment where they can openly discuss uncertainty and make sense of options, setbacks and trade-offs with confidence.
So the apparent contradiction is actually instructive. It tells us that student wellbeing is not only about easing distress; it is also about helping students turn hope into action. When students can name the difficulties but still see a way forward, the role of schools, families and the wider community is to protect that optimism and turn it into confidence, judgement and practical next steps.
In this sense, optimism is not a reason to assume students are fine, and pressure is not a reason to assume they are defeated. The more useful reading is that many young people are realistic and hopeful at the same time. Wellbeing support will therefore work best when it responds to both.
TE: Looking ahead, as this generation moves into a workforce being reshaped by AI and economic uncertainty, what would you say schools need to start doing now, that they're perhaps not doing yet, to make sure today's optimism translates into real resilience once these students leave the school gate?
Many schools are already thinking deeply about AI, future work, wellbeing, digital literacy and pathways. But the pace of change means the premium is shifting. The students who will cope best will not simply be those who know the most; it will be those who can keep learning, adapt, judge information, use technology wisely and make good decisions when the path is unclear.
So the task now is to make resilience more practical. Instead of instilling “be resilient” as a key message, teachers need to help build the habits that resilience depends on. That includes; curiosity, critical thinking, financial judgement, digital discernment, communication, collaboration and the ability to recover from setbacks.
AI makes that especially important. If information becomes easier to generate, then judgement becomes more valuable. Students need to learn not only how to use new tools, but how to question them: What is reliable? What is biased? What should I outsource, and what must I still understand myself? Where does human judgement, empathy and ethics matter most?
Economic uncertainty adds another layer. Young people may need to navigate careers that are less linear than the ones many adults have experienced in the past. That does not mean schools need to predict every future job. It means helping students practise the transferable capabilities that travel across pathways, such as how to learn effectively, making trade-offs, managing money, building networks, communicating well and making decisions under uncertain conditions.
The opportunity is to embed those capabilities into the work schools are already doing rather than treating future readiness as a separate subject. A research task can become a lesson in judging AI-generated information. A careers conversation can include discussion of changing industries and portfolio careers. A wellbeing program can include coping with comparison and uncertainty. A financial literacy activity can connect to real choices around work, study, debt and scams.
If we want optimism to become resilience, students need more than reassurance that the future will be okay. They need repeated, age-appropriate practice in navigating change with trusted adults beside them. That is how hope becomes durable once they leave the school gate.