Monday 3 January 2011

If I could have any job in the whole wide world...

I never had any idea at all before. But thanks to inspirational people taking the time to talk, share and explain about the challenges and insights they have into their own world, I am starting to work it out. And it's a really nice feeling. I wanted to share this, because I think one of the fundamental flaws of the career advice young people are given in education is the absence of any kind of opportunity to talk to people from different sectors, and be inspired by them.

So my random suggestion for today, is for schools to convene some kind of Q & A panels for year 9's before they make their GCSE decisions (I assume it's still year 9 you do it in) where young people can have the opportunity to listen to representatives from local charities, local small to medium business, local social enterprises, local government as well as central government and national corporations, to be inspired, be informed and to ask questions. Before they choose work experience, before they choose GCSE subjects and before they become embroiled in paths which extricating themselves from will take time and effort.

I know a lot of young people are given these opportunities through parents and friends of their parents. Not all children have that opportunity. I genuinely think that this kind of careers advice would seriously lead to different outcomes.

2 comments:

  1. Greater information is probably a step in the right direction. I think there needs to be a balance in education of careers advice, and realising that you can learn for fun too/not everything has to lead directly onto a career. Big mistake that I made/am still making. (Though this ties into HE or education in general)

    This is @SophWarnes btw

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  2. Hello hon! Understood and agree very much. I wrote a post about playing in sandpits a while ago, as a way of trying to explain having the space to ask questions and explore ideas whilst having a job description as the edge of the sandpit to guide me. Learning should be fun, but so very often is not and it colours, naturally, the career paths you see yourself entering.

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