Young people are increasingly disconnected from reality when it comes to career aspirations, a new study has found. Now, experts are calling for secondary schools and colleges to improve career services to inject some pragmatism into teens in the UK.
According to the research by charity Education and Employers, there are five times as many 17-18 year olds who want to work in art, culture, entertainment or sport as there are jobs available. Of those teens, more than half did not report an interest in any other sector.
The study, which also combined data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) warned that young people are not necessarily becoming more pragmatic with age, stating that the disconnect is ‘strikingly similar at age 17/18 as at age 14/15’ even going as far as comparing their job ideals to children aged 7/8.
‘Extending and improving careers activities in secondary schools and colleges alone could reduce the disconnect by up to a fifth,’ the report states. ‘[Which is] equivalent to around 100,000-125,000 young people leaving school each year.’
Recommending that children are introduced to people from a range of different backgrounds and jobs from the age of seven, the research stated that having role models who can show them ‘how the subjects they are studying are relevant to their futures’ could make a difference.
We need to stop children ruling out options because they believe that their choices are limited by their gender, ethnicity or socio-economic background
‘We need to stop children ruling out options because they believe, implicitly or explicitly, that their future career choices are limited by their gender, ethnicity or socio-economic background,’ the study reads.
However, researchers also put the onus on employers, stating that ‘ schools and colleges cannot solve this disconnect alone’. Urging employers to bring their insights into schools, the report also encourages businesses to make job opportunities more attractive to young people. They also warn that jobs need to be more accessible for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
‘There are many interesting future-oriented jobs that British students are not seeing, particularly disadvantaged kids, and you can't be what you can't see,’ Andreas Schleicher, the OECD's director of education and skills, told the BBC. ‘My concern is we are closing too many doors too early in the lives of pupils.’
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