James Cannon, Education Liaison and Outreach Manager | 4 th December 2014 What do you want to be when you grow up? An exploration of when and how school children answer this question and what influences them.

Parental Influence Conference | James Cannon, Education Liaison and Outreach Manager Who am I?  Education Liaison and Outreach Manager at Kingston University  Part of the Widening Participation Unit  Work to ensure that all who can benefit from HE can gain access to and succeed within university

Parental Influence Conference | James Cannon, Education Liaison and Outreach Manager Education Liaison  Develop and deliver activities for potential university students  Aim to increase triple A  Awareness  Aspirations  Attainment  Activities are carefully targeted  Funding requirements  Societal requirement

Parental Influence Conference | James Cannon, Education Liaison and Outreach Manager When do pupils make key decisions about their future?  GCSEs – YELLOW post its  University – PINK post its  Career/Job – GREENISH post its  Discuss in groups and place the post its on the timeline

Parental Influence Conference | James Cannon, Education Liaison and Outreach Manager When are decisions made? The evidence:  Secondary/Sixth Form/FE pupils

Parental Influence Conference | James Cannon, Education Liaison and Outreach Manager When are decisions made? The evidence:  Primary school pupils

Parental Influence Conference | James Cannon, Education Liaison and Outreach Manager When are decisions made? The evidence:  Secondary/Sixth Form/FE pupils

Parental Influence Conference | James Cannon, Education Liaison and Outreach Manager

When are decisions made? IntoUniversity Primary FOCUS programme:  In , IntoUniversity worked with two Year 6 classes from Oxford Gardens Primary School. Each class took part in a week of History-themed activities and trips, finishing in a graduation ceremony at a London university.

Parental Influence Conference | James Cannon, Education Liaison and Outreach Manager When are decisions made?

Parental Influence Conference | James Cannon, Education Liaison and Outreach Manager

The two most urgent priorities for governments across the United Kingdom should be:  Careers education, starting in primary school, including the development of ‘employability’ skills and quality employer contact;  Helping SMEs to invest in apprenticeships and workplace training, using Chambers of Commerce and other local bodies to encourage and support companies’ aspirations.

Parental Influence Conference | James Cannon, Education Liaison and Outreach Manager Key decisions may be at Key Stages 3 and 4 but influence can be exerted much earlier

Parental Influence Conference | James Cannon, Education Liaison and Outreach Manager How do we try to influence the decisions of young people?

Parental Influence Conference | James Cannon, Education Liaison and Outreach Manager The role of the parent  Supportive vs. not  Parental background plays huge role

Parental Influence Conference | James Cannon, Education Liaison and Outreach Manager

Institute of Education research  Men in the UK who were born to lowly educated parents earn 20 per cent less, on average, than the sons of graduates – even when they hold the same qualifications.

Parental Influence Conference | James Cannon, Education Liaison and Outreach Manager Institute of Education research  Men in the UK who were born to lowly educated parents earn 20 per cent less, on average, than the sons of graduates – even when they hold the same qualifications.

Parental Influence Conference | James Cannon, Education Liaison and Outreach Manager Institute of Education research  Men in the UK who were born to lowly educated parents earn 20 per cent less, on average, than the sons of graduates – even when they hold the same qualifications.  Dr John Jerrim and Dr Lindsey Macmillan found that parents' level of education had a particularly strong effect on men's incomes in the UK and a handful of other countries.

Parental Influence Conference | James Cannon, Education Liaison and Outreach Manager Association of Accounting Technicians Study  “24% of young people are taking their next career or education step purely because their parents told them to”  “84% said that they would like, or would have liked, more advice from their school or college on their future options.”  “70% said they would like, or would have liked, guidance from teachers”  “61% said direct advice from people already in the industry they aspire to would be helpful.”  “36% named trade bodies and employers as potential sources of help.” aspirations

Parental Influence Conference | James Cannon, Education Liaison and Outreach Manager  Social class and income distribution remain the strongest predictors of both educational achievement and life outcomes.  Children from low income families tend to have lower attainment than their more affluent peers when they begin school and the gap widens as they progress  Parents’ evenings or discussions with other parents were used to inform parental choice of school more often than league tables or Ofsted reports.

Parental Influence Conference | James Cannon, Education Liaison and Outreach Manager Identified five types of parents:  “Limited choosers”  used only one or none of the listed sources of information.  “Partially informed choosers”  used more sources than the previous group, but did not generally use independent documentary sources.  “Informed choosers”  those who used at least one independent documentary source of information and one experiential source  “Hyper choosers”  a sub-group within the informed choosers; those who used five or more sources of information.

Parental Influence Conference | James Cannon, Education Liaison and Outreach Manager How can we influence parents?  Want to create a nation of “hyper choosers”  What challenges does this present?

Parental Influence Conference | James Cannon, Education Liaison and Outreach Manager Working with parents  Aimhigher London South  Impartial advice at parent information evenings  Any problem with these approaches?  Still aimed at older age groups – influence needs to be exerted earlier for maximum impact

Parental Influence Conference | James Cannon, Education Liaison and Outreach Manager Example: Stanley Picker Gallery  Parents actively engaging with pupils’ work  Feel a part of the process – not alienated  Young age groups

Parental Influence Conference | James Cannon, Education Liaison and Outreach Manager What do they want to be when they grow up?  The career decisions of young people can be influenced at a very young age  There is a wide variety of ways in which we do this  Parents play a huge role in the destinations of their children, both consciously and unconsciously  For maximum impact, we must find better ways of targeting pupils’ key influencers