Your support with developing an interest in careers with your son/daughter is really important.
It is unlikely that every pupil knows exactly what they want to do in their future career from an early age. This is completely normal!
Your role can be one that encourages pupils to explore different career sectors and to also talk to them after they have taken part in a careers event in school or had a series of lessons which focus on careers as part of their PSHE programme.
All staff are working hard to promote careers across the curriculum. This is focussed on promoting skills that pupils develop in their different curriculum subjects which help them to become ‘work ready’. Many employers and businesses across the country often comment that pupils are well qualified but lack work ready skills necessary to be successful in many employment roles.
So we encourage our staff to point out opportunities in their lessons that develop these work ready skills. An example of this could be completing a task as a group of pupils where each individual has to take a part to complete the task in the time set. The teacher will draw attention to the fact that in the work place you need to work together to complete and finish a task and the success often relies on every person doing their part. Within a Technology lesson pupils often have to schedule their work to make sure they complete every part in a certain order to successfully make a product, the teacher may liken this to completing a job at work on time.
We have lots of examples of work readiness skills on the Careers in the Curriculum section – have a look so your son/daughter understands what these are.
But you can also help develop work ready skills at home through some of the things we do every day. Here are some examples to get you going:
Encourage your son/daughter to take on a job at home that needs to be done each day- it doesn’t matter what this is as long as it is done. This can develop reliability –doing something however mundane that others rely on you to do- even keeping your bedroom tidy!
Encourage them to plan and cook a meal within a set budget. This is more than money management but shows consideration for others and compromise important for being successful at work.
Encourage any form of voluntary work. Helping a neighbour to do something on a regular basis or helping a relative. This shows resilience and also a willingness to do something for others without monetary gain.
Encourage any part time work (if available) this is a great way to develop work ready skills even if only a few hours a week. It doesn’t matter if the job doesn’t seem in line with a possible career choice for example a paper delivery round develops-
- Punctuality- getting up early to deliver the papers
- Resilience – doing the job in all weather conditions
- Organisation – planning the route to deliver the papers to make efficient use of time
- Communication- talking to customers, dealing with any complaints or order changes. Learning to talk to people of different ages as a work force will be.
- Money management- earnings may not be high but starting to plan and manage the money you have is an important skill.
‘Have your say’ please provide the school with any feedback and suggestions of how we could make our careers provision even better. Talk to your son/daughter about a planned visit for careers before and after the event so you do your bit by helping to prepare them for it and then help them to take the key points away after the event. From time to time we may call you as a parent after an event your son/daughter has been involved in so we can find out how it went and how to improve it further.
If you have any suggestions or would like to get involved in supporting our careers work at school please get in contact with Debbie Partridge our Careers Advisor on 02476243039 or email on careers@midlandat.co.uk
A parents' toolkit for career conversations
A parents' toolkit for career conversations. A parents' toolkit for career conversations. When it comes to education and careers, parents, carers, and guardians are the biggest influence in young people’s lives.
