Pictures drawn by 213 students in the northern partner primary schools (Laxey, Sulby, Bunscoill Rhumsaa, Ballaugh, The Dhoon, Jurby and Andreas) formed part of the Drawing the Future survey conducted by the Education and Employers Charity, the findings of which are being presented this week at the World Economic Forum at Davos. Leaders from all over the world are attending the conference including, Theresa May and Donald Trump.
Drawing the Future is the biggest ever survey of primary school children's career aspirations. Ramsey Grammar School Transition Teacher, Alanya Coop, coordinated the survey in the north of the island and the 213 participants are amongst the 20,000 primary aged children who were asked to draw what they want to be when they grow up and to say what influenced their choice. The results were then analysed by gender, geography and ethnicity and compared to projected labour markets and previous career aspiration surveys.
Future vets, footballers, scientists, architects and CEOs entered some amazing drawings into the Drawing the Future competition which showed the fantastic imagination and creativity of primary aged children. The report had some very interesting findings. It emerged that gender stereotyping in job aspirations still apply from a very young age.
For the majority of children, it is immediate family that influence their career aspirations, followed by TV, Radio and Film. Children's career aspirations have little in common with projected workforce needs. Career aspirations changed little from the ages of 7 to 17 worryingly, lack of contact with employers and people from the world of work mean that just 1% of UK primary school children's career choices are influenced by someone coming into their school.
Across the UK, the most popular career choice by both boys and girls was to become a sports man or woman. In the north of the Isle of Man the most popular career choice for boys was professional footballer, and for girls a vet was the most popular career choice, this being in line with the findings of the survey across the UK in general.
Annette Baker, Headteacher at Ramsey Grammar School said:
'The Drawing the Future report gives us solid research based evidence to support the continuing work we are undertaking in our school and in our partner primaries on careers education in general, and in particular on challenging gender stereotyping in this and all areas. I am pleased that the North has been part of this hugely influential survey and report and I know the results will have a big impact across the world in shaping careers education going forward. I would like to thank Nick Chambers, CEO of Education and Employers for giving us the opportunity to play a part in something which can change our world for the better by opening up opportunities for all young people and by raising their career aspirations.'
Sue Cook, CEO of Junior Achievement IOM said:
'We at Junior Achievement frequently reference research conducted by the Education and Employers Charity to support our work. We welcome this new report and are hoping that Nick Chambers will accept an invitation to the island to present the findings of this fascinating report in the near future.'
You can view the full report.
