James Cannon, Education Liaison and Outreach Manager | 4th 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
Before today, had you thought
about going to university?
Are you now more likely to go
to university?
No
No
Yes
Yes
Parental Influence Conference | James Cannon, Education Liaison and Outreach Manager
When are decisions made?
The evidence:
 Primary school pupils
Do you know what a university
is?
Would you like to go to
university?
No
No
Not sure
Not sure
Yes
Yes
Parental Influence Conference | James Cannon, Education Liaison and Outreach Manager
When are decisions made?
The evidence:
 Secondary/Sixth Form/FE pupils
Before today, had you thought
about going to university?
Are you now more likely to go
to university?
No
No
Yes
Yes
Parental Influence Conference | James Cannon, Education Liaison and Outreach Manager
Before today, had you thought about going to university?
180
160
Number of respondents
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Yes
Yes
10
11
No
Yes
12
No
Yes
13
No
Yes
14
No
Yes
No
15
Answer split by age
Yes
16
No
Yes
17
No
Yes
18
No
Yes
19
Parental Influence Conference | James Cannon, Education Liaison and Outreach Manager
When are decisions made?
IntoUniversity Primary FOCUS programme:
 In 2004-5, 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
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
Parental Influence Conference | James Cannon, Education Liaison and Outreach Manager
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.
http://www.ioe.ac.uk/newsEvents/107164.html
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.
http://www.ioe.ac.uk/newsEvents/107164.html
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.
http://www.ioe.ac.uk/newsEvents/107164.html
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.”
https://www.aat.org.uk/about-aat/press-releases/poor-advice-stunting-young-peoples-careeraspirations
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.
http://www.suttontrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/1parentpower-final.pdf
Parental Influence Conference | James Cannon, Education Liaison and Outreach Manager
Identified five types of parents:
 “Limited choosers”


“Partially informed choosers”


used more sources than the previous group, but did
not generally use independent documentary sources.
“Informed choosers”


used only one or none of the listed sources of information.
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