Well, I promised them and here they are. In total, I surveyed 175 children between the ages of 3 and 16. Really, it's not enough to get any conclusive results (says my GCSE in Statistics) but it's certainly enough to start seeing some interesting things coming out.
To summarise the trends that came out of the data, then...
The most popular careers for girls under the age of 9 are vets, dancers and hairdressers. I also hit upon some of the classics you might expect from the under tens; princesses, queens, famous people and 'just like my Mum'. 10-12 year old girls surprisingly (but pleasantly so) favour being scientists over anything else, including forensic scientists, zoologists and marine biologists. Also popular are artists and fashion designers. 13-16 year olds are more interested in care jobs; social worker, nurse and midwife scored highly, as did physical training jobs such as PE teacher, sports coach and physical therapist.
Popular careers for boys under the age of 9 are soliders, firemen, policemen and footballers. There were some gems here too; pirate, millionaire and Santa were my favourites. The 10-12 age group did well for engineers and mechanics, as well as policemen and firemen. This group seemed to have the widest range of desired careers, with everything from chefs and carpenters to astronauts and archaeologists. 13-16 year old boys were rather under-represented in my sample group, but the ones I did have favoured teachers and soldiers as their preferred careers.
If the results are anything to go by, it seems that the under 12s have the most imaginative ideas about their future careers. By the time they get to 13/14, they've started to think more realistically about their futures, and abandon the princesses and pirates in favour of social workers and soldiers.
If you're interested in this and would like the raw data for anything you're doing please let me know and I'll be happy to share. It's something I'm going to keep working on so if you know any children under 16 and can help out by contributing what they'd like to be when they grow up, please do. All I need is gender, age and career choice. I'm particularly short of boys 13-16, but I'm happy for more data regardless of which category they fit into.
Showing posts with label Childhood aspirations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Childhood aspirations. Show all posts
Monday, 1 August 2011
Tuesday, 28 June 2011
Curators of the Future: Summary
It's been a fun day at the careers fair today. I've done a lot of talking about museums and a lot of teaching kids how to use a hobby horse. And enjoying the looks on their faces when I introduced them to the smell of carbolic soap.
"That's what history smells like, kids."
This is just a short summary whilst it's fresh in my head. If anyone else out there gets asked to do a careers fair for young people, hopefully this will be helpful for you.
Things that went well
We took museum objects to play show-and-tell with, and they went down very well. From the hobby horses to the washboard, the objects were a great talking point for all the kids from the real little ones all the way up to the 14 year olds. Watching 14 year olds ride hobby horses around a sports hall is at once hilarious and slightly terrifying.
Some kids are clearly there to get as many leaflets as they can possibly manage, so I was glad of the shortened version of the events programme that I'd printed out. The small papers on the web resources went down well too.
Things I'd do differently
We took two boxes of craft materials to make things with the younger children and didn't end up using any of it. They came around in groups of eight or ten and only stayed a couple of minutes, so making anything at all was rather impractical.
Some of the other stalls had stickers, badges, bags and other freebies. Big things are obviously not in the budget for small museums, but a few hundred button badges would have gone down a storm and wouldn't have cost all that much.
Things I overheard
Being a museum, I guess we have a lot of stereotypes that people associate with us. I heard one boy say in a rather derisive tone "a museum? What sort of a job would you have at a museum?".
It wasn't all doom and gloom though. We had a few people who specifically wanted to know about museum working; a few historians and a couple of archaeologists and one palaeontologist.
When I grow up I want to be...
I've asked a lot of children today what they want to be when they grow up. When I've got all the data tabulated I'll share (and of course I'm still hoping for more contributions from everyone out there!) but for now here are my favourites from today's fair;
Boy, 13yrs - "I'm not sure. I always used to say I wanted to be a Teletubby."
Girl, 7yrs - "I want to be lots of things. I want to be a dancer and a singer and a film maker and a pilot."
Boy, 12yrs - "I want to be Doctor Who, but I don't think he exists, so I guess a policeman instead."
"That's what history smells like, kids."
This is just a short summary whilst it's fresh in my head. If anyone else out there gets asked to do a careers fair for young people, hopefully this will be helpful for you.
Things that went well
We took museum objects to play show-and-tell with, and they went down very well. From the hobby horses to the washboard, the objects were a great talking point for all the kids from the real little ones all the way up to the 14 year olds. Watching 14 year olds ride hobby horses around a sports hall is at once hilarious and slightly terrifying.
Some kids are clearly there to get as many leaflets as they can possibly manage, so I was glad of the shortened version of the events programme that I'd printed out. The small papers on the web resources went down well too.
Things I'd do differently
We took two boxes of craft materials to make things with the younger children and didn't end up using any of it. They came around in groups of eight or ten and only stayed a couple of minutes, so making anything at all was rather impractical.
Some of the other stalls had stickers, badges, bags and other freebies. Big things are obviously not in the budget for small museums, but a few hundred button badges would have gone down a storm and wouldn't have cost all that much.
Things I overheard
Being a museum, I guess we have a lot of stereotypes that people associate with us. I heard one boy say in a rather derisive tone "a museum? What sort of a job would you have at a museum?".
It wasn't all doom and gloom though. We had a few people who specifically wanted to know about museum working; a few historians and a couple of archaeologists and one palaeontologist.
When I grow up I want to be...
I've asked a lot of children today what they want to be when they grow up. When I've got all the data tabulated I'll share (and of course I'm still hoping for more contributions from everyone out there!) but for now here are my favourites from today's fair;
Boy, 13yrs - "I'm not sure. I always used to say I wanted to be a Teletubby."
Girl, 7yrs - "I want to be lots of things. I want to be a dancer and a singer and a film maker and a pilot."
Boy, 12yrs - "I want to be Doctor Who, but I don't think he exists, so I guess a policeman instead."
Monday, 27 June 2011
When I grow up I want to be...
Tomorrow I'm at the 'inspired to work' careers fair, where I'll be talking to just under 2000 young people about the jobs that they could do in the future. It'll be a great chance to tell kids as young as six and seven about what we do in museums. Hopefully I might even inspire a few towards a career in heritage if I'm really lucky.
But really, that's not what this post is about. I've learnt during my time working with children that one of the things that usually engages children are events and activities that give them the chance to be something they've always dreamed of. Whether it's a spy, a forensic scientist or a pirate, the childhood dream-careers are always a good recipe for a fantastic day out and a really engaging learning experience that they really invest in.
So what are the careers of choice nowadays? I know what I wanted to be when I was younger (an astronaut, thank you very much) but I'm not sure whether today's youth have the same aspirations that I did when I was a child.
I'm hoping to do a bit of research to find out, and I'm hoping that you all can help me. Do you know any children? Anyone aged 16 or younger will do. All you have to do is ask them what they want to be when they grow up. Then let me know what it is, how old they are and whether they're male or female. You can tell me through twitter @Sarah_Fellows or by email at fellows.sarah.m@gmail.com
Easy, yes?
When I've collated all the results I'll share them here. Hopefully we'll all get something really useful out of it.
And of course, I'll try and gather as many responses tomorrow as I can. Surely in two thousand children I'll find some who know what they want to be when they grow up?
Distribute my quest as far and wide as you can and I'll be very grateful. And so will everyone else, when I send the results out.
In advance, I thank you!
But really, that's not what this post is about. I've learnt during my time working with children that one of the things that usually engages children are events and activities that give them the chance to be something they've always dreamed of. Whether it's a spy, a forensic scientist or a pirate, the childhood dream-careers are always a good recipe for a fantastic day out and a really engaging learning experience that they really invest in.
So what are the careers of choice nowadays? I know what I wanted to be when I was younger (an astronaut, thank you very much) but I'm not sure whether today's youth have the same aspirations that I did when I was a child.
I'm hoping to do a bit of research to find out, and I'm hoping that you all can help me. Do you know any children? Anyone aged 16 or younger will do. All you have to do is ask them what they want to be when they grow up. Then let me know what it is, how old they are and whether they're male or female. You can tell me through twitter @Sarah_Fellows or by email at fellows.sarah.m@gmail.com
Easy, yes?
When I've collated all the results I'll share them here. Hopefully we'll all get something really useful out of it.
And of course, I'll try and gather as many responses tomorrow as I can. Surely in two thousand children I'll find some who know what they want to be when they grow up?
Distribute my quest as far and wide as you can and I'll be very grateful. And so will everyone else, when I send the results out.
In advance, I thank you!
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