Parents and carers are the biggest influence on young people’s career decisions, yet many lack confidence in discussing education and career pathways. Through Talking Futures, we are transforming how parents engage in careers education, providing resources that create meaningful conversations at home.
Why parent engagement matters for careers education
Research consistently shows that parents and carers have the greatest influence on young people’s career choices, outweighing the impact of teachers, friends, and even careers advisors. As a result, parents and carers feature strongly in the Gatsby Benchmarks for good careers guidance adopted by schools, colleges and training providers. Despite this pivotal role, many parents feel underprepared to discuss the full range of educational and career options available today.
Education pathways have diversified since parents themselves were at school or college, and new careers continue to emerge. Equipping parents with up-to-date information and conversation strategies is critical to enabling all young people to make informed decisions about their future. This is particularly important for technical education routes that parents may be less familiar with but offer excellent career opportunities for young people.
Our Talking Futures initiative
In partnership with the Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC), Gatsby developed Talking Futures to enhance parent and carer engagement in careers. Talking Futures provides evidence-based resources and strategies to help schools and colleges meaningfully engage parents in careers education through the CEC’s educator resources, and directly via Gatsby’s Talking Futures website.
Gatsby launched its Talking Futures campaign to parents in February 2022, unveiling a suite of inspirational films that demonstrate the value of parental support when it comes to career conversations.
Raising awareness of technical education
Our latest campaign encourages parents to find out more about options such as Apprenticeships, T-levels, and HTQs to pave the way for more informed conversations between parents and their children about all post-16 options.
The Talking Futures campaign in action
When parents are effectively engaged in careers education:
- Young people make more informed decisions about their futures, consider a wider range of options, and develop greater confidence in their educational and career choices.
- Parents develop greater confidence in supporting their children, broader knowledge of education pathways, and improved communication with both their children and educational institutions.
- Education providers see improved student motivation, better alignment between student aspirations and course choices, and stronger community relationships.
- The economy benefits from greater productivity and reduced skills mismatches as young people are more likely to find fulfilling careers that match their skills and interests.
Talking Futures draws on extensive research into effective parent engagement strategies. Research shows that:
- 70% of young people turn to their parents/carers first for career advice, ahead of teachers (57%) and friends (56%) [1]
- 83% of students reported that parents/carers were their most important influence when making decisions about higher education [2]
- 66% of parents report feeling confident in providing career advice, but only 36% feel they have access to sufficient information about careers options[3]
- 80% of the achievement gap between economically disadvantaged students and their more advantaged peers can be explained by inequalities in parental engagement [4]
- 76% of parents reported discussing future education options with their children, but confidence levels vary significantly by socioeconomic background [5]
- 65% of parents want more guidance on how to support their children with career decisions [6]
References
- Careers & Enterprise Company’s “Parental Engagement: Evidence Review” (2021)
- UCAS “Where Next?” report (2021)
- Careers & Enterprise Company’s “Parental Engagement: Evidence Review” (2021)
- Department for Education research report “Parental Engagement” (2019)
- The Sutton Trust’s “Parent Power” report (2018)
- The Social Mobility Commission “Parents’ experiences of services” (2020)
Helping young people explore pathways with confidence and consideration is vital. Parents, carers and guardians are the biggest influence on a child’s education and career choices. Talking Futures empowers adults to be reassuring and informed partners in their child’s career journey – bridging the gap between school-based guidance and home conversations.
- Michelle Rea, Director of Communications, Gatsby Education
