Pearson careers hub
Information for parents
It's important to talk to your child about jobs that interest them. You can help them to research different careers, or find out skills and qualifications needed to do certain jobs, and be a positive influence on your child's choices.
How to help
To help your child think about different choices, you can encourage them to:
- Talk about their career ideas and future plans
- Research various careers
- Know about options available in education, employment and training
- Discuss ideas and options with teachers or careers advisers at school or college
- Find out about training, college and university entrance requirements, as well as what is needed for jobs they are interested in
- Develop their skills by taking part in clubs and activities, both within and outside of school - this will help them when they are applying for courses or jobs
- Find out about the world of work through work experience and extra-curricular activities by talking to relatives and family friends about the kinds of work they do
- Go to careers events organised by their school
Your child’s choices after year 11
Your child can choose between the following basic routes:
- Staying in full-time learning, either in a school sixth form, sixth form college, further education college or with a training provider
- Training, such as an apprenticeship, traineeship, supported internship
- Full-time work or volunteering for 20 hours or more AND part-time accredited study.
Important: young people in Year 11 have to stay in learning until they are 18, due to the Government Raising the Participation Age (RPA). RPA is about making sure young people develop the skills employers need to compete in a global economy. Sixth forms, colleges and employers start recruiting earlier than you think, a few before Christmas but many from January onwards - check with your child's school careers adviser.