The benefit of many ideas in career education

What's it like to have one career idea? Well, if you're good at Maths, your one idea might be to become a mathematician. If you enjoy History, why not become a historian? 

But these ideas ignore a whole world of potential for the student who loves the subject. Maths? What about weather modeling? Economics? Architecture, data, IT, space exploration, sports analytics, industrial design, hydro engineering? 

It's frustrating for educators when students (and adults) assume there is only one great career fit for a topic. 

But that frustration is useful, because it stops us from accepting a 1:1 relation between one subject and one career.

If we're frustrated enough, it might provoke us educators to ask: 

• 🏥 Wait, English is only for writers? No way! How often do medical professionals, project managers, aircraft accident investigators need to communicate clearly?  (All the time, with important consequences if they don't.)

• 🏀 What about maths? Is maths involved in sport? (Yes! Maths is everywhere, like in game statistics, player nutrition and performance data just as a start.)

• ✍️ Without the arts, where does the content everyone watches, reads or listens to comes from? (And no, AI was not used to write this blog post.)

The art of surprise

A powerful but simple thing all teachers can do is to talk about careers that use their subject, every day. As the OECD's global indicators of teenage career readiness remind us, having a conversation with an adult at school about your ideas for the future is a vital step towards career readiness.

If the connections between subject and careers surprise students, even better! 

Surprise is a useful jolt. A jolt that can help us all step beyond old patterns of thinking.

Limited thinking, like Maths = Mathematician (and nothing else), History = Historian, English = Writer, or journalist at the most. Get wide and as wide as you can in careers linking.   

Challenge narrow career thinking with a surprising question:

• 'So, who composes the music in video games?'

• 'How much maths do you think air traffic controllers use?'

• 'How much do journalists need to know about history?'

• 'Where would we find earth sciences in archaeology?'

• 'How much do psychologists use statistics?'

• 'What kinds of communication skills does a flight attendant need?'

Surprise opens up the route for new and wider ideas about careers and learning to form. 

The short examples in this video are contributions from teachers in The Heart of the Future course.

They show how everyone - educators AND students - gets inspired when we start showcasing the relevance of our learning area. 

Which topics do you teach that are used in unexpected careers? 

When we compare student responses before to after they have done the BECOME program, we see a significant jump up in how relevant students think school is. This is because they can see school learning relates to their future.

It's usually about a 20% lift in relevance of school learning. This translates to engagement -- a decision to invest in learning today because they can see that it links directly to a tomorrow they really want to make happen. 

Learning becomes the first step on a journey they want to take. 

Linking learning to careers

Our short course is about how to expand students' awareness of career opportunities, specifically how talking about the future can inspire learners today. 

All teachers can have a big impact on students' optimism, and their willingness to put effort in their learning right now. Knowing what to do and when makes a big difference to engagement to learn today.

Heart of the Future unpacks how, when and what to do to boost career exploration. It's packed practical tips and activities for teachers of all subject areas in years 5-11. 

Unlock the heart of student engagement today.