Drawing the future: exploring the career aspirations of primary school children from around the world

'Drawing the future', the biggest survey of its kind ever conducted, asked primary school children aged seven to eleven to draw a picture of the job they want to do when they grew up. Over 20,000 entries have been received from UK and Internationally. To ascertain the factors influencing career aspirations, the survey asked children their gender, ethnicity, favourite subject and if they knew anyone personally who did the job and, if not, why they had chosen the job. The survey has produced some significant findings, highlighting that children from an early age often have some sophisticated and thought through ideas about who they want to become when they grow up. The findings also show that from a young age children often stereotype jobs according to gender and their career choices are based on these assumptions with the majority of boys wanting to be sportsmen and girls wanting to be teachers. And the findings have implications for all of us seeking to improve social mobility: children's career aspirations are most influenced by who they know - their parents and friends of parents and the TV and media. Worryingly, less than 1 per cent of children have heard about the jobs through people from the world of work coming to their school. And the survey shows clearly for the first time that this is a global issue.

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