Wow…time flies…
my eldest daughter is 12 and there is talk of taking her options in the second year of high school. She has no inkling what she wants to do though..
So, if she asks my advice, what do I say?
It seems that retail may be failing, lawyers and accountants are being squeezed and there seems an abudance of them around. She likes architecture but it’s a heck of a commitment (and costly to train)..are they now feeling the pinch. Seeme like they might be at the moment but property always seems to come good as it is usually a safe investment for those with money….. Vocational…could you eek a good living being a beautician/hairdresser. Society seems to be getting obsessed with appearance so cash in on that.
It’s a bit of a worry for the future, more so this early on in her schooling.
Or is it one of those things that just happen…they fall into an interest so nothing to worry about for me?

If it was my daughter I would be advising to pick what she is good at and what she enjoys. Also pick a broad range of subjects. Keep your options open, so to speak. You don’t pick your vocation at 12 do you?

at 12 don’t worry If this was what ‘A’ levels to choose then yes is does matter but at 12 do what subjects are of interest but keep up the core science and maths.

Whatever she enjoys, thats what she’ll probably be most inclined to do well at.

all of the above…the whole options things sort of brings it home that their career path may be being honed so early on…

Best bet is to let her pick what she enjoys. However…

If you want to guide her the best advice you could give is to promote the ‘facilitating subjects’. So as options these would be history geography and a language. The other facilitating subjects are compulsory (Maths English and the three sciences).

p.s. I’m a teacher 🙂

As above, get the basics sorted, English, maths and maybe a science. Then subjects she enjoys to balance the drudgery.
My daughter was being pulled in different directions by various teachers who wanted her in their class. However the time tabling conspired against her, or so we were led to believe at the time. She was good at techy subjects and drama/music( in school group, sax & piano)
She wanted to do product design but when everything was timetabled it was not possible and the drama teacher won. We only found out a long time after how it was carved up. I played squash with tech head of dept.
She left in 5th yr as did her brother. She went to art college then uni and did product design that way to MA. Then did a PGCE in teaching, got her job 6mths before finishing course 😆

Son went down apprenticeship route. Got a job with Cochran boilers. Wanted to fly the world as an engineer but his computing abilities were put to good use in the drawing office. They were installing a new system. 6 guys were taking early retirement once the system was built and he eventually replaced them.
He then left to join a firm of structural engineers who were keen to utilise his autocad knowledge, again replacing someone who was retiring and again learning from an old hand. The firm then paid for him to get a degree.

Both my kids got themselves jobs at 14, daughter in a restaurant and son in a car parts store

There is no right or wrong way, all of us a different.

Hair/beauty salon owners around here are running RR sports! Find the right salon, get good training, open own salon, rent space in a salon. Lots of ways to go about it. A friends daughter has just opened her 1st salon in town after spending a few years on cruise ships and saving as much as she could and seeing the world. Another friends daughter did the beauty college thing and is now an air stewardess with Emirates living in Dubia
Another mates daughter is hoping to get into veterinary nurse school.

What is there in your area in the engineering way? Chemical or industrial?

The problem nowadays is that the youth of today expect/demand instant wealth.
Or is that us, the parents?

I was the first in my family not to go straight into working on a farm as all my dad family did.

Agree with above at this age keep the options broad whilst doing what they want.

Vocational…could you eek a good living being a beautician/hairdresser.

Low paid occupations – like childcare and animal care – even though the apprenticeship is as hard/long as plumbing your earning potential is fairly poor unless you own the place.
Most areas with a large college churn out about 60-100 of these per year when there are nothing like the demand for that number [ as they do in construction and motor vehicle and loads of other trades]
Not certain what percentage get a job in the vocation but it is NOT the majority and I doubt it is even close

Until she is sixteen IMHO she wants to get a wide range of proper gcses at the best grades possible. I don’t think that general vocational or specific vocational are the best route pre 16 unless the student is struggling to engage with a conventional school programme

At 16 she could opt into specific vocational if she is sure of what she wants. eg hairdressing, plumbing etc.

If she is not sure then either A-levels or general vocational.

Of course if you can find a job with good training then that’s a good option. But in my experience engineering apprenticeships go to students with good academic qualifications

I teach A-level physics for a living. I was interviewing students for my college this afternoon

Based on what I pay, my beautician is on around £60 ph. I know she doesn’t earn that every hour of every day, but I wouldn’t put it in the same low paid bracket as hairdressing/child care/animal care. If you get it right, clearly very lucrative.

Median pay is £13,289

http://www.payscale.com/rcsearch.aspx?category=Job&str=beautician&CountryName=United+Kingdom&SourceId=Job

No idea how much if self employed

IMHO 12 is way too young for options, where I teach d&t options are in y9 and as above there is a carve up to help the more able into academic depots with DT often left with the rest 🙄
We advise to go for a range but the best /most enjoyable for her. It will be hard but try not to go along with mates choices often fallout with them…
Eldest did hairdressing apprenticeship hated it.(she enjoyed the work but salon was carp n boss a bitch) I would expect loads to change in next few years as new curricula kick in and btec/VOC courses are stiffened up.Good luck with it and be that parent that CBArsed to get the best for daughter.
John

It’s early days, she’s 12, so whatever she enjoys doing is good advice (as long as it includes maths).

If it was my daughter I would be advising to pick what she is good at and what she enjoys.

Good advice.

Don’t force her down the academic route if she’s not inclined (I’m speaking as someone with two degrees) as the risk (debt) to reward ratio these days isn’t worth it if she’d rather do something vocational. I’ve got two daughters and I’ve steered clear of encouraging them down the academic route. As it happens one of them will need a degree for what she want to do but its been her choice.

Its much better to be a good plumber than a bad mathematician.

I would add, don’t believe all the myths that go around about things being safe choices for making tons of money. For example: law degree – can make tons of money if you go to a top ten university (extremely hard to do) and get a 2:1 (extremely hard to do), then get training contracts etc (hard to do). Only a tiny minority get rich. Same with everything – look at plumbers, everyone has heard of the plumber with the fancy mercedes, but if you take the day rate of any local plumber round here, and a reasonable estimate at overheads, tax, time not working etc, they make pretty average pay, especially considering the hours and the seasonal nature of lots of their work. Hairdressers – maybe 1 in 1000 owns a salon, rest are low wage (and freelance so actually probably worse off).

There are so many of these myths, and even people like universities peddling sub-standard courses will push them, so the only sensible option is to do what interests you and what you’re good at. Even if the myths were true, no point wasting your life doing something boring but okay paid. The top salaries in the supposedly easy money sectors will all be taken by people with a talent and a liking for their work anyway. Might as well have fun with life.

It seems that retail may be failing, lawyers and accountants are being squeezed and there seems an abudance of them around. She likes architecture but it’s a heck of a commitment (and costly to train)..are they now feeling the pinch.

If she was entering work tomorrow that would be important…

It will be at least 6 years before she does, 10 via uni in which case probably 12 before getting her first real job.

Keep options open, and relax.

Had to challenge a claim at work for an agricultural engineer charging £1,200 a day labour…I smelt a rat!

self employed that is..not a company rate…

Learn languages
Best career move ever

As above, get the basics sorted, English, maths and maybe a science. Then subjects she enjoys to balance the drudgery

I agree get the basics sorted but they needn’t be drudgery. Encourage the attitude that learning is fun. I loved science at school, still enjoy it now as a job.