Aspirations for Pupil Premium Students – In my 10 years delivering in schools and after speaking to & with over 1,000,000 young people in the UK I’ve realised that very very few of them actually know what job they want to do. Even at 15 or 16 and even more so with the Pupil Premium Students.
This might seem obvious but what I’ve noticed is 1 thing nearly all of these children know is what they want to have.
They know what car they want to drive
Clothes they want to wear
House they want to live in
Where they want to go on holiday
& what life they want to live
So this issue isn’t that these children don’t have goals and ambition… It’s more that they don’t know what’s in the gap from where they are now to what they want to have or what experiences they want to enjoy as adults.
They don’t know how to ‘connect the dots’.
The Education Empowerment Foundation highlights that “Most young people have high aspirations for themselves”. With one of their recommendations being to avoid trying to change the aspirations they have. Instead ensuring the students have the knowledge and skills to progress towards their current aspirations.
This links somewhat with the potential limitations of the question “What do you want to be when you’re older?”. Which is the traditional question asked to young people. In my experience this seems limited in practical use for a 14, 15 or 16 year olds.
For me the question of outlining what they want… Then working on WHO they need to become has worked better in my small group mentoring & 1-1 mentoring sessions we deliver in the Dreams2Reality Power Program. This is the way we’re helping them ‘connect the dots’ and build their necessary knowledge and skills.
Our goal over the last few years of the Power Program has been to help Pupil Premium children understand the person they need to become to achieve what they want in the future. The thought is opening their eyes and inspiring them to become who they need to be will have a positive effect on the ever growing Attainment Gap in these students.
For example a student from a London school recently had aspirations of driving a car that we priced at over 100,000 pounds. A lot of money. Over the remainder of the Power Program small group workshop along with his colleagues we built a profile of who a person that owns a 100,000 car is.
Here’s a few of the things we discussed:
- What sort of work ethic they might have
- What their attitude might be like
- How they may treat others
- The level of reliability they have
- What their time management might be like
- What skills they may hold
- How they spend and save money
- Even which qualifications could be important
Outside of the usual teenage clever comments the discussions around these topics are positive and it seems to get the children thinking. One of the main discussions recently with a group was around attendance to school.
What a person driving a 100,000 pound car’s attendance might be like
What their time management might be like
Plus how reliable they are
Through the Power Program we measure impact through behaviour, attendance, Progress 8 & soft data. We’ll see over time whether focusing on ‘Who they need to become’ to achieve what they want as opposed to just identifying what job they want to do helps. The initial signs are positive but we know consistent longer term interventions will be required.
Principals, teachers & others working with children I’m keen to hear your thoughts on this and what works best for your students. In particular your Pupil Premium students.
Want to impact your students & close the Pupil Premium Attainment Gap in your school?
Cameron and his team at Dreams2Reality deliver the Power Program to 1,000’s of students each year. A Pupil Premium specific program measuring and showing real impact on the Attainment Gap. From 3 Day to 15 Day Programs we can build a bespoke Power Program that works for your students & budget.
Here’s 3 Ways we can help you:
- Get my Dreams2 Reality Newsletter weekly in your inbox where I provide practical advice for Schools, Principals & Teachers from my daily experience inspiring change in Teenagers & Pupil Premium Students across UK Schools. Mission = Close the Attainment Gap
- Enquire about the Dreams2Reality team closing the Attainment Gap in your school through our national recognised Pupil Premium Power Program
- Ask me a question by emailing me directly at Cam@CameronParker.com – I read and personally reply to all of my emails and would love to hear from anyone I can help or learn from
Aspirations for Pupil Premium Students
