Bright future - parents value ethical careers for their children

Diigo

A new report has found that many parents want their children to have an ethical career. The report also highlighted that Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) parents were more likely to want their children to work towards ‘making the world a better place’ and work for ‘an ethical organisation’, compared to white parents.

The findings were published in “Young People’s Perceptions & Attitudes Of Working In The Voluntary, Community & Charity Sector”, a new report by the UK Workforce Hub, which surveyed 13-19 year olds and their parents in London, Yorkshire and the Midlands.

Janet Fleming, Head of the UK Workforce Hub, said:

“Voluntary organisations, charities and community groups have so much to offer as a career choice for young people that want to make a difference. From campaigning to fundraising or managing a children’s centre to giving advice on substance misuse, young people will find innovative, flexible, exciting and well rewarded jobs in the voluntary sector. The Workforce Hub is therefore working with schools, universities and career services to encourage more young people to work for an ethical organisation and join the voluntary sector.”

The report found that 31% of young people said that they knew nothing about working in the voluntary, charity and community sector. The Workforce Hub is therefore undertaking a series of activities to inform young people about careers in the voluntary and community sector. These include:

Producing a careers guide for school leavers and graduates: Working for a better world. This has been sent to schools, universities and careers services. The Hub is developing links with careers advisors to promote the guide.
The Hub is developing a national programme that will encourage young people to go on work placements in the voluntary sector. This will tie in with the new diplomas for 14-19 year olds.
The Hub is working with partners across the sector to develop a structured entry programme for people looking to develop a career in the voluntary sector. The scheme aims to launch late next year.

The report also found that young people from BME communities were more likely to be influenced by their parents in their choice of career. Young people from BME communities were more than four times more likely as white respondents to cite “my mum, dad or carer would like me to have this sort of job” (27% compared to 6%) as a reason for their choice of career. They were twice as likely to have been attracted to their chosen job or career because “family members would look up to me” (18% compared to 9%).

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