Kids wanted to be business managers and teachers in 2000 – what do they want to be now?

In the year 2000, Tony Blair was prime minister, Britney topped the charts, and children wanted to be… teachers and business managers.

Every year since the Millennium, pupils in secondary school have been asked about their career expectations, specifically what they see themselves doing aged 30.

While dream jobs might include astronaut, pops singer or prime minister, thesurvey aims to look at actual expectations of what people saw themselves doing in reality.

In 2000, this included roles such as vet, engineer, psychologist, mechanic, police officer, secretary, and IT professional.

New research aims to look at twenty years of increased focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in schools from 2004 has made a difference to how pupils saw their lives panning out.

BT Group surveyed 1,000 pupils aged 11 to 15 as part of its Work Ready programme, saying they ‘confirmed a complete shift, with four of the top 10 jobs listed by boys and girls being STEM-related’. 

Although the top four jobs for girls were nurse, fashion designer, lawyer and influencer, after that the top ten included video game designer and software engineer.

This comes to 2000, when there were no STEM-related roles in girls’ top ten, aside from arguably business manager which would involve some maths.

For boys, three out of five top aspirations including technology, with video game designer coming top, and software engineer and IT manager also coming high.

This compares to business manager being the top role in 2000, followed by ICT professional and engineer, perhaps unsurprisingly as boys have historically been more encouraged to work in science and tech.

Although there has been an uptick in interest from girls, the study indicated that boys are still twice as likely as girls to pursue a career in STEM-related industries.

In the survey, just two thirds of girls said they had been encouraged to work in a tech career by their families and teachers, compared to more than three quarters of boys. 

Nearly double the number of boys described themselves as ‘very well suited’ to a career in tech compared to girls (25% vs 13%).

Girls were twice as likely to say they were ‘not very well suited’ to the industry (14% vs 26%) and half as likely as boys to desire a career in tech (30% vs 15%). Girls were also far less likely to believe there is nothing holding them back from a tech career (36% boys vs 23% girls).  

The study also found that over half (51%) of girls think tech careers are advertised more to boys and nearly eight in 10 (78%) said there are not enough female role models in the tech industry.  

Victoria Johnson, from BT Group, said that results show ‘when compared to boys, many girls feel like tech careers are not for them’.

‘This isn’t to say they are uninterested, or even that they are less confident with tech. To a lot of girls, careers in tech feel exclusive to men.

‘Our research reveals there is still a lot of work to be done in supporting girls to thrive in the world of tech. It is critical we get this right now, rather than having to try and undo the problems it may cause in the future.’

The original research in 2000 came from a poll conducted by the OECD.

BT Group’s Work Ready programme in schools aims to prepare students for the world of work, connecting their curriculum learning with skills that are in demand by employers and in particular bridging the digital gaps for young people including girls and people with disabilities.

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