Wednesday 29 January 2014

Where Are All These ‘Charities’ Coming From?

Tens of thousands of teenage girls living in London do not know anyone with a job and are getting their career inspiration from television programmes, a charity has warned.
Really? There's a charity for everything now!
Nick Chambers, director of the charity, said: “These 50,000 girls don’t necessarily have role models in work.
“They don’t have links to different types of jobs. Often they find it very hard to get insights into the world of work and what jobs they would like.
“For many of these young people a lot of their knowledge is influenced by the television and social media. People see roles on TV — doctors or brainy scientists — and think that’s what science is all about.
“They don’t realise there is a whole team of people doing a wide variety of jobs, some of which they would be very well suited for.”
So, little Chlamydia might not have a cat in hell's chance of getting the A levels needed to get into university to become a neurologist, what with being up the duff to Wayne or Kyle or possible Syed or that cousin of his with the wonky eye, but fear not! She could always get a job cleaning the lab!
He added that programmes including Call the Midwife and CSI: Miami had inspired interest in midwifery and forensic science, while the “Brian Cox” effect had seen an upturn in physics.
Mr Chambers said: “This is positive, but just seeing someone on TV doesn’t help you find out how to actually get that job. A lot of people see a role but don’t know how to get there and what A-levels to take, especially if they don’t have a careers service or family connections.”
And why don't they have a careers service? Is that no longer a school's job?
Mr Chambers said some children in these homes were from the second or third generation who had never worked, adding: “It’s incredibly hard. ... These kids don’t have the networks. We want to level the playing field.”
If they are from that sort of family, it's not 'networks' that they lack, is it?

13 comments:

Furor Teutonicus said...

XX “These 50,000 girls don’t necessarily have role models in work. XX

Oh, I am sure they DO.

Scotch bessy, Sexy saidie, Luscious lucy above the chippy, Bancock Jane etc.

PLENTY of inspiration for the chavs.

Furor Teutonicus said...

And that is just the Job center staff.

Tatty said...

Such "Charities" exist they equate a complete lack of interest and/or impetus with "need".

It's time to update the Dictionary - again.

Macheath said...

There is already careers advice for teenagers available in abundance via in-school services and publicly-funded organisations such as 'Connections', not to mention the National Careers Service website.

But that's not really the point, is it...?

Anonymous said...

Once upon a time kids frequently went into the same business, often the same company, as their father or other family member.
Of course, that was also seen as a bad thing by people who spend their lives looking for stuff to complain about.

Bucko said...

""A lot of people see a role but don’t know how to get there and what A-levels to take, especially if they don’t have a careers service or family connections.” ""

There's another problem here. If a complete careers advice network was put in place overnight it would tell kids how to get these jobs and what qualifications to take.

This is wrong.

What it should do is explain to kids that a job as a CSI bears no resemblance to Horatio Cain on the telly program, that there are only a few such jobs available and that because of such telly programs, there are already many more qualified applicants than jobs.

A real careers service would offer perspective, but these days, you are not allowed to tell a child they can't or shouldn't do something.

Budvar said...

"Careers officers", the ones I've ever come across were only of any use in persuading kids to join the army..

Budvar said...

That said, Bucko is right.
When young Chantelle/Dwayne expresses their ambition (Oh if only) to be a fighter pilot, having to indulge them in their fantasies instead of pointing out the patently obvious that they're not really cut out for that line of work as they've the reflexes of a 3 toed sloth with a heavy mogadon habit, they're 5'2" and nearly that wide and have the eyesight and depth perception of a myopic mole, really does them no favours at all.

Unknown said...

Macheath - the careers service you're referring to is 'Connexions' (sic).

They're down with the kidz, you see.

Anonymous said...

Careers education really has to start at an early stage, before th children have chosen and embarked upon their GCSE courses. They need to be made aware, before they get to 14 years old, just how much they have to work hard, and pull their socks up, to qualify for any kind of job, even semi-skilled.
I've seen kids who thought they could go into painting and decorating, roofing, tiling, and yet they have no mathematical skills whatsoever. Can't even estimate how many rolls of wallpeper to cover a wall.
Monty

Twenty_Rothmans said...

Nick Chambers, director of the charity, said: “These 50,000 girls don’t necessarily have role models in work.

Nick Chamberpot, without a line of work making widgets, criticises girls for not aspiring to real jobs, such as being directors of useless fucking 'charities'.

Julia, where you live, it's about a pony for a shooter. If I give you a bag of sand, could you please come around and put me out of my misery?

Trevor said...

Bucko, Budvar and Anon

Your 'male, pale and stale' way of thinking has no place in our Brave New World. It's thanks to judgmentalists like you that so few firefighters, for example, are deaf-blind quadraplegics of colour and/or gender.

I don't know how you sleep at night.

Fascists.

Maggie Maggie Maggie
Out Out Out

JuliaM said...

"And that is just the Job center staff."

*chortle*

"There is already careers advice for teenagers available in abundance..."

I think the careers uppermost in the mind here here are those of the charity staff...

"What it should do is explain to kids that a job as a CSI bears no resemblance to Horatio Cain on the telly program..."

Indeed!