2. In order to explore how the world of work has changed from the past to
now we sent home a questionnaire with the children in Key Stage 2 (7-
11 year olds).
The questionnaire asked –
• about the ages of parents and grandparents
• their jobs
• the qualifications and skills required for these jobs.
3. 68 Pupils returned the questionnaires.
The majority of working parents at St Columba’s are between the ages of 36 –
45 years old
•14% are under the age of 35
•40% - 36 -40 years old 69% of St Columba’s working parents
•29% - 41 -45 years old
•16 % are over the age of 46
4. Health, Care and Community sector –
17% of parents work in this sector with the majority of these working in
Nursing.
Public Services sector –
12% of parents work in this sector – which includes; police, government
workers, security and social services
Illustrations by Year 6
5. The majority of parents have qualifications from school such as
GCSEs, O Levels or CSEs. These are taken at 16 years of age and are
compulsory.
Some parents have then stayed on at school or went to college to
take A Levels or other higher qualifications such as NVQs, BTEC or
HNDs
12% of parents have degrees from University.
2% of parents have a masters degree.
Many parents have taken specific courses related to their jobs
through college, apprenticeships or on the job training.
6. The skills listed by many parents were wide and varied. Some were
very job specific and others more general.
Of the newer skills required for today’s jobs, ICT and computing skills
are becoming more of a necessity from teaching to nursing,
engineering, manufacturing, sales and marketing and particularly in
office and administration work.
The pupils recognise that
computing and programming skills
are becoming more essential in
many jobs and will be even more of
a necessity in the future.
5 parents have specific jobs in
IT/Web/Electronics and
telecommunication compared to 1
grandparent.
By Year 6
7. Grandparents
The majority of grandparents at St Columba’s are between the ages of 61 – 70 years old.
Grandparents ages –
• 41-50 – 1%
• 51-60 – 18%
• 61-70 - 57%
• 71-80 – 17%
•7% are over the age of 80
8. Health, Care and Community sector –
13% of parents work in this sector with the majority of these working in Nursing.
Engineering/Oil and Utilities–
12% of grandparents worked in this sector – which includes mining.
Manufacturing and Production –
12% of grandparents worked in this sector – which includes shipyard workers.
Illustrations by Year 6
9. The skills listed by grandparents were practical and often learnt on
the job or as an apprentice. Manual skills featured more heavily in the
grandfathers responses. Grandmothers worked more often in the
caring and secretarial professions with teaching also a common job
for both sexes.
Jobs that have died out in our
region include shipyard work – ship
fitters, riggers, welders, pipe fitters.
Mining is also another job that a
dying profession and there are no
parents who work in either of these
jobs.
5 grandparents worked in the
shipyards and 3 were coal miners.
By Year 5
10. More grandparents left school with no formal qualifications.
Some listed O Levels and A Levels with many going onto colleges to
undertake specific training and qualifications related directly to the
jobs they went on to have. City and Guilds certificates and NVQs
were common post 16 qualifications.
5% of grandparents have degrees from University.
2% of grandparents have a masters degree.
Most grandparents list on the job training as their main route into
their jobs.
More grandmothers didn’t work with 12 listing no job or
housewife.
11. Parents Responses to Jobs
Jobs Sectors Number of Parents
Health/Care and Community 20
Public Service 14
Hospitality/Travel/Leisure 10
Building/Construction 9
Education/Training 9
Transport jobs 9
Engineering/Oil/Utilities 7
IT/Web/Electronics
&Telecommunication
6
Manufacturing and Production 6
Retail 6
Management 6
Legal/Finance 5
Office/Secretarial and Admin 4
Arts/Craft/Entertainment 2
Sales and Marketing 1
Outdoor/Cleaning 1
Media/Languages 0
No job 8
Grandparents Responses to Jobs
Jobs Sectors Number of Grandparents
Health/Care and Community 24
Engineering/Oil/Utilities 23
Manufacturing and Production 23
Retail 18
Hospitality/Travel/Leisure 17
Office/Secretarial and Admin 13
Education/ Training 11
Building/Construction 10
Transport 9
Outdoor/Cleaning 8
Public Service 7
Sales and Marketing 6
Arts/Craft/Entertainment 6
Legal /Finance 5
Management 5
IT/Web/Electronics
&Telecommunication
1
Media/Languages 0
No job 12
