Girls want to be vets, while boys just want to play football!

Research conducted by Norwich and Peterborough Building Society (N& P), among 1,344 school children aged 5 to 11, reveals that the top five career aspirations for girls are to become a vet, hairdresser, teacher, artist, and singer.

These contrast with the top five career aspirations for boys which are to become a footballer, police officer, fire fighter, car mechanic and Formula 1 racing driver!

There is also a significant contrast between the average costs to fund these top career aspirations. Research reveals that to fund girls’ top ten careers, it will cost on average £28,171. This is significantly higher than the average cost to fund the top ten career aspirations for boys which is only predicted to be £6,164.

Gary Lacey, group product manager at Norwich and Peterborough Building Society, commented: “These findings show how stereotyped children’s career aspirations are at a young age. However, it is interesting that girls are torn between the decision to become a vet or a hairdresser - two jobs requiring very different skills. It is also interesting to see that both teaching and policing are devoid of stereotyping with girls and boys voting them as favoured career choices.”

Financial Implications: With regards to financial implications for parents and guardians, these findings might be somewhat unnerving; with the average cost for girls’ career aspirations calculated at £28,171 - £22,000 more than boys’. The top ten career choices for girls comprise more degree dependent careers, including becoming a doctor or a vet; and idealistic ambitions, such as becoming a professional singer or actress. Boy’s top ten career options, on the other hand, are more focussed on public service ambitions, such as becoming a fire fighter or police officer; or careers which require higher education courses rather than degrees, such as becoming a car mechanic, chef or builder. Top

Subjects: However, such aspirations do not appear to be governed by differences between girls’ and boys’ preferred subjects at schools. Further findings from N& P’s research show that maths, PE and art all rate as the top three favoured subjects by both sexes; with 23 percent of all children surveyed rating maths as their favourite – something that goes against recent Government findings.With favoured subjects seeming to have little impact upon children’s career aspirations (with the exception of art for girls) it appears that other factors are at play. Television programs such as “X Factor”, “American Idol” and “Any Dream Will Do”, plus sports celebrities such as David Beckham, appear to have more of an impact upon children’s career aspirations.

Gary Lacey continued: “While children’s career aspirations are subject to change as they grow older and more experienced, this research offers an interesting insight into which careers rate as top among 5 to 11 year olds and the current cost predicted to fund them.

“Becoming a professional singer or pop star might be out of reach for some children, but what this research does show is the importance for parents and guardians to consider the cost of funding for qualifications and training at an early stage.

“It is also interesting to see that maths is one of the favourite subjects amongst all children. This is good news as it should help children understand finance matters now and make the right choices of financial services products as they get older.

“In February, N& P launched a new range of Family Savings Accounts. These include accounts for both parents and children to use to get into the savings habit and help fund a child’s aspirations - whether they want to be a car mechanic, a vet or the next Madonna!”