Talking Futures: Action Planning

This activity supports the following recommendations for good parental engagement:

• Build trust with socially-disadvantaged families
• Stimulate family conversations
• Draw on parents as a resource

This activity has been designed to ensure families are able to make the most of the independent tools available to them as part of Talking Futures. Some parents will require more guidance than others in supporting their children’s decision-making and this session provides an opportunity to work with them to set actions they can achieve together. Flexible in its delivery, it can be used in a small group or one to one setting, and can be used to complement other parental engagement activities such as Parents evening appointments or pastoral meetings.

This activity is best delivered face to face for groups, rather than online. Guidance on how Careers Advisers can run this activity in person or virtually is provided in the Careers Adviser parents’ meeting activity.

This is one of three activities that provide inspiration for parents and the chance to upskill and collaborate with their child. They can be used independently or packaged together to create a programme of interventions for a targeted set of families.

Activity objectives

• To support families who require IT support, guidance or encouragement to identify steps to support their child.
• To help parents and students openly discuss aspirations and careers options. 
• To help parents and students see how they can work together to explore the options further, through identifying actions and sources of support available.
• To help parents and students see school/college staff as valuable and trusted sources of support.

Activity information

• Engaging parents