Talking Futures: Inspiration and upskilling - conversation starters

This activity supports the following recommendations for good parental engagement:

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

This activity is based on the Conversation Starter content available on the Parents’ hub. It can be used to stimulate family discussions through question prompts that cover simple and more in depth topics related to careers decision-making.

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.

This activity is best delivered face to face, rather than remotely – unless families are known to have the necessary equipment and your school/college has built up parents’ confidence in virtual platforms. After the activity parents can be signposted to the online content to continue the conversations at home and given guidance on what to do if their discussions raise questions they can’t answer.

Activity objectives:

• To help parents and students openly discuss interests, skills and careers options.
• To help parents share and reflect on their experience and feel confident that their experiences can be of value to their child.
• To help parents support their child in understanding their abilities and skills and explore how to develop themselves and their self-belief.
• To encourage parents to visit the parents’ hub and use the online conversation starter game at home.

Activity information

• Engaging parents
• 45 mins