What career advice did you get at school?

[TazzyDrunk]

I honestly don't remember getting that much just wondering how much you got?

None really. No help with applications for university or teacher training college either. My parents wanted me to get a job but I went on to higher education. Mid 70s.

@marjoretta

My DH also got told he was too thick to be a teacher (he was really interested in teaching from a young age, and did quite a bit of voluntary work with children in his teens). He was basically laughed at for suggesting it as a possible career for him- and given details of local YTS employers. He believed his teachers must know more than him so did a YTS and spent 10 years in a variety of low paid jobs that he hated. When our DC were small he went back in to education to get a degree and teaching qualifications and is actually a really good teacher. Would have been much easier to study 10 years earlier though. I'm sure the person who originally told him not to bother never considers how limiting his advice was.

I personally had no careers advice at all- we were just sent in to the library to look at a couple of reference books.

I was academic so told to choose between law and medicine.
I'm clumsy so would have probably killed my patients.

I therefore signed up for law and 18 years later, I'm still doing it!

I had no idea what I wanted to do.
When asked I said ' how about primary teacher' as lots of the girls were doing that.
Head teacher didn't think I'd suit that, but suggested I could work in my parents' grocers shop.

This to someone who had qualifications that would have got me into uni.

Is it cynical to think the lack of interest from school was because I am female?

I said I wanted to do Engineering, guidance teacher relied that I should consider going to university instead. I’ve taught engineering in a Russell group university for nearly 30 years now, so I can safely say she was useless at her job.

The careers advice from school careers office was to think of something other than being a marine or RAF pilot as I was a girl.

A useless guy can and asked me what I wanted to do and said vaguely ‘there might be a course at y local colleague!’ There wasn’t and I found out everything myself. The Internet was in its infancy. They were so useless and I bet they were well paid.

I wanted a career with animals. Preferably either as a qualified riding instructor, or a zoo keeper (we lived near enough to Whipsnade to make this a feasible option). Or alternatively a career in botany and horticulture and I'd heard that there were some courses at Kew Gardens. At the time, I was getting 100% marks in O'level biology past papers at the age of 14. I told all this to the careers officer.

They weren't used to that sort of thing and suggested typist (or even secretary because I was good at spelling), or working in a shop. Er... no ta.

Then they did some head-scratching and suggested veterinary nurse. Or dog groomer. Or cutting the grass for the local council. Or failing that, the police or the army, and then after however many years I could apply for the mounted divisions, or to be a dog handler.

To be honest, I couldn't really see myself as a member of the Household Cavalry

My sister went to a Secondary Modern and left at 15 in 1973. She said she wanted to be a wildlife photographer and they told her to be a nurse. She did O and A levels at college and eventually got to Art College.