In this current generation what is the key to social mobility for working class & lower middle?

[Nurserymumm]

With brexit, not living in a gramme area & the huge cost of living crisis, social mobility seems impossible for most..

Would massively help if people would stop voting in the Tories and SNP governments

Pick career wisely. Be financially wise.

If you pick your career wisely you may need less soft skills. Being good at saving means you can achieve more of your financial goals with a lower income.

soft skills can be learnt. You need to be adaptable, brave in trying new things, observant.

Education and, for women at least, choosing a partner wisely and delay having children.

Be wise about your career choice. Don't go to University. Get a trade. Set up a business Get a language.
The world is your oyster with that. An English degree from Nottingham Trent isn't going to to make you a millionaire. It probably won't pay the bills.
Plumbing, building, carpentry, electricioning will.

Yip. Education.

I talked about pushing my kids to work when they were at school and was slated.

I was living in a very deprived area post split. It was my and my kids route out of poverty and I'm a big advocate for it.

Another one here who says education. As a 35yo student my career is leaps ahead in the last 5 years as I am now educated.

If only 18yo me realised this was the key to success when I dropped out.

*in another thread

I don't agree with this. I have two teens and both missed their GCSEs. My DD is particularly driven, she works her heart out and knows the value of education she walked away with fab A-level results and is now at a top Uni working just as hard. She strives for a well paid job because I have drummed into her that whilst money does not buy happiness life is far tougher without it or having to struggle. I have also taught her to never rely on a man for money.

I have a Brother who is a Plumber and he is by far the wealthiest of all of his 4 siblings. I became a Nurse and have a Diploma and a Degree and whilst I am at quite a high level it is nothing compared to his wealth. We are from a WC background.

Hard work, education, invested parents.
My DH managed to break out of WC (mining GPs, father in and out of work, mum a cleaner/ dinner lady). Grew up.in deprived pit area post Thatcher. He worked vv hard at school and despite piss poor teaching and lack of any ambition amongst most peers secured sponsorship to uni. Still works for that firm today 20 odd years later. Lost his regional accent. MOVED AWAY. Read a lot. Kept v up to date with current affairs. He is naturally a people person but still reads a lot now.
DC privately educated.

People do studies in this sort of thing if you have a google around future skills needed for the workplace, eg

www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-and-social-sector/our-insights/defining-the-skills-citizens-will-need-in-the-future-world-of-work

Don't go to University. Get a trade.

I think that would hinder social mobility, I think it would be better for society if we had more originally WC DC as drs/lawyers/teachers. Even lots of standard office jobs want you to have a degree these days just for entry levels roles.

Unless they already had a specific career plan in mind that didn't need university, I would encourage both my DC (assuming they are academic enough) to go.

"I live in a deprived WC area and those who do well here are the trades - especially those who property develop. One of the parents at our son’s school recently bought a £4 million Manor House (to go with their holiday home in Florida). They aren’t educated to any high level - he’s just got charisma and a business brain and has worked his way up.
Similarly every plasterer, tiler and plumber who comes to quote drives a flashy car, has numerous long haul holidays and lives somewhere desirable (and they’ve all got acres of land).
It’s not always just about education. Sometimes it’s about just raw intelligence and entrepreneurial mindset."
They may be well off financially but they are still working class (and there is nothing wrong with that). The OP was asking about social mobility.

Well maybe I'll encourage my dd to go down the traditional route of law/medicine then stongly encourage her to marry a wealthy plumber or electrician to cover the financial side 😁 in jest (I'm not a modem day Mrs Bennett 😊)

I was socially mobile.

Its a long time ago as I’m in my fifties but having IT skills put me ahead of the pack back in the early 1990’s and it was much rarer to have them then. I am from a very poverty stricken background. I went to a dire comp but had two things going for me, I guess even without parental input and a haphazard home life I did very well academically. Got decent O levels, 20% of children were put forward to take them the rest did GCSE. Plus very decent communication skills, described as chameleon like by my DH to fit the setting.

My inspiration was a teacher who told us everyone had something great about them and could give something to the world. We were not just poor we grew up with a stepfather who was a very violent alcoholic.

The absolute adversity I faced in my younger years made me an absolute fighter, I’m also mixed race and had to endure a lot of racism as it was the 1970’s and 1980’s.

At that red brick University I was studying at I met DH. He is from old money, not gentry but beautifully spoken, Oxbridge and public school educated.

So natural ability and zero input from my Mother and stepfather but a wonderful inspirational teacher. Getting in to a decent University and marrying up. DH fell in love with me instantly apparently, his Father now dead was racist. When he did die he had written DH out of his will, it’s pretty obvious why. There is so much more to my life story and I am very lucky I made it.

Education (can always self study whilst working in another job), people skills & confidence to put yourself out there. I came from a poor single parent household and had free school meals. Am now a professional, married to a professional & we are very lucky to have a comfortable life.

I think education is important.

But in order to do well in education - or indeed in setting up your own trades business or whatever it is that is going to move you upwards - you need certain emotional and psychological characteristics. Such as

• willingness to work hard
• willingness to persevere and stick with something in the early days when you are not great at it and having to learn
• patience to bear the frustration that it takes time to build things up
• resilience to get back up and keep on trying if you have a disappointment - and not take it really personally

And overall a general non-fatalistic attitude. Ie a conviction that your life is in your hands even when external circumstances are challlenging and difficult.

I think these characteristics are not just quirks of personality that we are born with but derive from being helped by parents and other key adults and encouraged and helped to bear failure when we are young,

It is social mobility if they are able to give their children a different life to theirs.

You need to do a lot of self-education at home, people who make money now are in tech, AI, create their own rules and are big thinkers…

You need to think outside of the box.

Introduce them to programming and coding.

STEM clubs.

Crypto, what are NFTs and blockchain…

There are so many ways to make money online that a traditional education or even having a degree isn’t the only way at all.

I think supporting early entrepreneurial spirit is important too.

We resell and make money on vinted and eBay my kids are involved too.

They understand money and making it and see me making it too by running my business from home. To them it’s normal.

My life is flexible and I’m always around for fun and never miss a thing.

Have a global perspective, don’t be consumers but givers, at Christmas support the local community with the kids, wrapping gifts and attend charity events.

Have the view that you exist to find problems and create solutions?

they should know anything is possible and you 100% believe in them.

Less toys and materialism but expose them to lots of different things.

Cheap weekend trips to Europe etc, the world isn’t just your doorstep.

Enjoy life.

It’s not always just about education. Sometimes it’s about just raw intelligence and entrepreneurial mindset."
They may be well off financially but they are still working class (and there is nothing wrong with that).

this too. It’s not all about who’s the most academic in school, a lot of the time they end up bored and stuck behind a desk because they followed all the rules and behaved.

I would say emotional intelligence and getting on with others is far more important for life success. Care about people.

I think not being coddled and protected from failure is important too.

learn too fail and recover from losing and rejection from early.

you need resilience to get anywhere in life.

There’s a lot of academic research into this, it’s not generally very positive. There’s a lot of hoarding going on at the top which makes social mobility quite limited amongst the general population.

Here’s quite a good ‘intro’ piece: www.theguardian.com/education/2020/mar/17/the-expert-in-social-mobility-who-says-education-cannot-make-it-happen

I came from a working class background. Got my degree paid for by the company I worked for. Came out with a degree and no debt. Was on £50k by mid-20's and now on a lot more in my early 30's. Class does not hold you back, you have to have a good work ethic.

You're so right. I went to private school and a russell group university. I have a good job with an average wage. Husband left comprehensive with 4 GCSE's. Got his trade and earns far more than me. I know this is anecdotal and I'm sure there are plenty of examples that'll explain otherwise. But the difference is real!

You need a good work ethic - that's harder to achieve in a very deprived area as you don't see people rewarded for having a good work ethic - I mean what is the point ? You telling me it matters when I can see it doesn't ?

You need a decent education - that's harder to achieve in a very deprived area as the schools often have to handle many issues caused by socioeconomic problems so they can focus less on education

It's harder to achieve if you are hungry , poorly nourished , stressed about your parents worries , because all that reduces the percentage of your brain that can focus on learning

And sone people just are not strong at maths science which is probably the easiest way out

You need luck - you don't have the examples of good jobs to aim for in the same way as a middle class child has , you don't recognise good and bad jobs the same way ( this hit me - my idea of a great salary was "more than my parents " - turns out I undersold myself )

Yes it is possible but it is hard