Assuming Brexit happens is anyone advising their children ....

[frozendaisy]

Hello all Newbie here, with things on my mind, so assuming that Brexit is going to happen one way or another, is anyone advising their children to study for subjects that will enable them to leave the UK once they become part of the workforce? That is what we are doing we are, light-heartedly at the moment, suggesting "Canada babies" just to sow the seed. (In case it is usual we have 10 & 8yr olds).

not knowing how useful a U.K. degree or professional qualification will be in Europe after Brexit

Jesus.

"A working holiday visa is a great way to travel long term.It allows you to live in another country for 12-24 months and permits you to take up employment while you are there."

Oh how lucky we will be: age, time limits and visa requirements. Truly so so much better than the current arrangement we have where we can just go and find a job in 27 EU countries.

not knowing how useful a U.K. degree or professional qualification will be in Europe after Brexit

This was the old system, so I don't know why we get a comment about Jesus. My DM had a Dutch nurse and midwife friend, who married and came to the UK and had to do her training all over again before she could practice. What a waste of time and experience.

I'm thinking longer term - the UK is judged one of the safest places to be when it comes to climate change. These days that's more of a concern to me than Brexit honestly.

Told the other day that monolingualism will be considered to be the new version of illiteracy

What even does that mean?!

'the UK is judged one of the safest places to be when it comes to climate change' Really? Sources?

Look at how many places in the UK are already affected by regular flooding just now and the coastal towns struggling with flooding defenses.

Parts of Scotland and higher up in the middle of the country maybe but all the coastal towns? Canada, yes, parts of the Nordic countries, northern Europe, yes, but here? I think you might want to check your sources.

employers have to give priority to EU job applicants

EEA applicants in fact, which gives them a massive pool of people to look at. They won't need British citizens unless they have very specialist skills. It seems unlikely that the UK will be able to provide many skills that the likes of Germany, Spain or Austria can't find at home or in the EEA. Therefore, British citizens will no longer be able to work overseas except on short term visas (which will probably be restricted to those under a certain age).

Therefore, British citizens will no longer be able to work overseas except on short term visas (which will probably be restricted to those under a certain age).

Which is exactly what Clavinova was extolling as a wonderful opportunity.

The rise of the far right is huge in parts of Europe. Yes, unbelievably worse than in the Uk!

We are a trilingual family living in UK, with dss at uni in EU country, we've lived in four EU countries. We would not advise either dss or ds according to where they want to live. They should study something they love and then hopefully they'll become good at it and enjoy the 40 years they have to work. Both intend to live in UK anyway.

Assuming you get a Visa, do employers still have to give all EU / EEA members priority over you? So you'll only be able to get crap work? Assuming you don't have unusual skills in STEM or whatever.

Interestingly, I worked in West Germany in 1979, as a teenager, as a chambermaid.

Even though I am from a MC family from the south, I was shocked at how much higher the German standard of living was to ours!

I first worked in Germany 1982 - 1987, then 2004 - 2010. DH is German so we are there a lot. In 1982 yes German standard of living was much higher, but by 2004 I was shocked at the extent to which that situation had reversed.

nickymanchester Wed 26-Jun-19 13:45:05

I am surprised you were the first poster to propose that STEM subjects might be more useful than a language.

A language is fine as a minor or learned on the side.

Studying STEM is fine if you have a talent for those subjects but otherwise pointless. There would be no use me studying a Physics degree. In the unlikely event I passed, I would be useless in any STEM career.

Are our Arts and Humanities DCs completely stuffed then?

The creative industries contribute more to the economy than car manufacturing but its not macho so isn't spoken about. Problem is a lot depends on travelling and cooperation with other countries.

I encouraged my children to pursue their interests and enthusiasms, one has finally realised her dream of being a research scientist, though thanks to Brexit that has been much much harder than it would have been pre 2016. She assumes she will have to go abroad to progress in her career and is focused on gaining the skills that will make her attractive overseas. Brexit has made a career in Science in the UK much more difficult. Funding is uncertain, a third of her colleagues are from the Eu and many more from non EU countries and that talent is already being put off coming here, the advantages that come from the EUs scientific networks are under threat. Her boss has been very vocal in his criticism of the government and the damage they are doing to Science and tech.

The other is in the creative industries in the north and is mightily pissed off that she may not be able to follow opportunities to work in the other creative centres of Europe, especially Berlin. Her boss too was in the Guardian only this weekend pointing out how the arts face an uphill battle in the face of Brexit and, especially the narrow minded nationalism that has been nurtured by politicians. She too will head overseas if she can.

So those who are saying STEM or Humanities?

If your children want good job prospects in the UK perhaps better to do PPE and become a populist politician.....

One of mine is dead set on Law and the other still has no idea, halfway through A-levels. We’re suggesting the Dyson Institution because she’s studying maths and physics simply because she loves both topics. Both are bilingual, so that’s one thing on the positive side.

Thing is Brexit takes away there rights to live/work in other countries. The only subject/job that seems to me offers an open door to the world is medicine/doctor and then of course, depending on where you go, you still need language skills. Any other 'open door' occupation?

Sorry, bad grammar!

Potentially nursing, midwifery, engineering and teaching could open doors, but doors to which countries? Nursing and midwifery the same places as medicine.

Teaching seems to be places like sub-Saharan Africa, from the teachers I know e.g. Commonwealth Countries. Teaching English can open doors, but not everyone wants to go to places like China, South Korea or Vietnam where the demand is greatest to work, although some of course do.

Engineering depends on the branch but does seem to be useful world wide. Whether you needed a language skill would depend on the firm employing - if American/Australian you would be OK.

Even if a working language is English: a friend was working in a profession allied to medicine in Denmark. She said her colleagues all spoke English well, but this did not apply to all the patients, so she had to gain a working knowledge of Danish.

mightily pissed off that she may not be able to follow opportunities to work in the other creative centres of Europe, especially Berlin

on the plus side the Germans said they would welcome young Brits with open arms. Whether that promise still holds true or will following a no deal Brexit with the accompanying rancour, is anyone's guess. And I am not sure if the Germans (or any EU country) can set their own immigration policy although I think there is some leeway.

I think being in the EU has given us an unrealistic impression about how easy it is to move to other countries. If I look at myself and my husband, I don't think any country in the world would take us now (solicitor and legal in our 50s). Leavers who harp on about how easy it was to move before the EU are living in cloud cuckoo land, the world has changed. In the past (1960s?) anybody could just rock up and live here, I imagine it was much the same in other countries back then. Things are very different now.

I don't know KenDodd Back in the mid Seventies a friend then in his early twenties wanted to go to Germany to work for a couple of years. After a lot of discussion backwards and forwards, it proved difficult and he abandoned the idea.

10 years ago DD wanted to do similar and went, registered for the equivalent of Nat Ins, and got a job.

YY to arts and arts related degrees too.

Weirdly or maybe not so weirdly, an English degree might take you places. Or Geography, Economics, Sociology - all have a stem component but are technically humanities.

My comment was in relation to those saying their children were studying a MFL. I would honestly do that in my spare time because speaking French or German or whatever is not a skill in high demand in France or Germany, etc.

Trends affecting the UK are also going to affect the rest of the world. Environmental engineering, water engineering, conservation, agricultural science, forestry management, geology, urban planning/architecture are all very portable, as are computer related degrees, statistics, actuarial science, human resources, facilities management, events management, graphic design, game development, and lots more.