The Head Teacher at Kingswood Primary Academy, Chrissie Barrington, wanted to challenge childrens’ perceptions of gendered job roles through organising a unique activity with volunteers from the world of work.
The school is based in Nottinghamshire and resides in an area of high deprivation. They hosted an exciting aspirational activity on 5th March as part of National Careers Week.
“I would like to see children of any gender empowered to have aspirations to pursue a career path regardless of gender stereotypes.”
Chrissie, who has previously held a variety of Primary Futures activities including a ‘What’s my line?’ assembly, was looking to further deepen the impact of her careers-related learning through challenging gender stereotypes. To meet this aim she organised a ‘Redraw the Balance’ activity.
‘Redraw the Balance’ involved 7 to 8 year old children drawing a variety of job roles. The children were then asked if they wanted to meet people who had these jobs in real life! Chrissie sourced volunteers who had atypical gender job roles, such as a female police officer and a male nurse. Other volunteers attending included a drummer, a park ranger and a chef, totalling 7 volunteers. These volunteers introduced themselves to the children, explained what their job involved and brought props and uniforms relating to their jobs which the children could play with.
‘The children were fascinated to meet people from the world of work that challenged stereotypes and used the opportunity to ask interesting questions. All in all a very valuable learning experience.’
The number of children who drew job roles as either male or female were recorded. For example, twenty children drew a male drummer, whilst only seven drew a female drummer. The children were then had the opportunity to meet a female drummer, showing them that their career aspirations are not limited by gender stereotypes!
Primary Futures has created a guide to help you organise your own ‘Redraw the Balance’ activity. View this guide under the ‘Resources & News’ section of the platform, or contact the Primary Futures Team for support at enquiries@inspiringthefuture.org, 0207 566 4880