Online Resources Parents Can Use to Guide Their Children’s Future Studies

Beyond making sure their children’s basic needs are met, parents also play a pivotal role in guiding them through education and career paths. As the UK’s Social Mobility Commission emphasises, parenting can significantly influence children’s learning potential and outcomes starting from their early years of life. Thus, every parent or carer has the responsibility to help a child discover their skills and interests and make decisions about what they want to pursue later in life.

While this involvement can come in the form of simple interactions such as guided play, parents can also rely on online resources to engage their children and prepare them for future studies. So, here are helpful websites and apps that can inspire parents to become more involved in their children’s self-discovery and development.

Youth Employment UK for career conversations

Initiating career conversations is the first step to facilitating a child’s foundational understanding of how people prepare themselves for the world of work. Children as young as four start thinking about what they want to do in the future, so parents can explore the Youth Employment UK website for articles that teach them about fresh and effective approaches to giving career advice.

For example, the linked article reminds parents to examine how they talk to their children about their own careers — whether they frame their work day positively or negatively and whether they share their professional challenges and achievements. It also gives parents ideas like visiting local areas and landmark destinations to talk about the different jobs these could involve, even the unusual ones.

Natural History Museum for virtual tours

Museum visits can be a fun way to inspire joy, creativity, and curiosity among children while also serving as a starting point for discussions about their hobbies, passions, and interests. If you lack the time or money to take them to museums, London’s Natural History Museum has a website where you can find virtual self-guided tours of galleries, exhibitions, and other interactive experiences.

You can take a virtual stroll through the Wonder of Nature exhibition with audio guides narrated by Sir David Attenborough, thus capturing the attention of kids interested in biodiversity and wildlife. Meanwhile, the Library and Archives digital collections are suitable for kids who want to learn about scientifically important art, illustrations, books, and manuscripts. Overall, it’s an immersive platform for career exposure that encourages children to reflect on what they might potentially pursue in the future, with fields ranging from space and science to architecture and history.

Studocu for information on higher education

Part of readying your kids for future studies is to increase your awareness of possible degrees and academic institutions they can venture into. While you can visit the websites of colleges and universities to learn more about what they offer, you can also utilise the note-sharing website Studocu to identify the kinds of classes, courses, and learning opportunities available at top higher education institutions in the UK.

Since these documents are uploaded and rated by the students themselves, you can have firsthand knowledge that equips you to aid — but not dictate — your child’s decision-making process in the years to come. To illustrate, an institution like King’s College London may help your child thrive in the humanities and social sciences, while Lancaster University could be more suitable for research-intensive career prospects.

Clubhub for kids’ coding clubs

Guiding your children in planning for their future can also involve developing their skills. As a previous post about ‘Teaching Kids to Code’ has explained, one of the essential life skills is coding, mainly due to the high demand and wages for developers and coding’s inherent value in a rapidly modernising world. Although the current educational system faces challenges in reinforcing kids’ knowledge of and interest in the world of coding, parents can check out Club Hub for a wide selection of kids’ coding clubs, with many of these taught and facilitated by professional developers themselves.

Aside from coding and programming, Club Hub also hosts a range of clubs and activities that can cater to kids’ varying interests and passions, from visual and performing arts to science, technology, engineering, and maths. Check out our website to learn more!