Revealed: Top career aspirations for today's primary school children

Primary school children would rather be a YouTube star than a pop singer or actor, a survey backed by University College London and the OECD has found.

A report analyses the responses of over British 13,000 children aged seven to 11 who were asked about their career aspirations.

The fourth most popular answer for youngsters was pursuing a career in “social media and gaming”. Meanwhile, becoming a singer or musician came ninth and pursuing a career as an actor was ranked thirteenth.

The authors of the report, titled Drawing the Future, said their findings showed a “shift in the aspirations of children” which they said is “built largely upon new communication methods and the growth of online and console based gaming”.

It continued: “For more and more children and young people online celebrities and YouTube gaming ‘vloggers’ have taken the place of TV and movie stars.”

The report, which was compiled by the charity Education and Employers, explained why becoming a social media star has rocketed in popularity among children.

“It could be argued that this is due to the growing fame and attraction of YouTube and video blogging stars, who are especially popular among younger audiences,” the report said.

“While it may be argued that this new YouTube based ‘celebrity’ culture may be an issue or problem, these careers  - vloggers, professional gamers and game designers - are increasingly valid career options for children and young people.”

The report noted that the gaming industry is now larger in terms revenue than the film industry.

A study of literacy levels, published last year, showed that the YouTube  icon Zoella, 27,  has become more popular than Tolkien for teenagers. Zoella, whose real name is Zoe Sugg, rose to fame as a fashion and beauty “vlogger”.

She has attracted more than 12 million subscribers on her main YouTube channel and 4.8million on her second. The most popular career choice for boys was being a sportsman, followed by social media or gaming. Police, scientist and army, navy, airforce or firefighter also featured in the top ten.

Meanwhile, becoming a teacher or lecturer was the most popular option for girls, followed by vet, sportswoman, doctor and artist.

Children of white British ethnicity did not feature a scientist or doctor in their top five jobs, the report said, whereas their peers from Asian and black, African or Caribbean backgrounds did.

Commenting on the findings, Andreas Schleicher, director for Education and Skills, OECD, said:  “All children, regardless of their social background, where they live or the jobs their parents do, should have the same chance to meet people doing a wide range of jobs to help them understand the vast opportunities open to them.”