“Children can only aspire to what they know exists...”
Prof Ger Graus OBE - Global Director of Education at KidZania
Ric Fearnett - CEO KidZania London
Serlina Boyd - Founder of Cocoa Girl & Boy magazines
Iain Hennessey - Clinical Director of Innovation, Alder Hey Children's Hospital
Hero Brown - Founder of Muddy Stilettos
Kishan Shah - Mayor of KidZania London
We are so excited to share with you Festival of the Girl's podcast with Prof Ger Graus!
This is a an excellent listen, to really begin to understand just how much girls are impacted by gender stereotyping, the lack of female role models and what we can be doing to create change for them!
Click below to listen!
As identified in the recent research published by Teach First and Education and Employers, career-related learning hopes to “tackle the kind of career stereotypes and narrow aspirations that tend to form in the primary years before lasting into adulthood”. These stereotypes include establishing that there are jobs only suitable for men and women separately, creating gender gaps in the future as apparent in STEM careers. At KidZania we actively work in joining the dots and building the bridges to ensure every child is treated equally, in an inclusive environment offering all the possibilities regardless of background.
We asked our school children, majority were Year 6, whether they think women can do the same jobs as men and a resounding 94% said yes! Their reasons for agreeing were largely due to that “Everyone is equal” and that “Gender doesn’t affect your job”. We found that 55% of girls visiting us had taken part in jobs relating to STEM including working in the Hospital, Fire Service, Nintendo Labo and Shell Service Station, giving them hands-on experience and applying their STEM subject learning as if in real-life. Whilst girls were more likely to choose English related careers that require communication skills especially in the Newspaper activity, boys were just as likely to choose them too.
“Because my mum said we are all equal”
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Watch Ger Graus and his special guests as they discuss how teachers and learners are coping and adapting during COVID-19.
These webinars, designed to support you with distance learning, will also give professional development on a range of topics across all learning stages!
Discover how the pandemic has allowed an opportunity to 'Teach Back Better'.
"We have the opportunity to manage this well and press the reset button." - Ger Graus
KidZania has joined forces with the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) who recently launched their Education 2030 project and are supporting their mission to create a “new learning ecosystem that offers a broader education” to prepare children for the changing world ahead of them. By making learning visible, whether as a reporter in the TV Studio or performing surgery on a pet, we encourage children to develop on future life skills such as financial literacy, communication, creativity, collaboration and self-knowledge. We test their resilience and social values through practical, experience-based learning.
We’re excited at the prospect of all primary school children having a structured career-related learning in addition to the Careers Strategy 2017 implemented by the Government for secondary schools. We believe that understanding how their education at school will be important for their future careers should be taught early and to equip them with an environment that promotes creativity and to make choices in life based on their own beliefs, values and personality.
To find out more about our school’s program, email our team on schools@kidzania.co.uk
Professor Graus moved to the UK in 1983 where, subsequently, he became Education Adviser for Manchester City Council, introducing Modern Foreign Languages into the primary school phase, and later Senior Inspector for Salford City Council. After that, he became Director of the two Wythenshawe Education Action Zones, leading improvements in both quality and standards across 29 schools.
Some of his achievements include an Education Leadership Award by the World Education Congress in Mumbai, India in 2018 and in 2019, Dr Graus was invited to become a Visiting Professor at the National Research University Higher School of Economics in Moscow, Russia. He is also a Guest Lecturer at the Moscow School of Management, Skolkovo.
In the 2014 Queen’s Birthday Honours List Ger Graus was made an Honorary Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to children.
He is a member of Councils all over the world, including Bett Global Education Council, Chairs the Beaconhouse School System’s Education Advisory Board in Pakistan, Junior Achievement Worldwide’s Global Council and was even invited by His Highness Sheikh Hamadan Bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, Crown Price of Dubai, to help shape the future of education in Dubai as a member of the Dubai Future Councils!
