16/09/2026
We should not decide a young person’s future for them. We should make sure they know how many futures are available.
As parents and educators, perhaps one of our greatest responsibilities is not to tell young people what they should become, but to show them what is possible.
For generations, success has too often been presented as a single, rather narrow road: school, university, degree, career.
For some young people, that remains an excellent path. But it is not the only one.
A young person may choose university. Another may flourish through an apprenticeship. Someone else may discover a skilled trade, construction, engineering, technology, business or entrepreneurship. Others may begin working immediately and return to education when they are older and understand more clearly what they want from it.
None of these choices should automatically be regarded as a lesser ambition.
What matters is that young people understand the economic reality behind their choices.
They should know what different careers involve. What qualifications are required. What progression looks like. What skills employers actually value. And, importantly, what realistic earning opportunities different pathways can offer.
There is nothing inappropriate about teaching young people about money.
Financial literacy is part of preparing someone for adulthood. Understanding salaries, self-employment, taxation, pensions, mortgages, professional progression and the commercial value of skills can help a young person make informed decisions rather than simply following expectations.
We should be able to say:
Here is university.
Here is an apprenticeship.
Here is a profession.
Here is a trade.
Here is entrepreneurship.
Here is what each may require of you — and here is where each could potentially take you.
Then we should give them something equally valuable: the dignity of choosing for themselves.
Education should open doors, not prescribe which one a young person must walk through.
At Miller London, we believe employability education is not merely about gaining a qualification. It is about helping people recognise opportunity, understand their own potential and make informed choices about their future.
Because sometimes a young person does not lack ambition.
They simply have not yet been shown enough possibilities.
At Miller London, every dream counts.