ABSTRACT
The study described in this chapter, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, set out to explore this idea and assess how much truth there was to it. It discusses the idea of aspirations, the findings of the study and what they mean for public policy. There is a high degree of interest among politicians and policymakers in aspirations. It is assumed that policy can raise aspirations and that, in turn, this will help to increase educational achievement, bring about greater equity in access to good jobs and enhance the UK's economic competitiveness by ensuring that talent can rise to the top. Aspirations were a key theme of many of the Labour Government's policy papers about children and young people, including The Children's Plan, and Aiming High for Young People. Few were definitely interested in the types of jobs thought to be available locally and there was little correspondence between the structure of local labour markets and job aspirations.
