Education & Work – Story Prompts That Record Your Intellectual Journey

What stories do you have about your best and worst bosses?

• Who were your standout bosses and what made them so special?
• Do you have any advice for people with less capable bosses?
• Do you have any advice on how to be a great boss?

If all jobs paid the same what would you choose to do?

• Ignoring the practicalities of working hours, travel time and financial responsibilities, is there a job or career path that you would love to undertake?
• Would you continue with what you currently do?

What working conditions or financial benefits might surprise future generations?

• Work environments are constantly changing.
• Not so long ago, health and safety weren’t seen as important, and offices were very formal.
• What changes in working conditions have you experienced over your career?
• What do you miss from the past?
• What changes are you pleased about?

What professional skills do you want to learn and why?

• Are you interested in learning a new set of skills for work?
• Would a change in career path interest you?
• Why are you interested in learning these skills?

If you could go back what would you change about your education?

• What was missing from your education?
• Do you wish you had chosen different subjects at school?
• Did you try your hardest at school?

How might your experience at school be different to later generations?

• Corporal punishment, most typically the use of a cane, was only recently outlawed in the UK in 1998! It’s astounding in some respects how different modern schooling is.
• What experiences did you have at school that modern students may not experience?
• What subjects did you take at school?
• What were your teachers like?
• How do you see schools evolving in the future? Does an ever-changing world require different skills from school graduates?

What were your schools like?

• How was your school set up?
• What rooms or equipment did you have?
• Did you have sports opportunities outside?
• How many people were in your classes?

As a parent, can you record your child’s school progress with reports or observations?

• So much about a child’s journey through school risks getting forgotten over time. The final qualification certificates are just a summary of the outcome, not tracking their progress and hard work over the years.
• Capture photos of your child’s homework and written work in exercise books.
• Create a digital record of their school projects and the things they drew, built and sculpted.
• Involve your children in creating stories about their time and school and how they are getting on.

What were your first jobs like?

• How did it feel going to your first-ever job?
• Where was it, what did you do and how did you like it?
• Did you have a lot of smaller jobs, perhaps summer holiday jobs as a student?
• What advice can you offer to people getting ready for their first job?
• How is the work environment different from education?

What professional qualifications do you have and how have they affected your career?

• What are your qualifications?
• Are you pleased with your choice of subjects?
• Were you pleased with your results when you received them?
• How important have your qualifications been in your subsequent career and life in general?
• Have you ever considered getting further qualifications?

What were your career aspirations and have you achieved them?

What did you want to be growing up and why?

What career advice would you give your 16-year-old self?

• Did you feel daunted at the idea of jobs and a career when you were 16?
• How did you choose your further education and career path?
• What advice do you think is important for 16-year-olds today?

What are you most proud of in your career?

• It might be your contribution to an important outcome.
• Or perhaps a time when you stepped outside your comfort zone and did something you didn’t think you could do.
• How significant were these moments in your career or to you personally?

What luck (good or bad) did you have in your career?

• Have you found yourself landing a job or discovering a career path almost by accident?
• Were you lucky with the people you worked with? Perhaps they helped your progress or taught you valuable lessons?
• Were you lucky with timing – being in the right place at the right time, so you could accept an important project or role?
• Has bad luck played a part in your career? For example, those service industry employees who were hit hard by COVID-19.

How would your school classmates describe you?

How would your school teachers describe your time with them?

• Do you have any old school reports?
• Are they stories from parent-teacher meetings to discuss your progress?

If you met with old school friends, what stories would you reminisce over?

• Stories from school.
• And outside in your free time.

What are some important lessons you learned at work?

• How did you learn these lessons? Through best practices and excellent role models, or by making mistakes?
• Are there a few key lessons that young workers could benefit from?

What funny stories do you have about your workplaces?

Looking back at your career path, would you make any changes?

If you could revisit special moments in your career, which would they be?

• Do you have any photos from these times?
• Do you have any stand-out, impactful or important moments in your career, even if you don’t want to revisit them?

Can you list in chronological order every job you have ever had?

If you met with old colleagues, what stories would you reminisce about?

• What were the good times you shared?
• When did you face hard times together?
• Did you enjoy spending time socially?
• Do you have any photos from back then?

If you had to start a career in a new industry, which would you choose and why?

• A career in a certain industry can take time to build. But the industry can change, and may no longer be as appealing.
• If you could work in a different industry would you?
• What don’t you like about your current industry?

Do you have any career tips or professional advice?

• It may be general advice about work-life balance.
• How to build strong relationships at work.
• How to write a compelling CV and excel at interviews.
• Any tips you wish you had known at a younger age?