2026/27 EDITION
What Should My Child Study?
A Parent’s Evidence-Based Guide to Degrees, Apprenticeships and Careers in the Age of AI
Help your child compare degrees, apprenticeships and professional pathways using current UK evidence—not simplistic predictions about “safe” careers.
Also available for KindleCurrent UK evidence · 10 professional pathways · Practical decision tools
2026/27 UK evidence
10 professions examined
University and apprenticeships compared
Decision frameworks included
THE DECISION LANDSCAPE
Career decisions have become harder
Artificial intelligence is changing professional work, graduate recruitment and the junior tasks through which people build expertise. Yet families are still often encouraged to search for a completely “safe” degree or career.
The challenge is not to predict exactly what the labour market will look like in ten years. It is to choose a pathway that retains value across several possible futures.
Don’t predict harder. Decide better.
WHAT THE READER WILL GAIN
A more structured way to decide
Compare ten pathways
Examine major professional routes through a consistent evidence-led framework.
Understand AI exposure
Separate task automation from the wider value and responsibility of a profession.
Examine the first rung
Consider how AI may affect the junior work through which people develop expertise.
Compare education routes
Evaluate university and degree apprenticeships without assuming one is universally better.
Preserve future options
Consider adaptability, training commitment and the ability to move into adjacent pathways.
Make the decision practical
Use structured questions and the Parent Career Decision Canvas to move from research to action.
SIGNATURE IDEAS
The frameworks inside the book
Career Risk Lens
A structured way to compare pathways across opportunity, AI exposure, entry-level risk, training commitment, adaptability and future value.
First-Rung Problem
A profession may continue to exist while the junior tasks through which people learn it become harder to access. The book examines that often-overlooked risk.
Option Value
A strong pathway should retain value even when the future develops differently from what was expected.
Parent Career Decision Canvas
A practical tool for bringing the evidence, the young person’s fit and the available education routes into one decision.
A LOOK INSIDE
Inside the book
Interior page previews will be added here when final, publication-approved images are available.
The book brings together
- Ten professional pathways
- The Career Risk Lens
- The First-Rung Problem
- University and degree apprenticeships
- Training lock-in and adaptability
- Option Value
- Practical parent decision tools
WHO IT IS FOR
Written for the people making the decision
Parents
Make important conversations more structured without relying on simplistic lists of “safe” and “unsafe” careers.
Teachers and careers leaders
Use an evidence-led framework when helping students compare professions and education routes.
Teenagers
Understand the opportunities, compromises and uncertainties behind different choices before making a long-term commitment.
BOOK TRAILER
The question every family is asking
What should a young person study when the careers they are preparing for may look different by graduation?
CAREER RISK LAB
Evidence-led, not prediction-led
Career Risk Lab examines how technology, labour markets and professional change affect education and career decisions. The book is grounded in a dated UK evidence base and presents uncertainty explicitly rather than disguising forecasts as facts.
FREE DECISION TOOL
Start the conversation before making the commitment
Use the free Parent Career Decision Canvas to compare a young person’s fit, the evidence for a pathway, education routes, AI exposure, training risk and future flexibility.
Complete and Download the Free CanvasFree to use. No prediction required.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Frequently asked questions
THE NEXT STEP
Choose with greater confidence
You cannot know exactly how every profession will change. You can make a more informed decision about which pathways remain valuable across different futures.
Try the Free Parent Career Decision CanvasContinue researching: explore Career Risk Lab’s career guides.