School leavers still lacking employment skills, say employers
11th June 2012
Posted by Richard McKenna
The education system needs to do more to prepare school leavers for employment if their workplace and social inclusion prospects are to be improved.
That is the message given by employers who took part in a recent study conducted by the Confederation of British Industry and publisher Pearson Education &
Skills, which found that the number of employers who are dissatisfied with school and college leavers' basic skills remains stuck at around a third – the same as a decade ago.
The poll of 542 organisations, employing around 1.6 million people, revealed that 61 per cent of firms say school and college leavers have not developed the self-management skills they need for work while at school, with 42 per cent reporting that they have had to provide remedial training to help them catch up.
Furthermore, the study suggested that employers are increasingly looking to raise the skill level of their workforce, meaning that those school leavers without relevant employment skills face growing exclusion from the workplace.
Over the next three to five years, employers expect to need more people with leadership and management skills and other higher skills, while at the same time cutting numbers of lower-skilled workers, said the study.
"With the right start at school our young people can go on to have successful and fulfilling careers and have a strong base from which to learn more at college, university, or in the workplace," said John Cridland, CBI director-general.
"But levels of educational attainment are rising fast in many leading and emerging economies, so in the UK we must ensure that our education and skills system can continue to compete at the cutting edge."
Building greater links between businesses and schools can help education providers deliver the skills training needed to ready pupils for the workplace, said Mr Cridland, and many employers recognise this with more than a third have increased their engagement with schools in the past year.
However, he called on the government to make it easier for businesses to take on apprentices and use other means to increase skills training.
"The government has set out promising plans to cut red tape for apprenticeships, but we now we need to see urgent delivery on the ground," he said.
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