Benefits for society
There is wide agreement that our future prosperity depends acutely on increasing the skills and knowledge of the working population. In a world that is getting ever smaller, countries find prosperity in optimising their competitive advantages, and for the UK that must lie in the quality of our human capital, rather than the cheapness of our labour or the extent of our natural resources. As our economy changes, in order to prosper in work, our young people not only need to be more highly skilled than their predecessors, but also need a different set of skills to the ones most in demand over the last century.
The world is changing
"The importance of building better links between education and business are at the core of what we believe at Catalyst. By helping a generation of young people achieve their ambitions we ensure a better future for everyone." Helen Aston,Education Director, Catalyst Lend Lease
Demand for skills is growing
Demand for skills grew considerably over the last generation and, as the Leitch Review of Skills showed, will become ever more important over the next decade.
"To achieve world class prosperity and fairness in the new global economy, the UK must achieve world class skills. Without world class skills, UK businesses will find it increasingly difficult to compete and innovate. The employment opportunities of the lowest skilled will continue to decline, risking a lost generation, cut off permanently from labour market opportunity. The Review has concluded that, where skills were once a key driver of prosperity and fairness, they are now thekey driver. Achieving world class skills is the key to achieving economic success and social justice in the new global economy." Leitch Review of Skills, 2006
Already people who do well at school struggle to find well paid work - less than one half of those with no qualifications are in work, compared to nearly 90 per cent of those with graduate level qualifications. In the future, the penalty young people pay for entering adult life without minimal qualifications will get ever higher. Moreover, because educational underachievement is not shared equally across the population, the growing cost of educational failure is set to exacerbate social inequalities. There are specific groups in society - like children raised in care - who do especially badly out of the education system and we should take every opportunity open to us to help them achieve more and enter adult life with confidence.
Employers can work with schools and colleges to help young people achieve more
By engaging employers in teaching and learning, schools and colleges gain access to new resources, and young people are exposed to a style of learning that many find more motivating, drawing direct relevance between classroom study and future employment, leading to improve attendance, behaviour and so attainment. Engaging employers with schools can make a difference to the lives of young people, helping more of them to achieve their best.
Demand for skills is changing - recruit the attitude, train the skill
Increasingly, young people get their first jobs on the basis of their attitudes as much as their technical skills, and more than ever, young people are asked to bring positive behaviours with them into the workplace. Twenty-first century employers place far higher value on personal characteristics such as initiative and self-management, the ability to work in a team, to communicate and show business awareness, than their predecessors did.
Employers make a difference
Employers are uniquely well placed to work with schools and colleges to help develop the positive attitudes that allow young people to prosper in the new economy. The CBI sees work experience specifically providing young people with the opportunity to develop the personal characteristics most highly valued by employers. It is these skills that allow young people to enter, with confidence, a working world where they can expect regular changes of job and even of career.
For more information on how employers can help young people succeed, visit the Benefits to young people page.
The bar is rising
Young people have never achieved more out of the education, but the bar is rising all the time. Our OECD competitors are also investing hugely in their education systems and competing on the skills and knowledge of their working population. Consequently, the UK Government, like its OECD competitors, is working hard to make sure that it provides every opportunity to help young people enter their adult lives with the skills, knowledge and attitudes to prosper in the new economy.
Why it makes a difference
Demand for highly skilled staff to grow, says CBI/EDI
The demand for skilled people will intensify during the recovery, and employers' top recruitment priorities are employability skills such as problem solving and team working, above exam results, a new survey reveals. The CBI believes that business has a key role to play in the education system.
The new CBI report, called Ready to grow: business priorities for education and skills, is sponsored by leading qualifications awarding body EDI. The survey was answered by 694 employers, which together employ over 2.4 million people and represent companies of all sizes and sectors.
Visit: Ready to grow: business priorities for education and skills
Learning outside the classroom crucial, says Ofsted
The government's response to the Commons Education Committee's report both acknowledges the importance of learning outside the classroom and promises to investigate the constraints on schools arising from unnecessary health and safety red tape or from teachers' pay and conditions.
To read Ofsted's response to the Commons Education Committee Report Transforming Education Outside the Classroom please visit:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmselect/cmeduc/525/52504.htm
Also see Education Executive article: http://www.edexec.co.uk/news/1387/think-outside-the-box/
Helping young people succeed: the role of employers
Deloitte, the business advisory firm, has launched a report, commissioned by The Education and Employers Taskforce, examining how employers can contribute to improving careers education through inspiring and better informing young people.
The dynamic labour market and the vast range of career options available can leave young people feeling 'bewildered' and 'uninformed'. The research shows that a substantial divide between what young people want from their careers advice at school and what they get, including the level of involvement of employers.
Read the full report
Governors Mean Business
This School Governors One-Stop Shop (SGOSS) and University of Hertfordshire research report shows the ways in which Governors are valued by head teachers and schools. These include challenging and holding the leadership to account, monitoring, evaluation and getting to know the areas of school life in need of development.
CBI calls for employers and schools to collaborate for employability
In Fulfilling potential, the business role in education, the CBI, the UK's largest employers' body, calls for the anticipated government White Paper on school reform to set out a clear strategy on how businesses can get involved in education.
Visit: http://www.cbi.org.uk/pdf/fulfilling-potential-the-business-role-in-education.p