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 globalised world, countries find prosperity in optimising their competitive advantages and for the UK that must lie in the quality of its human capital, rather than the cheapness of its labour or the extent of its natural resources.
Demand for skills has grew considerably over the last generation and, as the Leitch Review of Skills showed, skills will become ever more important over the next decade. Already people who do not achieve well from the education system struggle to find well paid work. In the future, the penalty young people will pay for entering adult life without minimal qualifications will get ever higher, leading to increased social costs. Moreover, because educational underachievement is not shared equally across the population regardless of gender, ethnicity and social background, the growing cost of educational failure is set to exacerbate social inequalities.
The curriculum changes now being introduced engage employers to help young people develop the softer personal skills that allow them to prosper in the new economy and achieve more by exposure to different and potentially more motivating styles of learning.
The world is changing
"We are currently preparing students for jobs that don't exist yet, using technologies that haven't been invented, in order to solve problems we don't even know are problems yet." Shift Happens
Demand for skills has never been higher. The 2006 Leitch Review of Skills provided a compelling account of the opportunities and dangers facing the UK over the next generation.
"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 the key 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
The difference that engaging employers in education can make
Young people have never achieved more out of education, but the bar is rising all the time. Britain's competitors, especially those countries in the OECD (a group comprising the world's biggest economies) are also investing hugely in their education and work-related training systems. Already, there are financial penalties that come from educational underachievement - less than one half of those with no qualifications are in work, compared to nearly 90 per cent of those with graduate level qualifications - and penalties will get ever more severe over the next decade. Consequently, the UK Government, like its OECD competitors, is looking hard to make sure that it provides every opportunity that exists to help young people enter their adult lives with a set of skills, knowledge and attitudes which will allow them to prosper in the new economy.
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, improving 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 the minimum of five good GCSEs that gives them real choice at 16.
Personal learning and thinking skills
Engaging employers in teaching and learning can also support the development of those skills at greatest premium in the new economy. The CBI has argued that work experience specifically provides young people with opportunity to develop the personal learning and thinking skills most highly valued by employers (and which are now embedded in the seventeen Diplomas). 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.
Education-employer partnerships can provide an important way to raise interest in and awareness of sectors for which there are projected job shortages (e.g. IT). The partnerships can also help to inform an employer's client base and increase the pool of potential employees with skills relevant to the needs of their sector.
Literacy and numeracy
More than one in six young people in the UK leave school unable to read, write and add up properly; over half of 735 firms surveyed by CBI in 2008 stressed that they had serious concerns regarding employees' literacy and numeracy skills, reporting that customer services and productivity suffer in return. Enhanced literacy and numeracy skills can benefit all sectors by helping to increase productivity.
Science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM)
Today, 59% of employers report difficulties in recruiting enough STEM-skilled individuals2. Helping to improve students' skills in STEM subjects can help to develop a workforce with the appropriate skills for sectors in which STEM skills are crucial to success in the workplace.