CBI Director-General Richard Lambert warned of the “long tail of educational underachievement” in the UK, in a speech about tackling youth unemployment.
Speaking today (Thursday) at Deloitte, the business advisory firm, Mr Lambert said that the biggest problems still lie in our most deprived communities”.
He said: Politicians, teachers, business people and the whole of civil society have a very strong interest in doing whatever they possibly can to put this right.
Mr Lambert called for a range of policy measures including:
- ensuring young people are not priced out of the jobs market
- getting more value out of existing support available for young people such as incentivising firms to take on more apprentices than they need
- identifying sectors with the potential to generate large numbers of jobs
- making sure young people know how to apply for jobs while still at school
Businesses should encourage their staff to become school governors, Mr Lambert added, and highlighted the 40,000 governor vacancies across the country. By encouraging their staff to fill these important roles, firms can perform a valuable social function and benefit staff development in the process, he said.
Mr Lambert said increases in the minimum wage risk harming job creation for young people. He said: Young and inexperienced workers’ chances in the labour market are especially sensitive to wages, and although the overall impact of the minimum wage has been positive, trade-offs clearly do exist in terms of employment prospects. That has clear implications for how the minimum rate for young people should be set in the future.”
Outlining the challenge, Mr Lambert said:
“The school results, and therefore the life chances, of too many young people still depend on the economic circumstances in which they’re born. And it’s too easy to map parts of the country where deprivation comes together with poor attainments and high levels of youth unemployment.”
Mr Lambert highlighted that, “although the UK spends significantly more per head on education through the primary and secondary system than the OECD average, the outcomes by some important measures are well below par”.
“The UK has some of the best schools in the world, both in the public and private sectors,” Mr Lambert said. “Great efforts have been made, with some success, to raise standards across the board and to improve the performance of our least effective schools, or in extremis to close them down. But despite all this, we still have a long tail of educational underachievement in this country.”
Mr Lambert reminded the audience that this is an issue for the whole of society:
“But of course these aren’t just problems for governments to fix, or for schools. As Iain Duncan Smith’s Centre for Social Justice has pointed out, children only spend around 15 percent of their childhood in schools, so family background, cultural factors, and material needs all have a significant impact upon their educational outcomes. Our schools can’t be expected to solve all of society’s problems.”
Turning to the Government’s policies, Mr Lambert said:
“Young and inexperienced workers’ chances in the labour market are especially sensitive to wages, and although the overall impact of the minimum wage has been positive, trade-offs clearly do exist in terms of employment prospects. That has clear implications for how the minimum rate for young people should be set in the future.
“The OECD also said that 'the focus on raising the school leaving age and meeting performance targets in education may still be distracting attention from the more important goal of raising core literacy and numeracy achievement.' Put less delicately, there have been too many initiatives, too much messing around with the basic mission of the education system.
“Substantial efforts have been made by government and schools in recent years to break the link between family disadvantage and attainment, and real progress has been made. But the gap is still too wide. And it’s this that largely explains the unhealthily wide ratio of low to high skilled youth unemployment in this country, as well as a number of other social problems.
“Given the poor state of the public finances, the first step must be to look for better value from existing support schemes. For example, the £1,000 subsidy being offered to firms that take on a long-term unemployed person doesn’t seem to be having much of an impact.
“Money might be better spent encouraging firms to take on apprentices for the first time, so we welcomed the Department for Work and Pensions’ decision to give SMEs £2,500 for every 16 and 17-year old apprentice they take on, with the target of 5,000 new apprentices by the end of March. Companies could also be incentivised to train more apprentices than they actually need for the benefit of their sector as a whole.
“Another step would be to identify sectors where large numbers of new jobs are going to be created in the years ahead, and to support relevant training in real work for young people. Social care is one obvious example, and construction is another. Why not create a large-scale apprentice programme to green the public domain – installing insulation, double glazing and so on? There are plenty of skilled craftsmen with time on their hands to lead such a project.
“Young people also need support in entering the job market. Job application and basic interview techniques should be taught at school, with extended sessions at university or college level.”
Addressing the role that business has to play, Mr Lambert said:
“Business is an important stakeholder in the education system, and has a strong interest in breaking the cycle of under-achievement. That’s not just because of its requirement for a growing pool of skilled employees, critically important though this is.
“In a tough job market, gaining as much experience as possible is vital to employment prospects. Well-structured work experience that focuses on employability skills can help young people understand what employers expect of them.
“Sir Stuart Rose, wearing his Business in the Community hat, recently launched ‘Work Inspiration’, a campaign to improve work experience and make “young people’s first taste of work...as relevant, meaningful and inspiring as possible.” This is something we'd like to see companies support.
“Some firms start them young. The Shell Education Service works with primary schools, with 50,000 children each year taking part in their workshops with a view to giving them a passion for science – and with teachers offered the chance to improve their skills and confidence in teaching science as well.
“And there are plenty of other great schemes out there. A great example at a company level is Deloitte’s own Employability Initiative, which helps tens of thousands of young people across the UK develop the skills and behaviours needed to get a steady job. This is the kind of lead that other big organisations could follow.
“More generically, thousands of employers across the country are already working in Local Employment Partnerships with Jobcentre Plus to open up employment and training opportunities to disadvantaged jobseekers. The benefits of partnerships between education and employers at all levels need to be better articulated.
“Employers say the benefits to them of being involved with schools and colleges include recruiting, retaining and motivating staff, as well as building the awareness and reputation of an organisation, good or service. Students gain a better understanding of the world of work, and the opportunities that it offers.
“There are currently some 40,000 governor vacancies, many in those deprived areas where education problems are at their most acute. By encouraging their staff to fill these spaces, firms can perform a valuable social function and benefit staff development in the process. They may also help poorer areas develop the sorts of alumni and parental networks that are already providing support and guidance for young people in more affluent areas, or by suggesting alternative structures and link-ups with employers.”
