Schools should do more to prepare children for work – Chamber

SCHOOLS should put more emphasis on preparing young people for employment, the president of Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group has said.

Steve Brittan, responding to the National Curriculum Reform in England consultation, said one of the core aims of the National Curriculum should be to prepare young people for later life experiences, in particular forming links with local businesses.
 
He said: “For far too long companies have had problems finding school and university graduates with the right soft-skills and knowledge for employment.  Businesses should be able to play an active role in the education system and offer valuable careers advice and work experience opportunities.
 
“Furthermore, the current system of school league tables is far too narrow. Schools should be rated on the destinations of their leavers, be that employment, apprenticeships, or further education.  This would give a real indication of the value that schools provide to pupils and their communities.”
 
In its response to the Department for Education consultation the Chamber expressed concerns about the proposals to strip back curriculum aims and content.  The proposal is that individual teachers would have unprecedented freedom over the content they teach. S

“Combined with proposals to scale back centrally provided support and allow individual schools to commission training as they see fit, this may lead to further educational inequality in the UK, as well managed schools would excel and poorly led schools would fall further behind,” added Mr Brittan.