At the heart of our current conveyor-belt education system is a fundamental assumption: good grades guarantee places at “good” universities or higher education institutions (HEIs), which, in turn, ensures a “good” job and competitive value in the job market.

Our entire education system is built on the idea of this smooth upwards chain. 

While the government pours energy into keeping the first link only too well oiled, the second link is utterly broken. The requirements of the UK’s economy and the output of its HEIs are woefully unmatched, with just 56 per cent of graduates in full-time employment 15 months after leaving university.

At the same time, The Learning and Work Institute estimates that, by 2030, there could be as many as 17.4 million high-skilled jobs with only 14.8 million high-skilled workers to fill them, while 5.1 million low-skilled people chase two million low-skilled jobs. 

Furthermore, last week, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change published a new report, recommending that the government set new targets to encourage 70 per cent of young people into higher education by 2040.

Ready for the world?

But before we focus on how many young people we get in universities or other institutions, we must look at what they do once they get there. In 2019 research from the Pearson Business School, close to half (48 per cent) of HR managers surveyed reported that graduates lacked leadership skills.

Graduates also fell short in their abilities to negotiate (44 per cent of managers found graduates wanting) and strategise (38 per cent).  

It seems employers are becoming well aware of the ever-increasing gap between the world of work and the world of education.

During the Education Committee’s inquiry into post-16 qualifications, MPs heard evidence that 60 per cent of recruitment professionals are now relying on alternative assessment techniques rather than educational outcomes to select candidates for roles.

In fact, according to Sir Charlie Mayfield, chair of QA Ltd and Be The Business, when his company looked into tech and IT vacancies advertised on job boards, degree subjects came 12th on the list of priorities for employers.  

Meanwhile, the UK is being left behind in the global battle for investment, as, increasingly, other economies’ better-skilled workers attract businesses. On Sunday, a new report from the Skills Taskforce for Global Britain found that 61 per cent of foreign businesses said that they would expand overseas if they couldn’t get the skills they need in the UK.

This should be a worry for the government.      

We need to change 

The world of work is changing fast and, if our education system cannot change with it, the UK risks irrelevance. Vacancies in the tech and IT sector have risen 50 per cent in the space of a year.

This is an opportunity, and one the government must seize, to accelerate the evolution of education. In short, we must abandon the notion of the upwards chain of education, and foster a more porous relationship between education - at all levels - and the workplace.    

First, there must be more focus on work experience, both at school and in post-16 education. In 2021, just 17 per cent of students, responding to a Prospects survey, said that they had undertaken work experience in the past year.

This could be easily amended: at present, too few degree courses and schools integrate work experience into their curriculum.    

We must also think outside of the box of A levels and university, still held in high prestige by schools and parents. Why? Statistics from the FFT Education Datalab suggest pupils who take Btecs earn slightly more aged 22 compared with those who take A levels.

As the government embarks on the shift to T levels, it must ensure not only that they deliver excellent education and career prospects to young people, but that they are promoted in a way that makes them accessible and attractive.     

We have heard that schools, in their attempts to win the “grade race” for university places, are incentivised to stick with the status quo. Instead, our system should be focused on helping individual young people achieve the best outcomes for them. This means rebalancing so that vocational, technical and academic routes have parity of esteem. 

This week, Lord Willetts, the former minister of state for universities and science, told the Commons Education Select Committee that 16-18 education is “heading in the wrong direction”. I agree.

An IB-type qualification for England

Instead of our more traditional academic routes, we should consider introducing an International Baccalaureate-style of qualification, as is currently used in over 150 other countries across the world, where students would study a broader range of academic and technical subjects.  

The government needs to place as much importance on skills as they do on academic studies.

The recently published Schools White Paper focused heavily on a “knowledge-rich” curriculum, but we should also talk about a “skills-rich” curriculum - one that goes hand in hand with knowledge.

This must not just be for post-16 education routes but must be embedded earlier, in pre-16 education, as well. 

Despite significant achievements over the past ten years, the evidence suggests that too many young people are leaving university without the jobs they need, or the skills required for the workplace.

The government says that it wants an employer-led system. If that is truly the case, then much more emphasis needs to be placed on encouraging young people to undertake apprenticeships to meet the modern-day skills needs of employers.

Tony Blair’s recent report called for a target of 70 per cent of students going to university by 2040. Instead of this, we should have a target of 50 per cent of young people going on to do apprenticeships, particularly degree apprenticeships.

The key task of any education system is to better prepare pupils for the world of work and we must start redressing this balance.

Robert Halfon, Conservative MP for Harlow and a former skills minister, is chair of the Commons Education Select Committee