Last week, the Commons Education Select Committee and businesses reminded us of the gap between what is learned in schools, colleges, and universities and the skills required for work in a changing economy.

2018 marks the 10th anniversary of the CBI-Pearson Education & Skills Survey, a decade-long effort to bring the voice of employers into the key policy issues facing education and skills. Twenty-eight thousand businesses told us that the demand for skills is set to grow at all levels of the workforce.  More than three-quarters of businesses expect to increase the number of higher-skilled roles over the coming years, yet two-thirds fear that there will be a lack of sufficiently skilled people to fill vacancies.  Similarly, as the Education Select Committee made clear in its report last week, “our higher education system needs to have a much sharper focus on developing skills”.

As I look over reports from the past 10 years, it is impossible not to notice that the primary trend that persists is the gap between education and work. Despite best attempts at systemic improvement, this gap has yet to be closed.  However, advances in technology and automation are rapidly affecting the way we live and work.  These advances - as well as megatrends like demographic change, globalisation, income inequality, environmental sustainability, and urbanisation - will all have significant influence over the jobs of the future.

A shift in skills

In a study we released in 2017 with Nesta & Oxford Martin on The Future of Skills: Employment in 2030, we predicted that the skills required for employment in the future will dramatically change. Whilst core knowledge in important subjects like English language, maths, and science will remain foundational for all, much deeper learning that results in resilience, problem-solving, values and leadership of people will be more important than ever, and all careers will require the use of technology. Our nation’s future workforce will need to be “always learning” - to be able to adapt and respond to a dynamic labour market where unskilled jobs will be rendered obsolete, new jobs will be invented, and the human-centred professions, including teaching, will grow. 

In order to prepare learners today for this, we need to rethink our education system - but we already know this. As this year’s survey demonstrates, employers continue to value qualifications as indicators of achievement and ability - but qualifications are just one part of the mix. Valuing and nurturing the right attitudes, behaviours and skills as young people progress through the education system is key.

Boosting students’ life chances

The current qualification and funding reviews that the government is undertaking offer an opportunity to recalibrate our nation’s education system to meet the needs of learners, educators and employers.  To that extent, we offer the following recommendations in the report:

• The 14-16 phase should be broad and balanced and provide students with the opportunity to study quality vocational options, as well as gaining core academic knowledge through formal assessment.  This should be reflected through the key stage 4 (non-GCSE) qualification review and will ensure that young people are able to make better informed decisions at 16.

• The 16-19 phase should offer young people a range of options allowing them to follow a purely academic curriculum (A level), a broad career-focussed route (applied generals), and more specialised options that allow students to prepare for a particular occupation (T level). The government should make sure these three quality pathways are maintained as part of the DfE’s level 3 review and the review of 16-19 funding.

• As the DfE’s review of education at level 4 and 5 has identified, there is a gap in understanding of the range of options at these levels, where students most often jump straight from level 3 (e.g. A level/BTEC) to a full level 6 degree.  The traditional three-year undergraduate degree isn’t the only option, and the government should promote and raise awareness of all higher education options so that the full range of choices are understood by young people. 

To support all of these recommendations we need to make sure that funding is allocated and targeted effectively throughout the system so that it meets the needs of all learners at all stages.

We call on the government to acknowledge these important recommendations and to work with learners, parents, educators and employers to collectively improve the life chances of every student, as they move through the education system over the next decade and become our nation’s future workforce. Let’s all make the most of this opportunity.

Rod Bristow is president of Pearson UK