Students set to go through exam period but are adults prepared?

But perhaps those parents should also be thinking about their own futures, especially those who enjoy their work and are not in a position to retire any time soon. Are they equipped with the necessary skills for tomorrow’s world of work?

The IoD is tackling this subject. A recent policy paper called Lifelong Learning, written by the IoD’s head of employment and skills policy Seamus Nevin, is a comprehensive and insightful analysis of the need to reform education in an age of rapid technological and demographic change.

Seamus points out that “the expansion of the internet means the labour market no longer rewards workers primarily for what they know, but for what they can do with what they know”. He argues that businesses and education providers must work together to use technology and different skills to support employees in their lifelong learning.

The context is that we are in a “fourth industrial revolution” where many of the mainstays of employment over recent decades are being swept aside. In some respects that is a good thing as many jobs have been, in the words of IoD head of policy Jimmy McLoughlin, “boring, repetitive or downright dangerous”.

This is food for thought for parents who have learned little in the way of new skills for many years, yet think their children are taught in much the same way as they were.

In an age where, accordingly to what is known as Moore’s Law, computing power accelerates by approximately twice its speed every two years, there is a clear and worrying disparity in the rate of change and progress in learning. The learning of facts based on method and recall is no longer appropriate. Skilled employees of the future need to know where to find information – and how to use it.

Any period of intense change (and this may become a constant state in the future) brings new and different opportunities for those who have acquired the relevant skills.

According to the Office of National Statistics and Companies House, almost 600,000 businesses were started in 2015, by people who clearly feel they have the skills and resources to succeed.

According to Boston Consulting Group, 12.4 per cent of our GDP will come from the digital economy this year, which is well ahead of our nearest competitor.

The increased focus on STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) in schools is most welcome, In particular, IT and coding will be the areas where parents see a difference in what their children are taught compared to their own schooling.

In Yorkshire and the Humber we have great schools, universities and businesses. I’m encouraged to see that progress is being made towards bringing these different organisations together, so that they each better supply what the others need.

The real step change will be achieved if the education curriculum is removed entirely from political interference and, as the IoD paper concludes, left to be shaped by an expert body of education providers, businesses, academics and other stakeholders with a focus on delivering education today that meets the needs of tomorrow’s workforce.

The IoD’s Royal Charter commits to fighting for a climate favourable to entrepreneurialism and wealth creation. The right approach to lifelong learning is the foundation for creating that climate.