Jackie Freeborn: We must all take responsibility for the new generation working in Britain plc

UK plc invests a minimum of 12 years worth of education and personal learning in every single child. Yet far too many still leave the system without the necessary basics to manage the transition into adult and working life successfully. We all know that an effective education system is essential for economic growth and social cohesion.

We need young people to have the skills, talents, ability and desire to become the next generation of engineers, business leaders, entrepreneurs and so on. It’s frustrating that we still haven’t got it right. Let’s get back to real basics here, and ask why does UK plc make this investment and what is an acceptable outcome.

A business would never enter into an investment programme without having clear aims and impacts. Clarity on these for education is lacking for everyone. One of these aims should be being work ready – and this simply does not mean five GCSEs or a degree.

Ensuring that young people have the confidence, capability and attributes to get a job should, in my opinion, be a key role for education. The recent Wolf review recommends that the existing statutory requirement to provide work-related learning be removed from the education system at aged 14-16 years and be introduced at 16-18 years.

This is still under Government review but the business leaders I work with find this misleading and would prefer to have work awareness and preparation become part of the DNA of the curriculum throughout the whole of education. Sheffield City Region’s business community has mobilised itself, despite no clear national guidelines and has developed Work-wise – a portfolio of structured, focused, inspirational work related learning activities that engage young people in understanding and preparing for work.

Amazingly for many – such as Alison Bettac who is Meadhowhall-based engineering firm Firth Rixson’s learning and development manager for the UK and Europe – this is the first time they’ve been asked to help design something that they will be involved in delivering. Empowering employers by allowing them to influence the content actually makes the business case for their involvement easier. Alison feels that as an employer she is still having to teach basic maths skills to new apprentices, as well as fundamental employability awareness – something that clearly needs addressing in the future. Work-wise is allowing this to prevail, providing a bridge between education and business.

Business leaders such as Kevin Parkin (now chairman of the Work-wise foundation in Sheffield) have described Work-wise as “the ultimate interview”, paving the way for young people to access apprenticeships in local companies, something he found difficult during his time as managing director of DavyMarkham.

In my experience, when young people understand the relevance of learning for future work and adult life, it becomes far more interesting to them and it helps raise aspirations and attainment levels. Employers seem far better positioned to get through to young people why education and having the right attitude and personal attributes will be an asset to them in life after school.

I know from personal experience that my children took far more notice of what employers said to them than what I or their teachers said. Industry needs skilled young people who want to work, to pick up the gauntlet from the current generation of workers. This is essential for their future prosperity as well as economic growth, innovation and wealth creation for our region.

It is working because it has tremendous business support from individual employers and organisations such as Made In Sheffield. To quote chairman Charles Turner: “We support this programme because we know that it has been designed by local industry to benefit both employers and young people alike.”

The journey through childhood and education should equip our children with the knowledge, skills and capabilities to become fulfilled, engaged citizens, with inspiration to achieve the best they possibly can – providing a foundation for adult and working life. If we don’t achieve this, then we will continue to lose some of them to apathy, despair and lack of interest in what the world has to offer them, the consequence of which impacts on communities and the economy.

Clear aims for education is the responsibility of the Government and we wait with anticipation for this to emerge, but educating and preparing them for adulthood is our responsibility. We need to remember that children learn what we choose to teach them and teaching comes in many guises.

As employers, parents, adults, our actions, our behaviours, our words, our intentions are continuously on view and being absorbed by our children. Teaching a child how to do maths is tangible – learning about morals, values and attitudes and the importance of being economically active is often acquired invisibly in the natural process of developing from child into adult and this is where we all must take more responsibility.

Jackie Freeborn is chief executive of Business & Education South Yorkshire.