Employers unhappy with students’ literacy skills

A
third of employers are dissatisfied with the literacy and numeracy of young
people, according to new research by the Confederation of British Industry
(CBI).

GCSE
results published today show 50 per cent of pupils failed to achieve grade C or
above in Maths and 40 per cent failed to get grade C or above in English.

The
survey, undertaken by the CBI in conjunction with Pertemps recruitment agency,
will also show dissatisfaction with school leavers’ business awareness (70 per
cent), foreign language skills (58 per cent), self management (56 per cent),
career knowledge (44 per cent), and work attitude (37 per cent).

Digby
Jones, CBI director-general said there are too many people who lack the basic
abilities to step into today’s world of work.

"Too
often employers have to pick up the tab with extra training – damaging UK
productivity – when low basic skills are a direct result of failures in the
education system," he said.

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"The
Government should make eradicating this scandalous weakness its top priority
before considering more radical education reforms."

By Michael Millar