GCSE Results show all’s well with the education system. Or does it?

20 August was GCSE results day in England and Wales.

As has become traditional, the media was full of beaming students hugging, jumping and displaying results papers. More pupils overall passed their exams - and they did so with better grades than last year. After two years of small declines in the pass rate, 98.6 per cent of this year's candidates received A* to G grades, with 69 per cent being awarded grades A* to C.

These figures demonstrate that the education system is achieving what it is designed to do. Enable students to pass exams.

On the same day a report issued by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development shows the majority of UK University graduates are working in jobs that do not require a degree, with over-qualification at "saturation point" and 58.8% of graduates in jobs deemed to be non-graduate roles.

So is the system providing the right education for the British Economy?
Reports from employers groups such as the CBI and British Chamber of Commerce frequently highlight the problems businesses find when recruiting graduates or school leavers who are unprepared for the world of work.

Evidence taken from the BCC Workforce Survey conducted in July 2014 which received 2,885 responses from businesses, highlighted the following issues.

• More than half of businesses (57%) said a lack of soft skills, such as communication and team working, were reasons why young people were not ‘work ready’.
• 88% of businesses believe school leavers are unprepared for the world of work, in comparison to 54% of businesses that think graduates are unprepared for the workplace.
• Almost half of businesses (46%) said there was a lack of careers advice available for young people.
• Due to fears around the work readiness of young people, more than a quarter of firms (27%) said they have not recruited a young person (aged between 16 and 24) in the last year.

Good exams results do not necessarily reflect the requirements of the commercial sector especially specific growth areas such as construction, hospitality and health and social care who can find recruitment a challenge.

Improving and enhancing the employability skills of young people is a topic always being discussed but current provision is clearly not delivering. Both business and the education sector are facing increased financial restraints and less available time  to provide support to students in this area. Consequently  more efficient methods of delivering employability education to students must be found.

At ARGUO Education, working with schools, employers and other agencies, we have developed a range of programmes including e-learning courses which in tandem with tailored face to face support and work experience programmes can help students to identify their strengths and weaknesses and provide bespoke support to improve employability skills.

We’d like to talk to those employers and educational organisations working in this area to discuss how we might develop partnerships to enhance each others work and support young people into work.

If you would like to know more about what we do or the e-learning training we have developed please contact me at [email protected]