BCC Business and Education Summit takes place today in central London
In his opening address to delegates at the BCC’s Business and Education Summit, Director General Adam Marshall calls on education and business to work together to solve the skills gap by improving the transition from education to the workplace. Dr Marshall will say the following:
“Unless we improve the transition from the world of education to the world of work in the UK, we won’t fix our long-standing issues around productivity – which stop us paying our way in the world as a nation; our firms will be less competitive against their global peers – as businesses struggle to fill skills gaps, and have to divert their training focus to fixing basic skills; and crucially, the burning question of fairness between generations – one of the biggest issues facing our country today – will not be fully addressed.
“These are not left-wing or right-wing issues. They are national imperatives.
“We as business need to do more. Together with colleagues from educational institutions of all stripes, from local government, and from national government, we have a duty to ensure that all young people at school – and indeed far more of our teachers – have regular and repeated interactions with businesses, with industry, and with life in the workplace.
“We have a duty to help school and college-leavers access the world of work and opportunity, and find their route to personal fulfilment and success.
“A duty to generate confidence between businesses on one hand, and potential recruits on the other – revitalising the social contract between them.
“And finally, we also have a duty to continue to build partnerships between our educational institutions and firms across the country – with a shared focus on the success not just of individuals, but also of the places that they call home.”
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