School system and tech sector fail UK businesses

The latest batch of A-Level and GCSE passes has once again highlighted a failing on the part of the UK school system, according to critics who fear education is now further adrift than ever from the needs of British business.

But some blame must also be accepted by the high-tech sector which is proving its own worst enemy in closing the skills gap, according to the founder of one IT training company.

The high-tech sector is one of the worst-served by a school system still unable to turn out students capable of positioning the UK at the forefront of the burgeoning IT industry.

UK high-tech trade association Intellect said the recent GCSE passes are cause for serious concern.

Beatrice Rogers, senior programme manager at Intellect, has hit out at what she calls "old style factory thinking", claiming the UK education system is failing to provide school leavers with "the skills which will be required if the UK is to compete in the knowledge-driven economy".

And she isn't alone. Robert Chapman, founder of the Training Camp, believes there are too few students coming through the school system with adequate skills to redress the skills shortage plaguing the UK IT industry.

In recent years the numbers of students sitting exams in subjects such as the sciences have dwindled as the numbers taking more fashionable subjects such as media studies have soared.

Chapman told silicon.com: "It surprises me as to why students choose the subjects they do. I can only guess they are not being adequately coached or steered during their education towards skills employers actually want."

"As an employer I find it frustrating to interview candidates who are looking for their first job either straight from school or university who don't already possess skills that I can utilise immediately in the workplace."

The Welsh school system for the first time this year awarded a baccalaureate to students who were required to gain more vocational skills, including computer skills, during their study than under the previous system.

The Training Camp's Chapman believes this is a positive move in the right direction.

"More vocational skills, however they are obtained, will serve employers, employees and the country better," he said.

But it's not just the school system which is to blame. The IT industry must also get its house in order before the likes of Intellect are too critical of the schools, said Chapman.

"Any industry that suffers skills shortages should take responsibility for marketing themselves in such a way that students see the benefit of developing a career in that sector," said Chapman.

"We constantly reference the fact there are so few women in IT and yet IT's response collectively is at best weak in actually doing anything about the problem."

"The IT industry itself needs to be braver about cross-training people," added Chapman, whose work brings him into contact with hundreds of individuals who are highly skilled in certain areas but struggling to find work due to the obsolescence of skills sets in IT.

"Do we really believe that people who have successfully programmed mission-critical environments with 'old fashioned' technologies can't be taught to use new technologies?" said Chapman. "They have the aptitude, the experience and the motivation. It's the short-sighted employers who won't invest which perpetuates the skills shortage."