In the middle of October, Terry Leahy, boss of TESCo, declared standards in education to be ‘woefully low’. Now, as reported in today’s Telegraph, Sir Stuart Rose, the M&S chief, has added his name to the long list of critics of the suitability of the system to provide business with workers who have the right skills.
Sir Stuart’s speech to the CBI yesterday cautioned about the inadequacy of an education system that produces people who are ‘not fit for work’. Some school leavers, he said, ‘cannot do reading. They cannot do arithmetic. They cannot do writing.’
Improving standards is absolutely vital if UK is to remain competitive in the world. Sadly, it seems as if, as Digby Jones, a former head of the CBI, once put it, India is going to have to have our lunch and China our dinner, before we wake up to the fact that things need to improve. Wait for the DCSF’s rebuttal later today.