IN DEFENCE OF SUCCESS

25/08/2010 by admin.

I constantly tell my two children that life is one long learning curve and that most days I pick up some new knowledge which gives me value in terms of business or maybe just basic survival. In our education process, we are taught, for the most part by those that have had little or no significant  firsthand knowledge of the culture of the world of business. There are two ways round this, we either make 6-12 months work experience part of the graduate teaching programme, or we bring in appropriately prepared business people into the schools as part of the basic operation. The latter is partly a process under way in an ad hoc basis in a variety of schools. Unfortunately it largely requires the goodwill of business on a voluntary basis. That may not sit too well in the current economic climate.

I have tremendous sympathy for the world of education, like us in business, Government cannot seem to stop tinkering. Like us in business, the burden of regulation seems to grow rather than diminish. Having spent many hundreds of hours working in schools with students delivering thousands of hours of enterprise learning, I am quite sure I have a feel for the problem What a pity nobody takes the time out to listen and to engage.

What I have little sympathy for are those that always bleat on that the examination process is being “dummed down” and that it is easier to pass exams. Again, from experience, observing my two children and talking to their friends, I absolutely disagree. Maybe I only have the experience of Grammar School students, but certainly the last two years of my daughter’s education has seen her studying many late nights and on weekends – wrapped round volunteering with The Police and a part time job in  a major store. She tells me that there were no easy bits in her work and that she felt “challenged” with the exams. So who is right? From that she is part of the 8.1% gaining A* status. Good news for one Kent University!

The questions grows in the business community as to the value of a degree. It has been  said before that they are as common as the A level. We must ensure that only appropriate degrees are given that status, some of the courses frankly do not deserve that title, we have to find some differentiator. I believe in the growing movement towards apprenticeships, that is where many of the so called degree courses should be repositioned. My company had the benefit of an international graduate for three months. Why is it that in France they can do a degree course in two years? Is this another part of the bloated system we have here in the UK, should the spare year be used for work experience as part of the education programme?

Business is on the lookout for people that can add value to an operation. It is the ability to bring value to the employee base, not necessarily immediately, but to demonstrate the promise to get there. We still have a problem with numeracy and literacy – again why is that? How have we addressed that problem? Where has the stimulus been to get it right on all sides? Why has there been no improvement, after all there are a large number of well paid people out there responsible for delivering it.

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