The education system needs to adapt for a changing work environment #Edu4_0

Last week, CBI Director-General, Carolyn Fairbairn, outlined how the education system needs to adapt in a changing world and set out the CBI’s vision and role in helping the education adapt.

With the world of work changing, the education system needs to keep up. As a result of an increasingly globalised economy, people staying in work longer, as well as the continued rise of automation maintaining the status quo isn’t possible.

Read Carolyn’s full Royal Society speech

In her speech, Carolyn put forward three new proposals:

1. First, she posed the question of whether GCSEs at 16 are necessary in their current form.
2. Second, a recommendation highlighting the link between young people spending longer in work and them needing to have a great amount of time preparing for work.
3. Third, the CBI plans to support employers to work with schools, colleges, and universities to help them adapt to this change.

Following this speech, the CBI’s education and skills team will work with CBI members across the country and discuss the detail and practicalities of these proposals.

This consultation will inform conversation with the Department of Education and Downing Street ensuring the education system adapts to the modern world of work.