ONE of the CBI’s key campaigns for 2012 is Raising Ambition for All in Schools with the CBI exploring the essential steps we must take to build a schools system fit for the 21st Century.
At the heart of this will be a focus on raising educational outcomes for all.
This will involve looking deeper into our school system at how we prepare our young people for life and work. We will be seeking out what works well, where there are gaps and what more should be done to ensure that all our young people are leaving school with the skills to make the most of future opportunities. We aim to deliver constructive input from a business viewpoint on these critical issues.
British businesses – and our wider society – rely for their future on the skills and aptitudes of young people in the UK education system. Long overdue changes are under way in schools across the UK, but we need to improve attainment further and faster than our international competitors to achieve the essential rebalancing of the country’s economy. We must raise the ambitions of everyone involved – teachers, parents and, above all, children themselves.
As part of this project, CBI North East is researching the current extent and nature of its members’ interaction with the education sector, with the aim of producing a set of practical recommendations to assist business engagement with schools, to ensure that business education links are as effective as possible.
The team is being joined by two teachers from the TeachFirst, an educational charity committed to addressing educational disadvantage by training and placing graduates in challenging schools around the country for two years. The two teachers are undertaking a four-week summer project and have been uncovering a range of successful projects between business and schools and examples of business wanting to help build the schools system. One thing is clear, that one size doesn’t fit all and there is a real range of businesses getting involved with schools in the region.
The reason for getting involved with schools varies from CSR motives, to wanting to influence the skill level of the future workforce and others just feeling it is the right thing to do for the community. Many businesses are working with education, to actively contribute to the future of the region and the UK, and working to raise educational outcomes for all.
:: Liz Mayes, assistant regional director of CBI North East
