During the CBI Conference held
yesterday in Cambridge, Sir Michael stressed that companies have the ‘moral imperative’ to train young
nationals instead of employing skilled people from abroad.
There are currently 146,000 job
vacancies in the UK which cannot be filled by British unemployed citizens, due
to lack of skilled candidates.
This is why businesses should set up apprenticeships
and engage with schools and colleges all over the UK, to tell students about
vacancies.
The 2011 Census data recently released
by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), show that 63 per cent of the 6
million foreign-born population aged 16 to 64 were in employment, only a slightly
lower level than the UK-born population, 69 per cent.
Also, those arrived between 2007 and
2011 were more highly qualified than immigrants who had been in the UK for
longer and therefore, were more likely to work in highly skilled posts.
The main problem, however, stays
within the vocational education system which, according to the head of Ofsted, is
nationally perceived as a second choice and does not hold the same esteem as a
university qualification.
Apprenticeships, instead, should be seen
as an alternative to A-levels and be promoted accordingly.
From this perspective, many job
vacancies would be easily turned into apprenticeships, now that the economy is finally
improving.
Schools, on the other side, are
supposed to prioritise spending on their career service and bound to local
businesses. At present, only one out of five British schools are offering career
advisors, according to a recent Ofsted report.
“We are streets behind
other European countries in our provision of vocational education. Norway, Germany and Switzerland do it
excellently. The curriculum of their vocational education courses are
formulated by businesses and intake levels are dictated by market demand”, Sir
Michael declared.
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