At the risk of incurring general opprobrium, may I venture to suggest that education is about preparing people for the broad opportunities of life, not the narrow demands of employment?
I am of the post-war baby-boom generation that was brought up to believe that the purpose of school was to imbue a love of learning, and university to extend scholarship.
If the UK education system were to fulfill such noble purposes, then it would surely provide what every employer needs: a cadre of self-motivated individual human beings with enquiring minds who are able to think and act for themselves, rather than an indistinguishable mass of ‘work fodder’ with only a limited ability to do what they are told
There is more to life than work, and more to education than the needs of employers. Whatever happened to the practice of employers providing training appropriate to their employees’ needs, in conjunction with the relevant trade and professional bodies, rather than relying on others to do it for them?
Andrew M. Williamson, Chartered Insurance Practitioner and Visiting Professor, Shanghai Finance College (now University)
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Firms within the financial services sector need this country’s education system to produce individuals with a strong grasp of the basics in literacy and numeracy. This provides the basis upon which they can be trained in whatever financial discipline they choose to follow. Our sector has a strong track record of providing training for its workforce and provides over two billion pounds every year to upskill staff at all levels.
Yet a recent survey found CII members saying that the education system is failing financial services. Two thirds of employers felt the education system does not serve their needs well and only 3% agreed with the statement that levels of basic education are more than adequate. Problems are not confined to school leavers either as 61% of respondents thought that graduates struggled with the basics.
It seems therefore that there is still much to be done to meet our most basic needs.
Daniel Pedley, Public Affairs Manager, Chartered Insurance Institute
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"The link between education and work is not joined up. We need a ‘leaving education’ state funded recruitment service leading to apprenticeships.”
Dillwyn Rosser MAMHR, Head of Employer Engagement, London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
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Young people entering the work environment straight from school have little knowledge of what business sees as fundamental work skills such as timekeeping, dress standards, etc. From an educational perspective, even when students have GCSEs in English and Maths, the employer has to then turn the formal learning into business communication. Basic literacy skills in spelling and grammar are sadly lacking, with the dreaded ‘text speak’ appearing more often as part of the English language.
After recently showing a group of Year 10s around the business I asked, “How many of you have a bank or building society account?” Over 70% answered yes. However, when asked, “Who opened the account?” the response was a resounding Mum or Dad. From experience I would conclude there is a need to provide young people with a wider education pathway, combining work based-learning and educational qualifications.
Janet Macdonald, Learning & Development Manager, Skipton Building Society
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Not, very often! And by that I mean that there does not seem historically to have been a very structured approach for preparing our School Leavers for what can be a long and exciting career within the Financial Services Industry.
School, College and University leavers still come to the industry lacking in what can only be known as ‘real world’ experience. Whilst they may come to role with a whole suite of qualifications, they lack the real skills and motivation that will help them succeed.
Individuals join organisations, and very soon it is apparent, that communication skills, both written and verbal leave a lot to be desired. The actual raw desire to come to work, giving 110% regularly and developing a career through hard work and commitment, seems to be missing these days.
So, what can be done? Well the education system is certainly trying to fill this gap with the advent of new programmes for learners to attend. These programmes focus not only on the technical knowledge needed but also the ‘real life’ financial services ethos that needs to be understood and followed in order to be successful in this highly competitive market place.
What can employers do? They can support the initiatives that are being developed within the industry and welcome student placements that support these new qualifications, together with supporting the ’Apprentice’ type approach to training individuals. It’s all too easy to sit back and complain, employers now need to step forward and support the great steps that the education system and the FSSC are making in these areas.
Julie Pardy, Regulatory Liaison Manager (Dip PFS), FSSC Accredited Training Professional, Worksmart Solutions
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It hasn't supplied decent material for years. The dissolution of the Grammars was the death knell to decent average standards. Now they are trying to dismantle (or disadvantage) the private sector. Bit by bit education in the UK has deteriorated so far that it is now almost third world standard. Look at the statistics. How many leave school with substandard reading, writing and mathematical skills? Far too many.
Instead of shouldering its responsibility the Government tries to shrug it off to employers, quangos and bodies like the FSSC. All they (the Govt) can think of is reducing everything to the lowest common denominator and then wonder why industry and commerce are dissatisfied with the output.
Harry Katz, Norwest Consultants
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More often, employers themselves do not know what skills are needed. Developmental needs in early years are ignored. FSA thinks much is being done in financial education, but it is mostly ineffective and there is lack of financial capability generally, including within FSA itself, regrettably. ‘Google Generation’ and ‘knowledge management’ are creating an environment of people becoming knowledgeable, without knowing much about real issues – a bit like a graduate becoming an expert in poverty reduction in Africa, following a couple of weeks in Africa and using Google for solutions - will it work in local context?
Whilst IFS has started certain qualifications for schools, and is seen as a good development, similar practices are in force in other countries. Indeed, it used to be the basis of a career in banking and provides a sense of deja-vu for those with ACIB qualifications. However, has IFS got it right for the longer-term? That remains to be seen. There is room for further action given structural deficiencies in the system and seemingly indifferent employers’ attitudes.
In many ways employers have themselves to blame – they have simply ignored the issues leaving it to HR people, at best, who did not know much about change management and business priorities.
Satya P Mangla FCIB
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Firstly, significant improvements are urgently needed in the school syllabus. These are essential in order to improve all pupils’ understanding of such an important life skill as ‘money matters’. With improved learning and teaching about financial capability young people can explore attitudes to money, the financial services available and the financial services industry as a possible career along with learning to understand the importance of making good financial decisions.
Young people can learn to develop the necessary skills to plan ahead financially, understand their financial needs and budget effectively along with providing them with a greatly improved awareness and understanding of financial services and products, allowing them to make informed choices. Importantly young people that have gained these essential skills will be more aware, able confident employees in turn providing financial services employers with a greatly improved and aware potential workforce.
A career in financial services will also become more of a first choice for pupils, schools and parents if financial capability becomes a main syllabus subject along with providing the industry with the new recruits it needs.
Scott R Coghill FCIB, Director, CompliancePoint
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At some point in a child’s education, he/she now seems to learn that they can expect a job; that that job will be a good one (regardless of their ability) and that they will not have to work too hard to keep it.
Often, a school leaver or graduate is missing a similar set of skills and this pattern has grown exponentially in the last 20 years. The deficiencies lie in the major building blocks for competent workers, namely – attitude (as mentioned above); communication skills (written and verbal); numbers (maths, money and interpretation); and personal presentation (all of the above and dress/impression).
It is hard to just blame our schools though as parents and the media play a huge part. However, when a new recruit cannot understand what 10% of 110 is, or doesn’t even know the general layout of a letter, you know something has gone badly wrong with the education system. Also, with students now paying their own way through further education, their beginnings in our industry are an unhappy mix of struggling to survive while having to repay huge financial debts for student loans.
It costs us time and money to teach many new recruits how to write English; how to calculate mathematical equations and how to carry themselves – in essence I feel we are supplementing the education system in order to bring people up to a standard we could have expected 20 years ago. For example – we run grammar training courses on a regular basis now and their popularity increases each year.
I wonder where the extra money spent in education in the last 10 years has gone.
Mike Smith LicFITOL, Group Training Manager, Chaucer Insurance
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One way that Citi engages with the education system is through our partnership with Career Academies UK. Their Career Academy programme, offered via 90 schools and colleges, plugs both the perception and skills gap that exists between life in the classroom and the world of work. The two-year, full-time Career Academy curriculum puts business support at the heart of coursework for 16 to 19 year-olds, including one-to-one mentoring by employee volunteers and crucially, a six-week paid internship for each Career Academy student. Many other financial services employers, such as Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Lloyds TSB, Bank of America, FSA and JPMorgan, have also identified the Career Academy model as providing what we need – and it’s a deliberately collaborative effort. Career Academies will never be for every student, but they're expanding the horizons of many - benefiting young people, the individual companies that take part and the wider sector.
Robert Swannell, Vice-Chairman, Citi Europe and Board Member Career Academies UK
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