Speech to call for shake-up in post-16 education

THE PRESIDENT of the Royal Society is calling for an independent review of post-16 education in the UK.

Venki Ramakrishnan says Alevels are outdated and do not give young people the best start for getting good jobs. He wants a review during the next parliament, with a view to transforming school curriculums within the next decade.

In a speech at the Royal Society Business Forum today, Mr Ramakrishnan is due to say “endless tinkering with elements of the system has left many people tired of, and sceptical about, calls for change”.

According to the Royal Society, in the coming years four out of five businesses are expected to increase the number of highskilled roles.

But two-thirds are concerned about a lack of sufficiently skilled people to fill the positions. Preliminary research by the society suggests parents want change too, with more than half believing young people should be encouraged to study a broader range of subjects than they currently do.

Mr Ramakrishnan is expected to criticise A-levels as being too narrow in scope since they were first introduced in 1951.

He will say they are not fit for purpose and do not equip young people with the skills they need in the 21st century workplace.

Research commissioned by the Royal Society puts the average number of A-levels per student at 2.7, raising concerns about whether young people are leaving school with the broad range of skills needed for the modern workplace.

Mr Ramakrishnan will say: “If we want our young people to be able to get good jobs and employers to be able to hire the people they need in the future, we need to make sure our schools and colleges are teaching the skills that will be needed.

“A-levels are not doing that. The jobs market has always changed but we are facing a new wave of change driven by technologies such as artificial intelligence.”