Education and Employability

Trinh Tu and John Higton Ipsos MORI Employment, Welfare and Skills
Ipsos MORI

January 2013

Just a few of the challenges facing school leavers

A dire economy Eurozone competition Debt crisis overhanging and employers not investing as a result

Fewer jobs than school leavers looking

Ipsos MORI

Most important issues facing Britain what the public say

Q What do you see as the most important issues facing Britain today?
18-24 year olds Top mentions %

Economy
Unemployment Race Relations/Immigration Crime/Law and Order

55 30 22 19 17 15 13 11 11 8

48 32
20 20 11 11 22
+

Inflation/prices
NHS Poverty/inequality Education/schools Housing Pensions/social security/ benefits
Ipsos MORI

10
15 Source: Ipsos MORI Issues Index

Base: 1,174 British adults 18+, 30th November - 14th December 2012

Pupil behaviour seen as main educational problem

Q Currently, what would you say is the MAIN educational issue the Government needs to address?
Pupil behaviour/discipline Funding/(budget crisis)

17% 9% 6%

Tuition fees
Class size/pupil-teacher ratio Back to basics/higher standards Teachers workload Teacher recruitment and retention Assessment/exam reform Inclusion/Special Education Needs (SEN) Bullying in schools

6%
6% 3% 2% 2% 2% 2%

Base: 2,048 British adults 18+ , January 2011

Ipsos MORI

Most important issues facing Britain: Long-term trends

Q What do you see as the most important issues facing Britain today?
70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
May May May May May May May May May May May May May May May May 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Source: Ipsos MORI Issues Index

Economy

Unemployment

Race / immigration

NHS

Crime/ Law & Order

Base: representative sample of c.1,000 British adults aged 18+ , each month, interviewed face-to-face in-home
Ipsos MORI

Public concern with education peaked during the early Blair years
Q What do you see as the most important issues facing Britain today? Education/schools?
60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Peak in response to Blairs education, education, education speech at the 1996 Labour Party Conference.

Education
Base: c. 1000 interviews each month, face to face, nationwide
Ipsos MORI

Source: Ipsos MORI Issues Index

Youth unemployment seen by one in eight Captains of Industry as key problem - higher than lending and financial crisis
Q What do you see as the most important issue facing Britain today?

Top Mentions
The Eurozone Government deficit/debt Lack of economic growth

43% 32% 20% 18% 15% 13% 12% 11% 8%

Consumer confidence/confidence
Unemployment Youth unemployment Societal dysfunction/social issues Availability of finance/bank lending Financial crisis/instability

Base: British Captains of Industry (100), interviewed September - December 2011

Ipsos MORI

More than a million young people in England were not in education, employment or training (Neet) in the three months to September 2012. 17% of 16- to 24-year-olds were without jobs or college places.

Department for Education, November 2012

Ipsos MORI

Substantial government investment in Apprenticeships

Since 2010, over a million Apprenticeships have been started, half a million of them in the last year. And while this increase in quantity is very welcome, we must ensure they are higher quality, more rigorous, and focused on what employers need.

Minister for Skills, Matthew Hancock MP

Ipsos MORI

81% of small business owners are not confident that school leavers have the right level of employability skills

Source: Voice of Small Business Survey Panel 2012, Federation of Small Businesses
Ipsos MORI

Views shared by Captains of Industry

Q To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
% Strongly agree % Tend to agree % Neither agree nor disagree % Tend to disagree % Strongly disagree

Only 26% Agree

Britains education system delivers the skills that your business needs
3%
23% 13% 35%

61% Dont
26%

Large companies should do a lot more to promote understanding of business in secondary schools

29%

54%

8%

8% 1%

83%
Base: British Captains of Industry (100), interviewed September - December 2011
Ipsos MORI

9%

Employers find the skills system confusing and timeconsuming to navigate

To be honest I think skills provision is not on my radar. Im just drawing on my account manager whos giving me the information and thinking thats whats available, rather than actually asking what else there is.

The problem is, within an industry, people just dont have time to go and research things so if employment and skills services are not directly offered to them, they wont go and look for them.

Large national employer using National Apprenticeship Service

SME, Birmingham, using former Business Link service

so without a clear skills system, or an account manager to help hide the wiring, many will not use government services linking them to apprentices and graduates

Source: What do employers want from an aligned employment and skills system? February - April 2010
Ipsos MORI

Vocational qualifications do not have equal status to academic routes

Q To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following

statement?
Vocational qualifications are of an equal status to traditional academic qualifications such as GCSEs and A Levels in terms of difficulty and level of skill required to achieve the qualification?
Strongly agree Tend to agree Neither/nor Tend to disagree Strongly disagree Dont know

9% 7% 27%

25%
18% 7%

59%
Base: Teachers (500), November 2011
Ipsos MORI

32%

A third of business say school leavers are NOT well prepared

Q How well prepared are education leavers for employment?

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20

10%

10%

13%

23%

49%

54%

60%
59%

9% 28%

37%

7% 25%

32%
5% 19%

24%

10
0

2% 12%

14%

16 - year old school leavers Unweighted Base: (10,985)

17-18 - year old school leavers (13,891) Very poorly prepared

17-18-year old FE leavers (13,024) Well prepared

University or HE Leavers (15,706)

Poorly Prepared

Very well prepared Source: Employer Skills Survey 2011

Base: 85,069 establishments in England, Northern Ireland, and Wales

Ipsos MORI

Only a quarter have recruited education leavers in past 2-3 years

Q In the last 2-3 years, has this site taken on anyone to their first job on leaving school, college or university?

Any Education leavers 16 year olds from school 17-18 year olds from school 17-18 year-olds from FE college From University/other HE Institution

24%

7%
9% 8% 10%

Source: Employer Skills Survey 2011 Base: All (85,069) establishments in England, Northern Ireland, and Wales
Ipsos MORI

Recruitment lowest among small businesses

Q In the last 2-3 years, has this site taken on anyone to their first job on leaving school, college or university?
% 16 - year old school leavers % 17-18 year olds from FE colleges Overall % 17-18 year olds from school % University/ HE Leavers 79 72 60
60%

90% 80%

70%

59 50 47 33 44

50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

38 33

35 20

31

24
10 7 9 8 13 12 4 4 4 5 1 to 4
(18,642)

26 24 14 13 15 18

Overall
Unweighted Base: (85,069)

5 to 24
(46,875)

25 to 99
(15,136)

100 to 249
(2,947)

(1,469)

250+

Source: Employer Skills Survey 2011 Base: All (85,069) establishments in England, Northern Ireland, and Wales
Ipsos MORI

Poorly prepared workers lacked essential skills and behaviours

Q Thinking of those recruited in the last 2-3 years, how well prepared for work have they have been? In what ways have they been poorly prepared ?
30

% Lacking working world experience of maturity

% Poor attitude, personality or lack of motivation

25

23 18 18 15

% Lack of required skills or competencies % Lack of Common Sense % Literacy/numeracy skills Poor Education

20

15

13 10 10

12 8 8 6 3 4 2 2 1 1 1
University/HE Leavers
(15,706)

10

5
5

16- year-old school leavers

Unweighted Base:

17-18 year-old school leavers

(13,891)

17-18 year-old FE college leavers

(13,024)

(10,985)

Source: Employer Skills Survey 2011

Ipsos MORI

 . . . we are introducing traineeships to help young people with the skills they need to get a job, and hold down a job . . . .

"Traineeships will give young people the helping hand and experience they need to compete for apprenticeships and good jobs."

Minister for Skills, Matthew Hancock MP

Ipsos MORI

Preparing for the future

Q How helpful, if at all, will each of the following be in helping you do what you want to do in the future?
2009
Being taught how to write a CV Learning interview techniques Learning how to look for a job Going on a work placement for a week or more Discussing what job you want to do when you are older Taking part in exercises about the world of work Visiting a work place, such as a factory or shop Listening to or speaking with a visitor from business Taking part in a mini-enterprise or other enterprise project
Ipsos MORI

% Helpful

% Not helpful

2007 % Helpful

94 92 91 89 83 75 72

4 5 5 8 13 20 25

97 94 92 96
86 79 79 71 62

66 56

25 33

Base: All year 11 pupils in England stating an answer (368), 9th January - 3rd April 2009

Work-related learning in school time

Q Looking at the list below, have you ever done any of the following in school time?
2009 2007 2004 80% 69%

Been on a work placement for a week or more Discussed what job you want to do when you are older
Been taught how to write a CV Visited a work place, such as a factory or shop Learnt interview techniques Listened to or spoken with a visitor from business Taken part in exercises about the world of work

83% 88%

76% 77%

61% 58% 60%

58%

71% 67%

54%

47% 46%
46%

61%

59% 55%

43%
42%

Learnt how to look for a job

Taken part in a mini-enterprise or other enterprise project

37% 38% 34%

17%

43%

48%

Base: All year 11 pupils in England stating an answer (368). 2007 base (461), 2004 base (344). Fieldwork dates: 9th January- 3rd April 2009
Ipsos MORI

More practical techniques would be helpful

Q
Q

Looking at the list below, have you ever done any of the following in school time?
How helpful, if at all, will each of the following be in helping you do what you want? %
90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 50 % 60 70 Would be helpful 80 90
Taking part in a minienterprise or other enterprise project Visiting a work place, such as a factory or shop Listening to or speaking with a visitor from business Going on a work placement for a week or more Discussing what job you want to do when you are older Being taught how to write a CV Learning interview techniques Taking part in exercises about the world of work Learning how to look for a job

Have done in school

Base: 379 year 11 pupils giving an answer in England. Fieldwork dates: 9th January- 3rd April 2009
Ipsos MORI

Who needs to be experience these things?

Q Who do you think should learn about jobs and working life while they are at school?

All young people

Only young people who plan to get a full-time job at 16

Dont know

2004

2007

2009

13%

11% 13% 10%

12%

13% 74%

77%

79%

Base: 1,983 young people aged 11-16 in England. 2007 base (2,195), 2004 base (2,131), Fieldwork dates: 9th January- 3rd April 2009
Ipsos MORI

however, school performance can certainly help set you up for future success
Q How much do you agree or disagree with each of the following things will help your future success in life?
Strongly agree Tend to disagree
Working hard at school/aiming to do the best you can Being able to read and write well Being confident Having good qualifications/exam results

Tend to agree Strongly disagree

Neither agree nor disagree

70% 68% 61% 66%

23% 23% 32% 25%

3% 4% 3% 3%

Being intelligent/clever Getting on well with other people

51% 45%

35% 41%

7% 2% 9% 2%

Having good numeracy skills

Having good ICT skills Being lucky
17%

46%
35% 24% 40% 31%

38%

8% 4%
14% 13% 2% 13% 8%

Source: Ipsos MORI Base: 1,393 pupils in Key Stage 4 in maintained schools in London, 10 Nov ember 2009 22 January 2010
Ipsos MORI

Final thoughts System needs to be simplified for employers especially SMEs More needs to be done to raise status of vocational routes and apprenticeships Schools need to teach practical things more, like building a CV, job interview training and the like Employers need offer meaningful work experience
Ipsos MORI

Thank you
Q&A?
Trinh.tu@ipsos.com John.higton@ipsos.com
Ipsos MORI