Carolyn Fairbairn, CBI, outlines how our education system needs to adapt in a changing world

In her speech to the Royal Society’s business forum, the CBI’s Director-General Carolyn Fairbairn supported the Royal Society’s call for a review of post-16 education in order to deliver the high skilled jobs a competitive UK needs.

As well as questioning the role of GCSEs in their current form, she argued for more support to encourage more people to stay in education longer, and for a continued – and deeper – relationship between business and education

Transcript

Thank you very much, Venki, it’s great to be here. 

And, frankly, great for once to have an excuse not to talk about Brexit…much. 

Instead, this morning I want to talk about: 

• Why, from a business view, the Royal Society is right to call for a review of post-16 education. 
• How – as so often – business and science have from different perspectives arrived at many of the same conclusions. 
• And, above all, the deep connection that exists between enquiry – that is, the art of finding out - and enterprise – the art of business - and how that connection must and can be renewed 

Last month, the historian Adrian Tinniswood published a brilliant book about the Royal Society. 

The book traces the Royal Society’s origins in Restoration Britain. 

And explains how at a moment of national upheaval… 

…some of the greatest minds of the age came together to pursue a new kind of knowledge. 

It was an approach to uncovering truth not through dogma, diktat or decree. 

But through experience, experiment and free enquiry. 

It was the beginnings of the modern scientific method. 

Yet as Tinniswood’s book records: 

“This wasn’t merely a desire to acquire knowledge for its own sake… 

“…The founders of the Royal Society were moved by the conviction that improvement of knowledge would lead to improvements in trade, commerce and manufacture.” 

And they were right. 

Royal Society support for new navigational tools made possible the growth of global trade in the 18th Century. 

That relation between knowledge and commerce is just as strong today. 

The Royal Society’s Entrepreneurs in Residence scheme, for instance. 

It matches business people with cutting-edge industrial science, research and innovation. 

And the relationship is not just one-way. 

One of our members, Tata, is today investing millions in a Royal Society project to develop young scientists. 

Changing world of work

But I mention all this not just because it’s a good story. 

But because it’s relevant. 

And if I can make a bold claim… 

…I predict that when historians look back on our era… 

…they will see that we are too are going through a time of great change and upheaval. 

Much like the period in which the Royal Society was founded. 

Yes, there’s Brexit. 

But it’s so much more. 

We are undergoing a tidal wave of change that is affecting every part of and fibre of society. 

And if we are to navigate these waters… 

… the free spirit of enquiry must be renewed and revitalised. 

From my role at the CBI I see the power of this change most clearly in the world of work. 

And in three main areas. 

First, there’s our increasingly globalised economy. 

Which means that our employers, customers and competitors… 

…are as likely to be based in the next continent as the next town. 

Where work was once concrete and tangible… 

…perhaps about making a particular product in a particular place… 

...it is now increasingly conceptual, and mobile. 

The interconnectedness of the world… 

…which, despite Brexit, will continue to deepen… 

…and has created huge opportunity. 

But for many in our society it also creates risks. 

And, as a society, we must be equipped to meet them. 

Second, we must not underestimate the scale of the demographic change we are undergoing. 

It is thanks in large part to the genius of medical science… 

…that over the past century… 

…every 4 hours, life expectancy increased by 1 hour. 

It has huge implications for the world of work. 

As recently as the mid-1980s, only 56% of over-50s were still working. 

Today, it’s over 70%. 

A third now expect to keep working past their 70th birthday. 

And many alive today can expect to spend a decade – perhaps two decades – longer in work than their parents did. 

It can be an incredible opportunity to do and achieve more. 

But only if we enter those extra decades with the skills we need. 

Not least because of how fast the workplace itself is changing. 

That’s the third point. 

We’re used to hearing about the rise of automation, machine learning and AI. 

The Royal Society itself has done a huge amount of work on it – for which deep thanks. 

It is truly excellent insight. 

But I still think we haven’t realised the depth and pace of the change. 

Most estimates say that between 10 and 30% of jobs will be affected by automation. 

But that’s beginning to look like a wild underestimate. 

Last month, the CEO of IBM, Ginni Rometty, said that it won’t be 10 or 30%. 

But 100%. 

Every job will be – is being – affected by automation in one way or another. 

And some are very pessimistic about what that means for employment. 

There’s a view that goes right back to Karl Marx… 

…who devoted an entire section of Das Kapital to “The Strife Between Workman and Machine”. 

Now, his predictions were wrong – in the longer-term at least. 

The machinery of the industrial revolution ultimately created jobs. 

And lifted their quality too. 

But this time, we can’t afford to be complacent. 

Last year, Andy Haldane warned that the rise of machines that can think as well as do… 

…are a much greater threat. 

And if we are to avoid that threat, he said… 

…the fourth industrial revolution must be matched with a skills revolution. 

There are some early, encouraging signs. 

Deloitte has worked out that in the past 15 years… 

…automation has help create four times as many jobs as those lost. 

As automation takes on lower-skilled tasks… 

…the labour market has shifted in favour of higher-skilled work. 

And on average, each job created is paid £10,000 more than the lower-skilled jobs they replace. 

Our own research shows that almost 80% of employers… 

…expect to increase the number of higher-skilled roles in coming years. 

So new technology can be a tremendous good 

But all these changes taken together 

… globalisation… 

…the decades longer we’ll spend in work… 

…and the need for higher-level skills… 

…have profound implications for how we should educate people before they enter the workplace. 

For a world that’s more dynamic. 

More competitive. 

More fluid. 

More global. 

Of course, it’s precisely these facts that we are responding to in today’s conference. 

And they’re why the Royal Society is right to call for a review of our education system. 

In the business world, we’ve reached many of the same conclusions. 

The change we need to keep pace 

Because gone are the days when we could expect teachers to give people all the skills they’ll need in their careers. 

If indeed those days were ever with us. 

Now, we have an economy that increasingly values creative thinking, and broader skills, such as problem solving. 

We need people willing to go on learning throughout their careers. 

Who see that the division between education and work can no longer stand. 

And I am pleased that the government, too has begun thinking along these lines. 

They have already moved the age at which a young person can leave education or training from 16 to 18. 

And in a speech last week… 

…the Education Secretary acknowledged that character is as important as qualifications… 

…that young people need the skills to deal with setbacks… 

…and focus on long-term goals. 

But the truth is that over the past ten years… 

…as many of the CBI’s member businesses tell us… 

...the curriculum has narrowed, rather than broadened. 

As Venki said just now, the average range of subjects studied at A-level is now fewer than 3 per pupil. 

And this despite many other countries moving towards a broader, more diverse, and more balanced curriculum. 

One that better prepares the next generation with skills for a changing world. 

And at the moment, we’re not keeping pace. 

In the coming months, the CBI will publish a report. 

On what skills employers will need in the future. 

And how we educate for the modern world. 

First proposal: GCSEs

But I think we can begin that conversation now. 

And it’s already started. 

It’s right to ask – as some have in recent days – for instance… 

…not just whether A-levels are anything like broad enough. 

But whether GCSEs are even necessary anymore. 

In world in which few employers even ask for GCSE results… 

…and there are better ways of assessing schools… 

…why should we require pupils to cram for a set of exams which feel increasingly anachronistic… 

…a relic of an age when people left education for good at 16? 

And if we were to move on from GCSEs, could we not use the space in the timetable to teach those broader skills? 

To provide a curriculum that instead of narrowing our horizons as we get older… 

…widens them. 

…and fosters skills such as creativity, resilience, communication, and problem solving. 

That’s something the CBI has been looking closely at. 

And we’ll be doing even more over the next year. 

Second proposal: Longer in education 

But there are two other things I think we need to look at. 

If we’re going to be spending longer in work… 

…we should surely spend an equivalently longer time in preparation for work. 

Especially when that work will be higher-skilled. 

So it’s right that – in principle – no young person ever leaves education or training before the age of 18. 

But in practice, the extra two years is rarely enough. 

At the CBI we’re looking at whether the government should give people the entitlement to a level 4 qualification. 

Equivalent to the first year of an undergraduate degree. 

Not necessarily in academia. 

But perhaps an extra year or two in an apprenticeship, or technical education. 

Third proposal: what can business bring 

But I have a final proposal. 

I’ve already said how much business gains from education. 

And talked about that link between enquiry and enterprise. 

So it’s surely right for business make its own, substantial contribution. 

We, too, have a responsibility… 

…to give young people the experiences of work they need early on in life. 

We can – and should be – getting involved in our local schools. 

Many businesses already are. 

Because we know that young people who have at least 4 interactions with business at school… 

…are 5 times less likely to be unemployed. 

And I’ve been proud of the role business has played in shaping the new T-Level system. 

And how over the past year we have made serious progress in reforming the apprenticeship levy. 

But business leaders tell me all the time: we want to do much more. 

Perhaps lending support or training to new headteachers… 

…who are expected to move from a teaching role to one more akin to that of a CEO running a large organisation. 

Or even get involved in setting up schools under the government’s free schools programme. 

Both the need and the scope for action is huge. 

And I want business to really grip it. 

So in coming months the CBI will publish a practical toolkit. 

It will give businesses all the information they need to get involved in education. 

To strengthen that link between enquiry and enterprise. 

To deepen the skills revolution our society needs.

Conclusion

So to conclude – I’d like to return to Adrian Tinniswood’s book I mentioned at the beginning. 

It ends with a question: 

“Does the Royal Society still have a role to play in the modern world? 

Of course it does. There was so much to learn in 1660. 

There is more to learn today.” 

And I think that’s absolutely true. 

As the frontiers of knowledge expand, the scope for discovery expands with them. 

And if we are to keep pace with our changing world… 

…it will be because we revitalise that link between enquiry and enterprise. 

And it’s events like this, where business and the brilliance of science come together… 

…that will help ensure we succeed. 

Thank you, and I’ll be happy to take your questions.