As autumn comes around, employers in all sectors begin
to evaluate the school leavers and university graduates that they
have recently taken on.
There will, of course, be the usual chorus that young people do
not have the skills that the workplace demands, and that schools
and universities are failing to keep up with what is required.
This chorus has a point. For the past 20 years or so, there has
been widespread agreement that there are serious skills shortages
in many areas of British industry. Expertise in IT and computer
science is one of the key areas where skills are lacking.
Squandered chances
Over those 20 years, schools, colleges and universities have
expanded their computer science and IT teaching departments to try
to meet demand, and every child is "guaranteed" the opportunity to
learn IT skills and the foundations of computing expertise.
They can take their study and development as far as they choose,
through university and into postgraduate study. Or they can go into
industry and commerce to become whatever they choose. And because
of the shortage of skills and expertise, anyone who is any good can
name their price.
Clearly, what is being done is not enough. The shortages remain,
and some would say that they are getting worse. At the core of
this, there remains a historic - almost cultural - antagonism
between the educational establishment and industry, or at least a
mutual suspicion of each other's motives.
In the eyes of the educational establishment, industry wants
clones: knowledge workers who will perform as directed. Schools and
universities, on the other hand, are still perceived by industry as
operating 20 years behind the times, unwilling to listen, develop
or respond to the needs of industry.
Communication is key
The only way to deal with this is for the two sides to meet and
discuss the issue. These discussions should focus on what is
needed, and should aim to create conditions in which these needs
can be addressed.
Collectively, we need to make progress, rather than reverting to
prejudices. Even if the prejudices have more than a grain of truth
to them, it is what we collectively do to address them that will
decide whether we have an expert and motivated workforce. There is
no future in continuing the complaints, but there is a future in
putting them right.
Most crucially of all, someone has to pay for all this. And
herein lies the rub. If all of this were free, it would long since
be done. Narrow self-interest has historically dictated that
neither the educational establishment nor industry will pay for
anything on which they do not see a direct and tangible return.
This is reinforced by the illusion that you can get something
for nothing, that someone - but not us - will pay. The consequence
remains that the complaints, accusations and prejudices continue -
and nothing actually gets done.
l Richard Pettinger is a lecturer in management at University
College London