Children’s Directors Challenge CBI

Directors of children’s services `strongly support’ the principle that young people should continue education and training up to the age of 18. But they have rejected the view, expressed in a broadcast interview by a spokesman for the Confederation of British Industry, that half of young people leave school functionally illiterate.

ADCS president John Freeman said: “this simply flies in the face of the facts.” According to ADCS, passing GCSE English at grade C or above means achieving a `demanding standard’ of study.

However, “any suggestion that those young people who do not pass at those grades are `functionally illiterate’ is very wide of the mark. They will still be well-equipped, for example, to use the Yellow Pages, fill in official forms, write letters of application for jobs or any of the countless other tasks demanded of people in a society which increasingly demands literacy skills.”

Mr Freeman added: “For those few young people who leave school at 16 without the basics of functional numeracy and literacy, we fully support continued progress that will enable them to gain these skills. This can be through full-time education in a school or college, part-time while working, or work-based learning.

“We already encourage all young people to follow such paths, and will support steps to reduce the population of those not in education, employmentor training. It is important that young people are provided with learning experiences that engage them and which they find relevant.

“If they have not engaged with school courses, they are unlikely to engage with similar courses post-16.  For this very reason we welcome the development of the specialist vocational diplomas for 14-19 year olds.”