The need for Studio Schools

For far too many young people the current education system is falling short. The research speaks for itself. Every survey of unfilled vacancies confirms that employers are looking for - and not finding – key employability skills amongst school leavers. In the 2006 CBI Employment Trends Survey, for example, over 50% of employers surveyed were not satisfied with the generic employability skills of school leavers. The Leitch Review backed this up. Commissioned by the government to identify the country’s long-term skills needs, it identified employability skills as amongst the country’s biggest skills gaps.

Yet, despite some important steps forward in recent years, far too often employer involvement in English schools is viewed as an educational ‘bolt on’. Work experience is frequently under-valued and under-resourced while work-related learning, despite its immense value, rarely provides young people with real experience of the working world. To equip our young people with they skills they need for the future, employability must be more than an additional extra. It must lie at the heart of students’ learning.

The same is true of wider life skills. The focus on numeracy, literacy and core academic qualifications in England’s schools, while very important, has failed to equip many young people with the skills they need to succeed. In Studio Schools employability and life skills underpin all the schools’ activities. Working with a wide range of partners, we have developed a bold new practical approach to learning specifically designed to ensure young people develop these crucial skills. Evidence shows that this will not only better equip young people for life outside school. It can also better engage them in their studies, leading to improved grades and outcomes.