British schools 'must do more to prepare pupils for the world of work'

British schools are currently struggling to provide students with the knowledge they will need to get on in the world of work.

This is according to a new report from the Baker Dearing Educational Trust charity group, which surveyed 1,000 workers aged 20 to 35 years old in science, technology, engineering and maths roles about the degree to which they felt their schooling helped to prepare them for their current careers.

It was revealed that 45 per cent believe the subjects they studied at school are useless in the working world, while 61 per cent said they thought learning technical skills would have been more useful than studying traditional academic subjects.

Meanwhile, 60 per cent of those surveyed did not believe teachers had a sufficient understanding of the labour market, while 63 per cent said schools did not understand the skills employers needed.

The report also showed that 63 per cent felt employers did not have enough say over which subjects schools offer, while 55 per cent said they did not understand how the subjects they learned at school could be used in the world of work.

With recent research from the OECD indicating that 28 per cent of pupils in England hope to be working in a science-related career by the time they are 30, there is a clear need for the highest possible standard of teaching in this area.

Lord Baker, chairman of the Baker Dearing Educational Trust, said: "As we head towards Brexit, the challenge for our education system is to ensure we equip students with the skills they need to forge successful careers in key areas like science, engineering and computing which our economy increasingly demands.

"This report shows that the current education system fails to provide these young people with opportunities to develop the technical skills they need to get the jobs they want."