If Employers Wanted to Improve the Education System

If employers genuinely wanted to make a difference to the quality and nature of the education their prospective employees receive then it would actually be quite easy.

An interview would go something like this:

Interviewer: Miss Jones, thanks for coming.

Interviewee: My pleasure.

Interviewer: I see from your CV that you were a straight-A student at school. Well done.

Interviewee: Thank you.

Interviewer: Now, tell me about the pedagogy you received.

Interviewee: I’m sorry?

Interviewer:  Describe for me how you were taught, Miss Jones?

Interviewee: Well, er, it was quite a traditional school…

Interviewer: Traditional...

Interviewee: Yes, you know. Lots of stuff to remember. Paying attention to the teacher at the front. Doing what you're told. Normal school life.

Interviewer: Interesting.

Interviewee: And we had lots of tests. I always got great marks.

Interviewer: I see.

Interviewee: You do?

Interviewer: Very clearly. 

Interviewee: OK…?

Interviewer: And you have 12 GCSEs and 4 A-levels, all at top grades.

Interviewee: That’s right.

Interviewer: One question, though, please Miss Jones.

Interviewee: Of course.

Interviewer: Tell me, what else have you got?

Interviewee: I'm sorry?

Interviewer: You know, besides those grades.

Interviewee: [...]

When students leave your care, will they be able to tell others about their failures, their triumphs, their passions, their ambitions, how the world is already a better place because they're in it, how they will leave a mark, no matter how small?

You know, what else have they got? [ITL]