This really takes the biscuit and confirms the real concerns I have about the UK skills gap (see previous blog piece). According to the BBC article headlined “Pupils are urged to drop maths” schools are switching pupils off maths because it is too difficult. Effectively this action is being taken by some schools who’s overriding desire is to maintain there place in the league table! Never mind the child’s education or future.

To boot countries like China and Vietnam are raising the bar for their children by setting stringent tests which when compared with UK tests just proves that not only do we have too few maths graduate but that to attract more we have to come in with a basic GCSE test.

It is no wonder that we have a shortage of IT skills and that software development and testing is now becoming the domain of offshore and outsourcing businesses in India, China and Vietnam. You have to see it for yourself; I travel to our offshore development centre in Vietnam every other month. You can feel the energy and ambition in the air.

With 11,000,000 British residents unable to add up two three digit numbers and 7,000,000 who cannot read or write we are in pretty bad shape. This means that literacy rates are lower in the UK than they are in Vietnam.

So the thought that if we don’t do something about our education and the attitude and aspirations of our children then where will the GDP come from to keep the parents in there old age?

Will offshoring fill the IT skills gap, can Asia or Eastern European migrants really back fill the real developer shortage we have in the UK? Will UK plc flounder in the global market in ten years time if we don’t embrace offshoring? Will the UK be relegated to a third class state if we don’t start to radically change our education and training policies to create a high skill based workforce?

You hear all of these scary scenarios about “the skills crisis” in the UK - similar to the “green” agenda. I would answer these questions with a resounding “yes” but with the qualification that we can do something about it provided we start now. 

But should we do anything about it? Maybe not: it would be to our economic advantage to actively pursue an offshoring policy. After all we have an aging population who we need to keep in work for longer if only for a decent pension. For UK plc to remain competitive against the tiger economies we need young talent coming into the country or our businesses have to source it offshore. This is not about shifting jobs offshore, this is about enabling our businesses to make money and pay taxes to keep our economy going: in short, survival. Along side an offshoring policy we need to up the anti on education, encourage science based graduates; create a country full of entrepreneurs, designers, inventors, technologists and innovators. We can then build a stunning economy based on innovation and leadership. Think about it, the Beatles are still earning royalties from the intellectual property they created in the 60’s. Maybe that is what our economy will be like in twenty years time: we invent, own the customer and bask in increasing royalties whilst others provide the factories.

There are alternatives of course. We can increase the birth rate: has certain short term attractions but not sure that I want six

thirty year old children still living at home because they can’t afford a house. Protest outside Parliament about jobs going overseas: Mmmmm! all those banners and riot police. Maybe we can just sit and watch this brave new world from our cosy offices wondering where the next meal is coming from!

What ever happens we must avoid outsourcing our economy. A balance of educational reforms, focused skills training, stimulating innovation, sensible migration and offshoring activities