‘Exam-obsessed’ schools leave pupils unready for work, Alan Milburn says

Milburn, a former cabinet minister under Tony Blair and now leading a government-commissioned review into young people and work, said the system had become overly focused on academic sorting rather than real-world readiness.

He said: “Teachers are right. We have built an education system that is brilliant at sorting young people by academic ability and poor at equipping them for adult life. Time and again employers say young people are not work ready.”

His intervention comes as a YouGov survey of 1,004 primary and secondary school teachers in the UK found nearly three-quarters (74%) said there was too much emphasis on passing exams; while 73% said there was not enough focus on preparing pupils for employment or developing “soft skills”.

Milburn said the data should act as a “gauntlet” to schools and policymakers, saying that academic achievement and employability should not be seen as competing priorities. “High educational standards and real-world skills are not in competition,” he said.

He also argued that in a fast-changing labour market, schools needed to do more to equip young people with “communication and collaboration skills, agility and creativity” alongside formal qualifications.

The polling suggests teachers largely agree that improvement is necessary, with about 73% saying the curriculum could be adapted to deliver a broader set of work-focused skills without lowering standards.

There was broad support for stronger careers provision, with 98% backing career advice in all schools, 92% supporting more applied or vocational pathways before the age of 16, and 95% supporting alternative routes for pupils who struggle with the current system.

Six in 10 teachers said young people’s soft skills had worsened over the past five years and 66% believed overall readiness for work had declined.

Milburn’s intervention comes at a time of increasing focus on the transition from education into employment.

In late 2025, the government commissioned him to lead an independent review into why rising numbers of young people were not in education, employment or training (Neet), with the final report expected this summer.

The review is examining the drivers behind a sharp increase in youth inactivity, including the role of health, disability and skills mismatches. It will make recommendations across education, welfare and employment systems.

The latest official statistics show nearly 1 million 16- to 24-year-olds fall into this category, a figure that has prompted growing concern among ministers about long-term economic and social consequences.

Milburn, 68, said the current education model would face increasing scrutiny if it continued to prioritise exam results over long-term outcomes for young people.

He said: “In a fast-changing labour market, schools need to equip young people with the attributes they need to succeed – communication and collaboration skills, agility and creativity.

“The government’s commitment to stronger work readiness in schools is welcome and the direction of travel is right, but ambition must be matched by action at scale.”

Milburn added that schools could go further in strengthening links with employers and expanding access to meaningful work experience, arguing that closer engagement with the labour market would be critical to improving outcomes.

He said: “With nearly a million 16- to 24-year-olds not in work, education or training, a system judged more on exam results than student destinations will rightly be scrutinised by my review.”