BUSINESS people complain about the education system in the same way farmers complain about the weather. Whatever happens, it's never right.

The trouble is, industry's needs have changed so dramatically that they have outpaced the very considerable improvements in pupils' achievements.

We no longer need uneducated folk wielding pick-axes but we are crying out for people highly skilled in all kinds of technologies.

Business requires more clever people now than at any time in our country's history - and as a starting point they must have the core skills of literacy, numeracy and IT.

Despite much progress we are still not getting enough.

We are asking a lot of our schools - and perhaps not enough of parents. As most teachers will tell you, classroom behaviour has steadily worsened, making their task more difficult than ever.

At the same time they have been put under great pressure from outside the classroom. Much-needed changes in the curriculum have been pushed through and standards are now monitored more closely than ever.

And now along comes another expert, Mike Tomlinson, a former Chief Inspector of Schools, proposing yet another gigantic shake-up of the exam system.

He proposes to replace GCSEs, A-levels and vocational qualifications with a new single diploma but is this anything more than a recipe for another period of chaos?

He is making some of the right noises - saying he wants to stretch the brighter pupils, provide stronger and more respected vocational qualifications and improve the core skills - but it is not at all clear that his proposals will achieve their stated aims.

The sentiments behind this are welcome but employers have to be convinced that this is going to work.

Raising standards is a massive challenge. Do the answers really lie in changing the exam system?

Surely they are much deeper than this, beginning with the way parents and children interact.

Whatever happens, teachers will need a lot more back-up on the home front than they are currently getting.

Schools could probably do with a lot more back-up from businesses.

And in the interests of pupils and the nation in general, business expects the government to tune in a lot more closely to what we are saying about skills shortages.

First published: October 26