Almost 70% of employers believe that failures in the UK education system are damaging the country’s economic performance, a survey released by the Chartered Management Institute revealed today.

The survey found that while 82% of managers agreed that the primary focus of education should be to give young people the skills they will require in the workplace, 9 in 10 found that young people needed training in basic skills when they entered their first job.

A particular area of concern was the lack of management skills, which 77% of managers identified as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’.  Ruth Spellman, Chief Executive of CMI said: “Bad management is already an issue in the UK, with only 1 in 5 managers having a professional management qualification, but we can’t let this become a pattern defining future business generations. The cycle has to be broken and the only way to do so is for schools and employers to work together.”

The report comes as the CMI announce their Campus CMI programme, working with employers to deliver around 1500 qualifications in team leading and first line management to 14 to 21-year-olds in schools and colleges across the UK.