According to Ken O’Toole, youngsters should be exposed to workplace opportunities long before they turn 15.
The head of the UK’s biggest airport group said that companies should be made to provide work experience to children of primary age to help tackle the “absence epidemic” in schools.
The chief executive of Manchester Airport Group, Ken O’Toole, said companies have a “moral obligation” to offer kids opportunities before they turn 15 when most schoolchildren in the UK complete a two-week work placement.
He claims the government’s crackdown on absenteeism would only go so far, and companies should be permitted to “join the fight against this epidemic”.
He stated: “The government should make it mandatory for businesses to provide real workplace experiences to youngsters of all ages – from primary school to working age.
“Amid an absence epidemic, waiting until they are in their teens could be too late to create a spark. If only a handful of employers want to engage, young people will only see a fraction of the opportunities that are out there.”
A report released earlier this year by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) stated that two in five students from less privileged backgrounds are “persistently absent”, meaning that they miss at least a school day a fortnight on average.
According to the IFS, school absences have increased by almost two-thirds since 2019, with students missing an average of 14 days of the school year, which was less than 9 days in 2019.
The absenteeism among less privileged students has doubled from 8% to 16% in the same period.
The education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, pledged to crack down on the “absence epidemic” by fining parents and bringing free breakfast clubs in primary schools in England.
According to Philipson, too many families believe truancy is acceptable in pursuit of “cheaper holidays”, to avoid “unpopular subjects”, or for “birthday treats or even a runny nose”.
O’Toole, whose company owns and operates Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands airports, stated: “The secretary of state is right to call this an emergency.
“As a business well plugged in to the communities surrounding it, we hear those alarm bells loud and clear. In Wythenshawe, on the doorstep of Manchester airport, there are some schools that have among the highest truancy rates in the country.”
He added that companies should be compelled to offer work opportunities to local kids before they “slip into a cycle of absenteeism”.
The proposal could mean that kids as young as four would take educational tours to nearby companies linked to the national curriculum.
O’Toole stated: “Businesses are part of the fabric of the communities they serve – that means when there is an emergency like the absenteeism epidemic the education secretary describes, we all have a role to play in tackling it.”
