Originally Posted by
desertghost
I agree with what you're saying about the skills required for the job but you're totally ignoring the fact all companies need ways of differentiating between people in what is a big and competitive world.
Having some decent qualifications from school shows that somebody had some intelligence, drive, focus and discipline, they've also had to perform in exams under pressure; everybody has been to school so everybody has the opportunity to demonstrate this. It's a useful marker which practically every other profession uses to set a standard and to restrict the number of people applying for jobs. I have friends with PHds who do jobs that I'm sure somebody with GCSEs could also do but that's not the point, they worked hard to get where they are and deserve their positions. Setting the bar so low (especially when it used to be much higher) indicates that the company doesn't take any of the above seriously and sends the message to people not to bother as you only need a handful of GCSEs to get in anyway. All pretty unaspirational stuff from a company which seems to hold itself in such high regard.
Not necessarily. Some people don’t have that opportunity to go to Uni or do A levels through no fault of their own. This scheme is specifically designed to give people an opportunity who don’t currently have that, be that financial or educational. The sooner people accepted that the better.