College leavers 'totally unprepared for demands of work' She said: "Successive governments and education establishments have failed young people by not ensuring that they are properly prepared for the world of work. The BCC said many firms were confused by qualifications such as GCSE and A-levels, and wanted a clearer system that tells them if young people have the basic abilities needed for a job. It suggested that schools need further incentives to focus on teaching young people the "softer" skills such as teamwork, willingness to learn and communication that they will require in the job market. The group suggested that Ofsted should pay attention to how closely schools work with local businesses and that "destination" measures, which look at what pupils are doing a year after leaving school, should be extended to five years. The group's new Skills and Employment Manifesto states: "Although there are excellent examples of world-class practice among British schools, colleges, universities, training providers and employers, too many people lack the basic skills to succeed at work, let along the higher skills required to underpin our national prosperity." It says that while employers do not expect the education system to produced "fully-formed skilled workers," they do require basic building blocks. "Many employers are confused by the wide range of different qualifications and frequent changes to the system by successive governments and struggle to equate particular grades with skills relevant to their business," it says. Members of the BBC are putting forward the case for a music certification-style qualification to replace GCSEs in subjects such as English and maths to test teenagers on literacy, numeracy, computing and foreign language skills. This would allow pupils to progress in stages in their education, covering skills such as writing a formal letter or report and real-life maths. Pupils could take this qualification instead of GCSE English and maths and then take other GCSEs as well, such as in English literature, history or science. Mr Wastnage said the first of these qualifications could be taken at the end of primary school. The manifesto also suggests that careers education should start in secondary school and that National Insurance numbers could be used to track students" average earnings after they leave school.