FSB: School leavers 'don't know how to dress' By Helen Loveless, Financial Mail On Sunday British students: Business leaders have called for more to be done to close the skills gap with other countries Many school leavers are damaging business because they lack literacy and numeracy skills and do not even know how to dress properly for work, say bosses. An urgent plea for more to be done to close the skills gap with other countries will be made at the annual conference of the Federation of Small Businesses in London tomorrow. National policy chairman Mike Cherry, whose organisation represents nearly 200,000 smaller companies, told The Mail on Sunday: "We have been trailing behind in business globally for far too long because of the skills shortage. It's been an issue for many, many years. The low standard of numeracy and literacy skills is a huge problem as is employability. Many young people are just not prepared for the workplace in their attitude or dress. Earlier this year the head of the education body Ofsted, Sir Michael Wilshaw, said trainee teachers were being sent into classrooms not knowing how to dress or behave appropriately. Cherry added: "Careers advice is missing in many areas, while enterprise should be taught in schools. While we welcome moves to increase the scope and number of apprenticeships, a lot more work has to be done around the needs of employers and workers. A long way to go: Many young people leave school unprepared for the workplace, the FSB warned