TEACHERS and business leaders are on a collision course after the announcement of the GCSE results sparked the debate over education standards. Does the improved performances of pupils mean they are better prepared for work or are they just better at passing exams? ANDREW CALVERT reports. . .

MORE students than ever celebrated good grades when the GCSE results came out yesterday.

The proportion of entries awarded a C or better rose to 59.2 per cent from 58.1 per cent in academic subjects while there was also a slight rise in those awarded the top two grades.

All is not well in the workplace however, with bosses claiming too many teenagers are leaving school with inadequate skills in literacy and numeracy.

Digby Jones, Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry, called on the Government to mount a new effort to eradicate low levels of literacy and numeracy, which he described as "an absolute scandal".

"More young people are getting higher grades and I have nothing but praise for them and their hard-working teachers who have achieved this," he said. "But that must not hide the fact that a large number of young people, particularly boys, are being left behind and that we clearly have a major problem with English and Maths.

"How can school-leavers hope to succeed in the modern world of work if they cannot read and write?"

Eric Barnes, deputy headteacher of Fearns High School, Bacup, said: "Despite what anybody says, the exams are not getting any easier - they are just different than they were years ago."

Blackburn entrepreneur Mike Murray, chairman of Business Link for East Lancashire, said: "Sensible employers will always look beyond GCSE results. Teenagers do not sit an examination in determination and motivation - those are the qualities employers need."

Former Lancashire teacher Steve Sinnott, now general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: "All the carping critics can't get around the fact that our young people and their teachers have worked enormously hard and achieved improving levels of success."

Head teachers throughout East Lancashire have been quick to praise their pupils.

At Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School, a record 52 pupils achieved at least nine A* and As. Head Martyn Morris said: "The British disease to find fault is ridiculous."

Lillian Croston, principal of Westholme School in Blackburn, said three pupils were among the highest achievers in the country. Dr David Hempsall, head of Blackburn's Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, said: I am particularly delighted at the achievements, not just of the high-flyers, but also some of our students who have tackled their GCSEs in the face of great personal difficulties."

While many of the East Lancashire GCSE students will be planning to take their A-levels and go on to university, business leaders urged them to think long and hard about their future careers before deciding on the academic route.

Nick Goulding, head of the North West-based Forum of Private Business said research had shown that the majority of company bosses believed the Government's target of sending 50 per cent of school leavers to university would be of little help to their business. "There are too many irrelevant courses which give graduates no training to do a job."

At Pendle Training in Nelson, Mark Roberts who said: "More and more people are realising that an apprenticeship can be an very effective route into a good career, combining learning with real experience."