Blog posts for author:Michael Lemin

Earlier this month, the Skills Minister, Anne Milton, called on FE providers to report schools that flout their new legal obligation to give training organisations access and opportunities to speak to pupils about vocational routes. The Baker Clause legislation is now in place to require Leader of local authority-maintained schools and academies to ensure there is an opportunity for a “range of education and training providers” to access pupils aged 13 – 18 and make them aware of the technical options available to them after they leave school. This means that it’s now compulsory for all schools to open their doors to training providers who want to showcase their offer to potential learners.

Following over a year of media silence, the publication of the T-Level Action Plan provided a welcome insight into progress made and the challenges ahead for implementation of new T-Levels. One of the most striking revelations in the plan is that 4 routes will be delivered through apprenticeships only:

It seems that, against all odds, in a department where everything else has changed around him, Schools Minister Nick Gibb is the Department for Education’s longest serving politician. His 3 years in post seems a lifetime, given that he’s worked under 3 different Education Secretaries in that time. Much of schools reform over the last few years can be attributed to Gibb. Changes to English and maths, the introduction of baseline testing and increased emphasis on GCSEs, have all been championed under his watch. GCSEs have been framed as the “gold standard” in qualifications.

This evening, University College London’s Centre for Post-14 Education and Work will host a seminar to highlight the recent NCFE-sponsored report, “Reforming Technical and Professional Education: Why should it work this time?”, which was published with the Campaign for Learning and written by independent policy consultant Mick Fletcher. As UCL Honorary Research Fellow, Mick Fletcher will lead the seminar, and it will be chaired by Professor Martin Doel. The aim of the session is to further explore the implications of the Post-16 Skills Plan and reform of technical and professional education.

Chancellor Philip Hammond has delivered his first and last Spring Budget. As announced back in November, fiscal events will only take place in the autumn from now on. The Chancellor’s announcements included investing £320m into new free schools, £216m into the refurbishment of existing schools, and £500m into supporting the Post-16 Skills Plan.

The government’s target for public sector bodies to employ an average of 2.3% of their workforce as apprentices may affect more schools than initially thought. But will the target have a positive or negative effect, and is there an incentive for schools to achieve it? In January, the government confirmed that public sector bodies will be expected to employ an average of 2.3% of their workforce as apprentices. This will apply to organisations with a headcount of above 250 from April 2017 to 2020/21. Crucially, this target also applies to schools.

Following a review led by Lord Sainsbury, the government's Post-16 Skills Plan proposes overhauling technical education for 16-18 year olds. The unintended consequences of the policy could potentially cause more harm than good – here we look at the Plan in more detail. The principles behind the reforms are admirable; aligning the skills system to needs of employers, eliminating 'low value' qualifications that are of little use to learners, and ensuring financial sustainability of the system. Unfortunately, as the policies emerge and are put into practice, there are serious concerns about the negative impact this could have on learners, educators and employers.

The government made a commitment in its 2015 manifesto to overhaul national school funding. Since then, we’ve had a new Prime Minister and Education Secretary, and progress on the issue has been slow. We are starting to see firm proposals on how the new National Funding Formula will look. The nature of what the government is seeking to achieve makes this a very technical and complicated issue. The Education Secretary said that 10,700 schools will benefit from more funding under the fairer funding formula, while 9,128 will be funded at a lower level. It’s anticipated that rural schools will be among the big winners, whilst those in London will be more likely to see reductions.

There appears to be some confusion in government over apprenticeships at the moment. Perhaps it’s an inevitable consequence of changing the Prime Minister, Education Secretary and Skills Minister in the middle of one of the most ground-breaking reforms to skills policy for decades. At the Conservative Party Conference, the Prime Minister listed some of her party’s achievements over the past 6 years. Included in this list was the claim that the government has “created nearly 3 million apprenticeships.”

As we enter a new academic year, it’s worth reflecting on this year’s GCSE results and what they mean for technical and vocational education.  Newspapers reported a decline in overall outcomes; it was the biggest year-on-year drop since GCSEs began in 1988. There are a number of reasons for this.