Blog posts for author:Michael Lemin

The National Audit Office has released a report that exposes a major flaw in the government’s plan to increase the number of apprenticeships. The government has failed to outline how more apprenticeships will lead to increased productivity. Of course, this should come as no surprise. Many in the sector have been expressing this concern for some time now. I’ve used speaking engagements at a number of conferences to express my own concerns earlier in the year. NCFE’s response to the BIS Select Committee inquiry call for evidence in March included this comment:  

It has been revealed that proposed funding for 16-18 year-old apprentices will mean current rates to colleges and training providers being cut by around 30%, and providers in deprived areas of London will find that their funding rates may have been cut by over half in some cases. In my opinion, this is likely to cause further damage to the apprenticeship brand in London, which we know is a problem. Our recent research with Reed in Partnership found that people in the capital are 40% less likely than the English average to want their children to pursue an apprenticeship.

It’s been a summer of huge change. The EU referendum result in June was the catalyst, resulting in a new Prime Minister, a major cabinet reshuffle and significant changes to government structure. Here’s a round-up of who’s who in the new cabinet. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is no more, and has been replaced by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. This means that responsibilities for skills and higher education now fall under the remit of the Department for Education, and we have come full circle, as many veterans of the sector will recognise. 

It’s all change in the government. Theresa May has been sworn in as our new Prime Minister, and there is wholesale change across the political Cabinet.  In education and skills, there are several ministerial changes, and responsibility for skills, along with Higher Education, has returned to the Department for Education (DfE). We look forward to seeing how bringing education, universities, FE and Apprenticeships under one minister’s remit will ensure joined up decision making for the benefit of learners.

Many years ago, when volunteering in Sierra Leone, I came across a sign on a brightly painted wooden hut – that message was “If you can read this, thank a teacher.” This simple and effective statement shows the vital role that teachers play in our education.

For many years now, going to university and getting a degree appears to have been the preferred route for many learners but we seem to be at a turning point. Despite the greater government investment in Higher Education and the academic route, young people are starting to ask serious questions about the value of a degree. Will we start to see more people take an alternative route through their studies and into a career? Young people wishing to enter Higher Education now face £9,000 annual fees (with some universities expected to be able to charge more in future). The majority of learners will have to cover these fees through a loan, and with maintenance included, a three year loan will mean borrowing over £40,000 (in some cases over £50,000). It gets worse for graduates; where student loans used to be fixed at the rate national rate of inflation (RPI); this is no longer the case. The current interest rate on a student loan is 3.9%, meaning graduates will need to earn around £45,000 before having any realistic chance of repaying. For the majority, it will mean a monthly deduction from their wages for 30 years of their working lives.

As promised in yesterday’s Budget announcement, the government has today released a white paper on schools, entitled ‘Educational Excellence Everywhere.’ Forget the 3 ‘R’s – it’s all about the 3 ‘E’s. The key headlines include a couple of new initiatives, and some further details on policies that have been emerging for some time:

Chancellor George Osborne today announced the Budget 2016. The key education headlines related mainly to schools, with the news that the government intends to turn all state schools into academies confirmed after being leaked last night. The Chancellor said that by 2020, all schools either will be an academy, or will be in the process of becoming an academy. This has been a key focus of the government’s time in parliament, including during its coalition with the Liberal Democrats.

2015 was a peculiar year for politics, and there were few areas impacted more than education and skills. There were two Budgets, and a combined Comprehensive Spending Review and Autumn Statement. Announcements included the Apprenticeship Levy, the extension of learners loans to those aged 19+, and the much maligned review of post-16 education and training institutions. It's a mark of how difficult times have been that the sector breathed a collective sigh of relief at funding cuts in the Autumn Statement, simply because we all expected much worse. 

Labour came out swinging early in the new year with a press release on teacher recruitment, pointing to what they see as “the Government’s failure on this extremely basic issue.” Shadow Education Secretary Lucy Powell seems to be stepping up the rhetoric at a time when the government seems determined that there is no crisis. Schools Minister Nick Gibb said in December that “the profession is in very good shape” and accused those who use the word ‘crisis’ of “talking down the profession.” This is the latest in a long running battle of words on the issue. The government seems determined that there is no crisis, and claims that “the number and quality of teachers in our classrooms is at an all-time high”. Labour points out that the government has changed the way it presents figures in the initial teacher training census, taking out figures from undergraduates and adding those who come through Teach First. This makes it difficult to compare against data from previous years, and to understand whether enough teachers are being recruited.