Blog posts for author:Lindsay Plumpton

The Government has published its response to Lord Heseltine’s 2012 report ‘No Stone Unturned - In Pursuit of Growth’. They’ve set out how they will adopt (partially or fully) 81 of his original 89 recommendations. To support this, the Government has committed ‘to creating a Single Local Growth Fund in England from April 2015, and devolving responsibilities, influence and growth-related spending on the basis of strategic plans developed by Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs)’. LEPs will bid for money from this single growth fund, and use it to fund (and leverage additional funding for) the 3 critical areas for investment in their region: transport, housing and skills.

The Creative Employment Programme has announced its intention to create up to 6,500 employment opportunities across the country. The road show has already visited cities nationwide, including Birmingham, Sheffield, Gateshead, Cambridge and Southampton to encourage employers to sign up. Using money from the National Lottery, Arts Council England has set up a £15 million fund to create thousands of apprenticeships, traineeships and internships in the arts and culture. The scheme will be run by Sector Skills Council, Creative and Cultural Skills, a body designed to promote training and employment in the arts sector.

The Government has published its response to The Richard Review of Apprenticeships, with a consultation that sets out plans for major changes to apprenticeships over the next 3 years. The changes include putting employers in the driving seat, empowering them to place recognised and meaningful industry standards at the heart of every apprenticeship.

Marking the start of National Apprenticeship Week, David Cameron has committed to making apprenticeships the ‘new norm’ for young people who don’t want to go to university. The Prime Minister has said that he wants work-based training to sit "at the heart of our mission to rebuild the economy" and be seen as a first class career move. At a visit to a training academy in Buckinghamshire, he called upon employers, educators and MPs to expand apprenticeship roles for young people in order to give school-leavers the chance to learn a trade and build their careers.

Following the Wolf review of vocational education, the Department for Education is now consulting on proposals to establish rigorous standards for Level 3 vocational qualifications taken by 16-19 year olds in schools and colleges from September 2014. The plan is that only ‘high value’ qualifications that meet specific sets of requirements will count in performance tables from this point onward. Quality and rigour are very important to us here at NCFE. Supporting learners to reach their full potential is at the heart of everything we do. Therefore, we’ll be working with the Department throughout the consultation process to find workable solutions that will best support learners to achieve success.

Many children go without enough to eat during the school day, according to a new online survey of 250 school, youth and health staff working with children in England. The Children's Food Trust poll has found that 68.1% have seen an increase in the number of families struggling to feed their children in the past 2 years. What’s more, lunchboxes are containing more junk food and less fruit.

Lord Heseltine’s proposals to hand skills funding over to Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) look closer to becoming reality, as the government 'accepts the principle' of the single funding pot. The proposals include a budget of around £17billion to be put in a single ‘pot’ for all LEPs to bid for in 5 year tenders. Each LEP would compete with its neighbours to secure the funding for its skills need (ie colleges and Independent Training Providers (ITPs)).

Last week, the government announced that it was scrapping its plans to replace GCSEs with an English Baccalaureate. The reversal was announced by the education secretary, alongside curriculum changes. As the dust settles on this change in direction, the spotlight is now on the future form of GCSEs. Michael Gove told MPs that there is still “a consensus that the system needs to change” to address grade inflation, dumbing down and loss of rigour. From autumn 2015, 'new' GCSE courses are set to be launched in English, maths, the sciences, history and geography.

Former education secretary Lord Baker has proposed a radical transformation of England’s education system in his new book ‘14 – 18: A New Vision for Secondary Education’. According to his vision, pupils should have the chance to specialise at 14 with the choice of 4 pathways at separate institutions, dependent on their strengths and interests. The 4 areas include liberal arts for academic subjects, technical for specialisms such as engineering, sports and creative arts, or a career course where students would specialise in subjects such as plumbing or catering at FE colleges. He believes that pupils should continue to study core subjects such as English and maths until the age of 18, regardless of which route they take.

According to the findings of the Edge Foundation report, 60% of schools have said that they’ve either already reduced the number of Level 2 vocational qualifications on offer or are planning to do so, due to changes to school performance tables. This is despite the majority of school leaders believing that vocational qualifications are valuable to young people: