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Firstly, welcome back after the Easter break! An important milestone in your annual school calendar, I’m sure. No doubt a busy term lays ahead for you and your school. To support you with the delivery of all NCFE qualifications, we’ll look forward to continuing to support you with our award winning service during this busy time. Last term NCFE also hit a very important milestone. But before I go into that I’d like to give a little bit of context. In September 2013 we saw the first Year 11 pupils begin their V Cert studies with NCFE. As a new range of qualifications designed to respond to the Department for Education (DfE) performance table we were certain of their value to you and your pupils.

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Last week we celebrated the eighth National Apprenticeship Week, which saw more than 600 events held across the country, shining a national media spotlight on Apprenticeships; a spotlight which was only intensified by the build up to the general election. With a year of change behind us and a great deal of uncertainty still ahead in terms of the future for Apprenticeships, the week provided a welcomed opportunity to take stock and appreciate the true value that Apprenticeships have on the lives of learners, businesses and our economy. Co-ordinated by the National Apprenticeship Service, the week aims to help inspire more young people to become apprentices, whilst encouraging business to unlock the potential of Apprenticeships.

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As we get increasingly closer to May’s General Election, each of the major political parties are setting out their stall in terms of how they would improve education within Schools. With this in mind, it’s interesting to see Labour’s pledge to move arts to the heart of education, giving each child an entitlement to a creative learning experience. In his first major speech on the arts, Ed Miliband, Labour leader, told a gathering of cultural leaders that arts, culture and creativity would be integral to the next Labour government’s mission. He talked passionately about the “wider impact” these subjects can have on a young person’s education.

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A number of schools have been hit by the changes in which qualifications count in the school performance tables. This year, 330 schools fell below the required benchmark which is up from 154 in the previous year - clearly a big increase but probably not a big surprise to the schools it has impacted upon.

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It’s worrying to see that the number of adults in Further Education has dropped considerably due to this demographic now having to self-fund their education and training through borrowing and loans. The number of over-19s in FE fell by over 10% between 2012-13 and 2013-14, according to recent figures published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

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Christmas is here and we have a new performance table list from the DfE. This means we’ve now received confirmation from the Department for Education (DfE) on which qualifications will feature in the 2017 Key Stage 4 performance tables.

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It was great to catch up with many of you during the AoC conference last month. I hope those of you who attended were able to find a few spare moments during conference’s packed itinerary to drop by the NCFE stand to pick up your education elephant and thumb through our recently published digital Directory of Products and Services. With the end of the calendar year looming, I always find the conference provides a valuable opportunity to reflect with colleagues over the events of the past 12 months and discuss the challenges facing the sector for the following year.

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It was great to read earlier this year that parents want to see more practical teaching in schools. To mark its 10th anniversary, the Edge Foundation surveyed over 1,000 parents of secondary aged children to get their views about vocational education. I am pleased to say that there was majority support from the sample with most agreeing that technical degrees combining academic and vocational study are of equal value to traditional academic subjects.

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As the campaign trails of the 3 major political parties rumble onward to the general election in May, I’m encouraged by the growing emphasis being placed on lifelong learning. Addressing industry leaders at the Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) annual conference earlier this week, Prime Minister David Cameron spoke about the importance of the nation’s workforce engaging in continual education throughout their working lives.

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Throughout our lives, career decisions can be amongst the most defining and important choices we have to make. These can feel especially daunting for those about to make their initial steps onto the career ladder from Further Education or school. It’s therefore not surprising that when making these important decisions, many young people turn to their parents as the first port of call for advice and guidance.

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Blog posts for author:David Grailey

An important milestone for V Certs

Apprenticeships - the week that was

Embedding creativity in your curriculum

DfE changes begin to bite

Supporting adult learners

NCFE V Certs and the 2017 Performance tables

AoC 2014: The highlights

It’s all in the balance

The future of lifelong learning

A tipping point for vocational education

Authors

Lindsay Plumpton

David Grailey

Andrew Gladstone-Heighton

Esme Winch

Michael Lemin

Categories

Archive

Blog posts for author:David Grailey

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Authors

Lindsay Plumpton

David Grailey

Andrew Gladstone-Heighton

Esme Winch

Michael Lemin

Categories

Archive