Blog posts for author:David Grailey

Over a third of 16-25 year olds with poor exam results surveyed for The Prince's Trust charity believed they would "end up on benefits". The report suggested that many had experienced problems at school or home so their exam results did not reflect their true potential. In response to the report, the government said that it was "taking decisive action to transform vocational education" and a spokeswoman for the Department for Education (DfE) said the government would fund "a place in education or training for every 16 and 17-year-old who wants one".

It’s been a good month to be British! Not only did Andy Murray become the first British man to win Wimbledon in 77 years but the UK also gave a fantastic performance at the 2013 World Skills competition in Leipzig, achieving a whole host of medals. Particular congratulations must go to Ashley Terron, a bricklayer from Warrington and George Callow, a cabinet maker from Chichester who took the top spots and were honoured as the best young tradesmen in the world. World Skills is about celebrating vocational skills and talents in all their forms; from plumbing to floristry, from hairdressing to IT. At NCFE, we think it’s important to recognise the value of these skills and nurture people’s natural aptitudes in these areas. That’s why in addition to our wide portfolio of vocational courses, we now offer a suite of qualifications in Achieving Excellence in a Vocational Skill. The qualifications range from Level 1 to Level 4 and aim to extend a learner’s range of skills, attributes and behaviours within a wider context of work-related learning.

Looking back it seems that not a single month has gone by without education being in the national news headlines in some shape or form. Rightly so, given the importance of education in our society, but sadly the stories haven’t always been upbeat. And while the team here at NCFE has been busy working on new qualifications to meet the latest DfE changes, we’ve been acutely aware of the wider challenges and changes facing all of you in your schools. For those of you already working with us, I hope that our continued commitment to customer service goes someway to helping alleviate the challenges you’re facing. Against this background of change and challenge, all our focus remains on the pupils. So with this in mind, perhaps one of the most thought provoking discussions that’s received recent media coverage is the report from the Children’s Commissioner for England. The report paints a very bleak picture of the impact that budget cuts are having on children from poorer families.

Creativity and imagination are integral to the development and enrichment of young minds – shaping the way they look at the world and helping them to express themselves. Something that we are very passionate about here at NCFE. For the past few months I’ve continued to keep you posted on our V Cert qualification development and in February we gave you an update on where we were at with the first stage of the pilot project with schools. Throughout March, April and May participating schools have continued to work with us to review the content of the new qualifications and where possible deliver a selection of sample units to their pupils. We really wanted to give schools the opportunity to explore what we’d developed to help ensure that the qualifications really do help to maintain creativity within the core curriculum and continue to engage pupils.

A recent report, commissioned by independent education charity, the Edge Foundation, has established a link between low take-up of vocational courses in Britain and high levels of youth unemployment. In the UK, one in five (21%) young people were out of work in 2012 in contrast to just 9.5% in the Netherlands. Interestingly, in the UK only 32% chose vocational options in upper secondary education compared with 67% in the Netherlands. Is this link significant?

Apprenticeships, Apprenticeships, Apprenticeships... certainly the topic of conversation consuming the world of education at present. A recent survey carried out by Government has shown that employers rated apprentices more highly in comparison to university graduates, rating apprentices 15% more employable than those with other qualifications. These findings have been welcomed by Minister for Skills, Matthew Hancock who claimed taking a higher apprenticeship could boost a young person’s lifetime earning by more than £150,000.

This month, the Government announced plans to introduce a Technical Baccalaureate as a 'mark of achievement' for the 50% of school-leavers who don't go on to university. It will consist of 3 strands, including an approved vocational qualification equivalent to Level 3, a core Maths qualification and an 'extended project’ designed to test skills in communication, research and motivation. The 'Tech Bacc' will become a league table performance measure from 2017. The proposal comes at a time when raising the status of vocational qualification is very much in the spotlight. According to a government survey this month, job candidates who have trained through an apprenticeship scheme are “more employable” than people with other qualifications, including degrees. The employability research conducted with 500 companies demonstrated that employers rate apprentices’ skills and experience way above learners who have followed alternative career paths.

Many of you will know that the NCFE is based in the North East and while it hasn’t stopped us delivering great service right across the country it does mean we get to share with you some of the work going on to support the region’s development during these times of austerity. One thing many of our non-North East customers won’t be aware of is a recent report by Lord Adonis, the theme of which is relevant across the UK – let’s get young people “on the road to a job not the dole”. Lord Adonis' report ‘More and Better Jobs: North East International’ was commissioned by the North East Local Enterprise Partnership, following a major review of the North East’s economy. The report follows announcements earlier in the year which revealed that the North East has more than 441,100 people with no qualifications and that the region is facing a Northern “skills drain”. In his report, Lord Adonis places a lot of emphasis on the need for investment in work based training.

This month the hot topic is still Apprenticeships - with youth unemployment still at almost one million, Apprenticeships remain high on the political agenda. Government also recently re-affirmed their commitment to work-based training and the Prime Minister has stated that Apprenticeships are at the heart of the Government’s mission to rebuild the economy. His comments come in the light of recent statistics which suggest that apprentices could add up to £3.4bn a year in economic gains. It’s never been more important to raise the status of high quality Apprenticeships as a viable alternative to higher education, allowing learners to earn while they learn and gain that all-important work experience.

A new report has highlighted the need to re-engage Britain’s young people in learning, as the UK falls to the bottom of an international league table showing the proportion of young people in education. The United Nations states that Britain ranked in last place, out of the 29 countries surveyed – with fewer than 75 per cent of 15 to 19-year-olds studying. However, initiatives such as the raising of the participation age together with investment in traineeships and high quality apprenticeships aim to tackle the issue.