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Over the last few weeks the manifestos for the UK national parties have all been released. So we wanted to give you a round-up of the key points potentially impacting schools and secondary education. Of course this is just a snapshot and with many pundits saying that this election is going to close, (some commentators stating a 91% chance of a hung parliament at present) coalition (or supply and confidence) relationships between parties could be highly likely which means many of the points outlines below could be up for negotiation. Conservatives

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‘Everybody has A*s – employers want character’ (p10) – John Cridland, Director-General of the business lobbying organisation the CBI, wants schools to do more to develop character – he said in an interview with TES that his members would look "at all elements of a learner’s CV, rather than merely the qualifications, because everybody has A*s." He also called for Ofsted to judge schools on the holistic development of pupils, looking at a students’ ‘whole education’ – which has aligned with recent announcements from Education Secretary Nicky Morgan and Labour’s Tristram Hunt.

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We need plus-size prep for ‘big fat GCSE’, teachers say (p12) – Maths teachers are asking for the launch of the new 9-1 graded GCSEs to be delayed by a year to allow for sufficient preparation time, as no sample materials have been released to schools in advance of the GCSEs. The new ‘Big fat GCSEs’ will be rolled out from September 2015, and because of a row over standards, the practice and sample materials won’t be rolled out until April at the earliest. The Association of Teachers of Mathematics has written to Ofqual requesting that "it would be prudent to delay the introduction of the new GCSEs by a year."

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Government scraps ‘deterrent’ apprentice rule (p1) – the government has ‘scrapped’ the rule that requires Apprentices to re-sit any English & maths GCSEs they sat more than 5 years before the Apprenticeship start date. The “Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) confirmed it had removed the rule — in place since 2009 — from the latest version of the specification of apprenticeship standards for England (SASE), but individual frameworks will need to be amended to reflect the change.”

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‘Open traineeships up’ plea as starts hit 5K in first quarter (p2) – the government has been urged to open up more traineeships as ‘figures show 1,700 more people started on the scheme in the first three months of 2014/15 than in the entire first half of last academic year.’ Chief Executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) Stewart Segal said that he was encouraged by the figures – but called for a relaxation to the current rule that only allows Traineeships to be delivered by Ofsted grade 1 or 2 providers.

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The key piece of political theatre this quarter was the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement. This now annual event outlines the government’s spending plans for the remainder of this parliament, and gives us the best indication of their plans following the 7 May election next year. Due to a combination of lower than expected income tax receipts (due to the increase in low quality and zero hours contracts), an increase in the National Insurance thresholds, low oil and gas revenues and corporate tax avoidance, the treasury has less money than it planned for at this point in the parliament.

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Apprenticeship reforms ‘not in long grass’ — Boles (p3) – The Skills Minister is under pressure as it was confirmed this week the government has gone back to the drawing board with plans to route apprenticeship funding through employers. Boles has had a tough week, he was in front of the Education Select Committee following the publication for the government’s plans for Apprenticeship funding, where he admitted that time was running out for the funding reforms, and that any announcement might be delayed until after the General Election (which, as you all should know by now, is 7 May).

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Government say less is more as qualifications fall (47) – the overall number of qualifications being awarded has fallen by 7%, linked to cuts to funding for qualifications that the government said did not offer ‘quality education.’ 654,100 fewer vocational qualifications were awarded in 2013-14 than in 2012-13, and there was a drop of 10.7% of adults undertaking Further Education, with the government stating that "we feel the rigour and relevance of vocational qualifications is more important than numbers [achieved] alone." The government wish to focus on those qualifications 'which deliver most benefit to learners and are of the most value to employers.’

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Bank of BIS launches emergency College loans (p1) – FE colleges that are in financial difficulty have a new line of support following the announcement of ‘Emergency Loans’ from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). Rules for ‘exceptional financial support,’ released by BIS on the 4th December, outline the availability of ‘short term loans with up to 3 months repayment and longer term loans to be repaid within a year. A college applying for a loan is open to the risk of intervention from the FE Commissioner, and are provided ‘where a general FE college declares that it is encountering financial weaknesses which it cannot resolve from its own resources or through its usual borrowing facilities.’

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£142m contractor top-slicing ‘extortionate’ 40% (p1) - Learndirect, the country’s biggest Skills Funding Agency (SFA) contractor, is under scrutiny after charging ‘extortionate’ 40% management fees on its contract value. FE Week has found out this information after new ‘duties’ were introduced on 24 November requiring SFA claimants to declare what they charge their subcontractors. Apparently "Learndirect failed to meet the new duty, but the 40% top-slice was declared in its range of fees."

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Blog posts for author:Andrew Gladstone-Heighton

General Election - what's in it for schools?

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Reflections on the Autumn Statement

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Policy Corner - 14 January 2015

Policy Corner - 15 December 2014

Policy Corner - 9 December 2014

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Blog posts for author:Andrew Gladstone-Heighton

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Authors

Lindsay Plumpton

David Grailey

Andrew Gladstone-Heighton

Esme Winch

Michael Lemin

Categories

Archive