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The big news of the past month has of course been the General Election – the surprising outcome of which is continuing to be a hot topic of discussion. I’m sure you’ll agree that a majority Conservative government – and the resulting potential impact on schools – was not what most of us were expecting, whatever your political views. Nicky Morgan’s reappointment as Education Secretary brings some stability, but also a commitment to the Gove reform agenda which will impact heavily on teachers of learners aged 11-19.

With the nature of the current economic climate, it’s not enough for school leavers to simply be equipped with academic skills; your pupils need to be ready to enter the world of work, and that’s something that academia alone can’t teach. The starting point of a successful career is a good CV, but many pupils don’t know where to start. The NCFE Level 1 Award in CV Writing (600/3917/6) is the perfect introduction to writing a CV that’s suited to the learner , employer and their dream job. At 20 guided learning hours (GLH), it can be delivered alongside your existing curriculum, or even as a workshop outside of school hours.

The big news of the past month has of course been the General Election – the surprising outcome of which is continuing to be a hot topic of discussion. I’m sure you’ll agree that a majority Conservative government – and the resulting potential impact on the FE sector – was not what most of us were expecting, whatever your political views. The full details of the Conservatives’ spending plans will be outlined in a spending review, expected to take place in June. However, we’re likely to see further cuts to adult skills funding, which will continue to have a significant impact on our sector. The loss of Liberal Democrat Vince Cable – a key ally as a champion of FE – is a particularly significant blow. Despite the inevitable cuts, we’ve retained funding for many of our important qualifications, and we’re delighted that so many of you have told us that you want to retain or grow this provision.

This week, dementia – the progressive disease that leads to memory loss and communication problems – is being highlighted with Dementia Awareness Week, hosted by the Alzheimer’s Society. The topic of dementia is often a sensitive one, but it’s sadly something that most people have had to deal with in some capacity. One in six people over the age of 80 suffer with the degenerative disease – and shockingly, it’s estimated that 90,000 sufferers could be undiagnosed – so many of us have had experience of caring for a loved one as they battle dementia.

The manifestos for all the major parties have recently been released ahead of the General Election on 7 May. We’ve rounded up the key points on education from each party to summarise their pledges. However, with polls suggesting that this election is going to be extremely close, coalition (or supply and confidence) relationships between parties are likely, which means much of the following could be up for negotiation.

With the General Election rapidly approaching, there is more discussion than ever on further education and various pledges from the main political parties on Apprenticeships. We wanted to find out what young people around the country think of their post-school options as they prepare to cast their vote, which will be the first time for many of them.

The cuts to funding for adult skills in 2015-16 have been widely documented in the last month as the Association of Colleges warns that up to 190,000 adult education places will be lost next year. However, the government has stated that although overall funding is being cut, high quality apprenticeships and English and maths are being prioritised to ensure that learners are literate and numerate, with vocational qualifications of prestige.  At NCFE, we have been working hard to ensure that our popular and valued vocational qualifications have their funding protected and we’re pleased to say that we now have almost 100 funded qualifications available for 15-16 with further qualifications pending approval. These qualifications include courses within Health and Social Care such as Level 2 Certificate in the Principles of Dementia Care, Level 2 Certificate in the Principles of the Prevention and Control of Infection in Health Care Settings, as well as substantial qualifications such as Level 1, 2 and 3 Diplomas in Entry to the Uniformed Services and many more.

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

The idea of teaching ‘character’ to schoolchildren has gained more and more traction of late, with advocates highlighting the importance of making sure pupils leave school with certain traits and behaviours such as confidence and optimism, drive and ambition, resilience and grit, tolerance and respect, and curiosity and focus. We at NCFE believe that children need more than just good grades to succeed. We’ve seen first-hand the benefits of ensuring children develop character traits, attributes and behaviours that will set them up for success in education and work, as opposed to only focusing on the academic side of things.

To have performance points all qualifications must have external assessment…right? Well not quite. Did you know that we also offer a small number of existing non V Cert Level 1 qualifications that are 100% portfolio based? This means that for this year’s Year 11 pupils there is still time to deliver these qualifications for the 2015 performance tables.