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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.

According to a recent study, children who view clips of their TV favourites such as Peppa Pig and Sesame Street on YouTube are on average just three clicks away from explicit adult material. A separate study of 24,000 young people found that almost 27% of 7-11 years olds and nearly half of 11-19 year olds had come across something they found ‘…unpleasant…’ in the past 12 months. But how do we protect young people when they are online? Initiatives such as the BBCs new Web Wise campaign can provide excellent resources for both parents and young people. Their Share Take Care campaign helps us all with ideas and suggestions on how to manage our online life.

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:

A new report, Technical Matters, is calling for a transformation of vocational education, so that high quality technical and vocational studies are given the same prestige as academic qualifications. The report expresses concerns that the Government's increasing focus on academic skills, while welcome, "may not work to the advantage of all students in the education system". Drawing on the 2011 Wolf Review and the Richard Review of Apprenticeships, the latest report suggests that employers should be involved in shaping the content of vocational education so that it’s relevant to the workplace and meets skills shortages. It also recommends that Apprenticeships should be available to pupils as young as 14, but should last 3 years and be as challenging as A-Levels.

Education Secretary Michael Gove has announced changes to A-levels in England to make them more rigorous and reduce the number of exams taken by removing the modular structure. "Bite-sized" units will be scrapped and exams will be taken at the end of the 2-year course, giving young people the chance to gain a ‘gold standard’ qualification. The reforms mean that AS-level papers will not count towards a full A-level but will be stand-alone qualifications. There will also be a bigger role for universities in monitoring the content of A-levels.

Recent reports suggest that around 800,000 people in the UK have some form of dementia, but most have not been diagnosed. The Alzheimer's Society has expressed concern at the findings and the “unnecessary suffering” that comes as a result. One suggested explanation is the perceived "stigma" associated with the condition which results in people not visiting their GP. NCFE offers a range of qualifications in dementia care, to help provide the best possible support for those suffering from dementia. The NCFE Level 2 Certificate in the Principles for Dementia Care has proven to be one of NCFE’s most popular qualifications since its launch. It covers areas such as person-centred care, the influence of positive communication methods, issues around the use of medication and the importance of providing appropriate activities.

Happy New Year – I hope that you and your families had a good time over the festive season. And as we start 2013, I am delighted to announce that NCFE has been awarded Investors in People Gold Standard. To achieve Investors in People is great, to achieve their Gold Standard reflecting world-class best practice is fantastic. We’re delighted to join the 600 companies in the UK who hold the Gold Standard and believe it really does demonstrate our ambition and commitment to achieving high performance and delivering exceptional customer service.

I’d like to start by wishing you and your school a Happy New Year for 2013. Following on from last month’s newsletter, I can tell you that we’ve already started receiving requests to run the new V Cert qualifications.