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Helping learners prepare for GCSE English and maths

By , Thursday 13 February 2014

There’s no denying the importance of basic English and maths skills, as they are a mandatory requirement of most employers. The state of literacy and numeracy skills in England however, looks bleak following the Organisation for the Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) October report showing England’s 16-24 year olds ranked 22nd (literacy) and 21st (numeracy) out of 24 countries surveyed. NCFE is offering solutions to this skills crisis and has developed a suite of 130 fundable English and maths qualifications ranging from bitesize, single unit qualifications to certificates. NCFE is focused on tailoring to each learner’s individual needs, and these qualifications can be mixed and matched but also used as pre-GCSE training.

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Preparing learners with an employable mindset

By David Grailey, Chief Executive, Wednesday 12 February 2014

David Grailey

It should be part of a school’s remit to develop pupils’ self-belief, perseverance and resilience, according to advice from a cross-parliamentary group, supported by the CBI. The group suggested that a school needs to be more than just an ‘exam factory’, and that students should leave their education as well rounded individuals, equipped and ready to face the challenges that lie ahead of them.

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Safer Internet Day 2014

By Lindsay Plumpton, Communications Leader, Tuesday 11 February 2014

Lindsay Plumpton

NCFE is raising awareness of Safer Internet Day 2014, promoting safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones, especially amongst children and young people across the world. Worrying statistics recently revealed that millions of children are being exposed to a range of online threats, with less than half of parents using parental controls to block unsuitable material. A third of parents confessed to feeling ill-equipped to educate their children about staying safe online, and a quarter said that they never talk to their children about staying safe online, according to research by internet security company ESET. NCFE is currently working with schools and colleges to provide guidance and online protection for young people at risk. The NCFE Level 1 Award in Safeguarding in a Learning Environment covers areas such as establishing safe personal boundaries, staying safe online and cyberbullying in a learning environment. It specifically explores issues such as internet privacy, confidentiality and data protection. Read more here.

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Impact of SFA funding changes - NCFE response

By David Grailey, Chief Executive, Tuesday 04 February 2014

David Grailey

As you’re all no doubt aware, this month the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) announced some significant changes to their funding rules (Approval of Qualifications for Public Funding for Adult Learners). These changes may result in the removal of public funding for a number of adult qualifications in 2014/15. We understand that you’ll be concerned about these changes and we want to let you know how NCFE is responding. We’re adopting a number of approaches, looking at each affected qualification individually. There are several courses of actions open to us. For some qualifications, we’ve chosen to appeal. In fact, we’ve already proactively put in an appeal for certain qualifications, where we feel that the loss of public funding will have a strong adverse effect on specific cohorts of learners. Thanks to those of you who’ve helped us with this by providing letters of support for qualifications (with this in mind, we may be getting in touch with more of you in the coming months to support further appeals!)

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UK skills shortages

By Lindsay Plumpton, Communications Leader, Thursday 30 January 2014

Lindsay Plumpton

It’s been reported that shortages of skills in the UK might prevent businesses from being able to take advantage of the economic recovery. Having surveyed 91,000 employers, The UK Commission for Employment and Skills found that more than one in 5 vacancies were due to a poor skills base in potential employees. The problem of inadequate skills, qualifications or experience is worse in some sectors than others, with construction, plumbing and Health and Social Care being some of the areas affected.

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