Blog posts for tag:policy

2015 was a peculiar year for politics, and there were few areas impacted more than education and skills. There were two Budgets, and a combined Comprehensive Spending Review and Autumn Statement. Announcements included the Apprenticeship Levy, the extension of learners loans to those aged 19+, and the much maligned review of post-16 education and training institutions. It's a mark of how difficult times have been that the sector breathed a collective sigh of relief at funding cuts in the Autumn Statement, simply because we all expected much worse. 

Careers advice is once again in the news, as a new law that states vocational and academic options must be promoted equally is touted. This follows the Ofsted Annual Report 2014-2015, which revealed that one of the most common reasons learners don’t continue study or enter into employment is because the careers advice they receive before choosing their route after school was flawed. In particular, vocational education or training and Apprenticeships were poorly promoted; in fact, Apprenticeships are often presented as a last option to learners.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has voiced his support for lifelong learning and the vital role that Further Education colleges play in this. Speaking at the University and College Union’s (UCU) Cradle to Grave conference, Mr Corbyn highlighted the necessity of access to education at any age, in a time when the UK faces a troubling skills gap crisis.

This month saw the publication of the Institute for Fiscal Studies’ (IFS) Green Budget. The report looks at the issues and challenges facing the Chancellor as he prepares for his Budget in March. The study has highlighted the risks threatening the government’s spending plans, including how key aspects of the Apprenticeship reform programme, intended to create growth and increase productivity, may actually challenge it.

The long, agonising wait for a ‘tsunami of exam reform’ (p8) - In less than 2 months time, schools will have to start teaching the new GCSEs and A Levels over 20 subjects. Ofqual still has to approve two-thirds (only 52 out of 156 have been approved) of the specifications for teaching and delivery— a situation described as ’shocking’ by teaching unions. It's up to colleges to stop this strike, says Corbyn (p46) - Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn has called on colleges to come up with a ‘reasonable’ pay offer for their staff ahead of a national strike planned for the 24 February.

The government states that it wants to improve recognition and quality of Apprenticeship programmes. It intends to achieve this by involving employers more heavily in Apprenticeships and giving them control over the standards, content and funding of an Apprenticeship. This, it argues, will ensure that all Apprenticeships suitably prepare learners for employment while also ensuring employers’ needs are met in terms of skills gaps. Another government plan is to protect the term ‘Apprenticeship’ in legislation to safeguard the brand and ensure high quality outcomes. Furthermore, in an effort to drive up the number of Apprenticeship starts, the upcoming Enterprise Bill will require at least 2.3% of public sector businesses with a workforce of 250 people or more to hire apprentices.

1 January 2016 The biggest change to the schools system in 50 years (p8) - Ministers are considering publishing a whitepaper that will formalise its plans to convert every remaining state school in the country into an academy.

Every year, the Skills Minister writes to the Chief Executive of the Skills Funding Agency (SFA), setting out the government's vision for skills funding priorities for the forthcoming funding year. It sets out in headline terms how 19+ funding will work from August 2016. One of the major changes to previous years is the appearance of a new budget line; the Adult Education Budget (or, because we love our Three Letter Acronyms, the AEB).

6 short weeks ago, in the November 2015 Autumn Statement, George Osborne promised some respite from the anticipated cuts for the non-protected aspects of the Education and Skills sectors for the foreseeable future – with the caveat that these would depend upon growth in the UK economy. Following the terrible weather conditions at the beginning of the year, George Osborne recently set out his vision of equally turbulent economic conditions the UK economy will be facing in 2016. The crux of his argument was that the economy faces a series of challenges to continued growth, and we can infer that these challenges may threaten the levels of spending he has set out.

Labour came out swinging early in the new year with a press release on teacher recruitment, pointing to what they see as “the Government’s failure on this extremely basic issue.” Shadow Education Secretary Lucy Powell seems to be stepping up the rhetoric at a time when the government seems determined that there is no crisis. Schools Minister Nick Gibb said in December that “the profession is in very good shape” and accused those who use the word ‘crisis’ of “talking down the profession.” This is the latest in a long running battle of words on the issue. The government seems determined that there is no crisis, and claims that “the number and quality of teachers in our classrooms is at an all-time high”. Labour points out that the government has changed the way it presents figures in the initial teacher training census, taking out figures from undergraduates and adding those who come through Teach First. This makes it difficult to compare against data from previous years, and to understand whether enough teachers are being recruited.