Blog posts for tag:progression

Per Page

Can the Work Programme succeed?

By Lindsay Plumpton, Communications Leader, Wednesday 28 November 2012

Lindsay Plumpton

Official figures this week show that the Work Programme has missed its main target for getting people sustained jobs - only 3.53% of people on the programme have found a job for 6 months or more (the coalition's target was 5.5%). The programme provides tailored support for claimants who need more help to undertake active and effective job-seeking. Joining the work programme is mandatory for people aged over 25 when they have been out of work for a year and for under-25s after 9 months.

Read More

Tagged:

Apprenticeships: Reform needed for success?

By Lindsay Plumpton, Communications Leader, Wednesday 07 November 2012

Lindsay Plumpton

An 11 month review of apprenticeships carried out by The Business, Innovation and Skills Committee has concluded that urgent reform is needed to the Government's apprenticeships programme. The report suggests that quality standards need to be improved and schemes need to be better monitored in order to provide the skills needed to boost economic growth. It calls for schemes to be more ambitious and apprenticeships to be seen as equal to university. Following the publication of the report, the Chairman of the BIS Committee, Adrian Bailey, has stated that apprenticeships are capable of creating a more skilled workforce, increasing employment and ultimately solving “some of this country's most pressing issues”.

Read More

Tagged:

Looking for a job – a job in itself?

By Lindsay Plumpton, Communications Leader, Tuesday 30 October 2012

Lindsay Plumpton

A new report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has highlighted the huge task faced by young unemployed people looking for work and has reinforced the need for rigorous preparation and active job search, in order to be successful. The research was carried out across 3 UK cities, one with a weak supply of jobs, one with a better supply and one in-between. Researchers sent 2,000 job applications from fictional learners with at least 5 good GCSEs and relevant work experience to 667 real vacancies (sales assistants, cleaners, office administrators and kitchen hands).

Read More

Tagged:

A new era of apprenticeships: what’s next?

By Lindsay Plumpton, Communications Leader, Thursday 11 October 2012

Lindsay Plumpton

As youth unemployment rates remain high, the need to equip young people with the skills to secure a job in today’s competitive labour market becomes increasingly important. One of the main routes for helping young people to gain these skills is via apprenticeships; allowing learners to gain real workplace experience and a solid skillset in a specialist area while at the same time achieving a nationally recognised qualification and a direct pathway into employment. There’s no doubt that apprenticeships are still high on the news agenda. But what’s next?

Read More

Tagged:

What came out of Ed Miliband’s keynote address?

By Lindsay Plumpton, Communications Leader, Tuesday 02 October 2012

Lindsay Plumpton

This afternoon, Labour Party Leader Ed Miliband spoke at the Labour Party Conference in Manchester to galvanise the party in moving towards the 2015 General Election. The speech was anecdotal in style, looking at his own past as he delivered a speech which praised his teachers, drew on an example of an unemployed woman sending her CV to 137 employers, and set out a policy direction focusing on the Disraeli spirit of ‘one nation’.

Read More

Tagged:

Students to rate colleges online

By Lindsay Plumpton, Communications Leader, Monday 24 September 2012

Lindsay Plumpton

Further education students are being invited to rate their college on a new website, ‘Learner View’, run by education watchdog Ofsted. The questionnaire particularly focuses on how well college courses prepare students for their next steps in work or study. The initiative stems from Ofsted’s Skills for Employment report, which suggested that some college courses aren’t challenging enough and are too focused on the achievement of qualifications rather than providing learners with job specific skills.

Read More

Tagged:

Tackling youth unemployment - what’s the answer?

By Lindsay Plumpton, Communications Leader, Thursday 20 September 2012

Lindsay Plumpton

According to a report this week by the Work and Pensions Select Committee, the Government's youth contract is “insufficient” to tackle the scale of youth unemployment on its own. The youth contract provides £1bn for a range of initiatives aimed at getting young people into employment. Measures include providing 160,000 employers with a "wage incentive" of £2,275 to take on an unemployed 18-24 year-old, 250,000 work experience placements and also additional support from Jobcentre Plus.

Read More

Tagged:

The biggest overhaul of exams in a generation: what do you think?

By Lindsay Plumpton, Communications Leader, Tuesday 18 September 2012

Lindsay Plumpton

GCSEs are set to be replaced by an English baccalaureate certificate from September 2015, it was announced yesterday. The key reforms include the scrapping of modular exams in favour of a final 'tougher' exam, with pupils no longer be able to re-sit to improve their grades. It is expected that only 10% of pupils will achieve a Grade 1 with the new system, compared with the third who are currently awarded an A or A*. There will also be only one awarding body per subject area.

Read More

Tagged:

Apprenticeships: what could we learn from Switzerland?

By Lindsay Plumpton, Communications Leader, Wednesday 29 August 2012

Lindsay Plumpton

With the steep rise in tuition fees, increasing amounts of young people are applying for Apprenticeships rather than turning to higher education – the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) says applications are up 53% on last year. Yet in the UK, the vocational route is not always as highly valued as the academic alternative. In Janet Murray’s recent article, she explores the education system in Switzerland – a country with one of the most successful apprenticeship systems in the world with a youth unemployment figure of just 7.5% (in contrast to 21.9% in the UK).

Read More

Tagged:

Vocational training – a credible alternative to university

By Lindsay Plumpton, Communications Leader, Wednesday 22 August 2012

Lindsay Plumpton

Despite the news that top A Level grades have fallen for the first time in 2 decades, August’s news has been filled with images of delighted A Level students, clutching their well-earned results with pride. But what does the future hold for these young people as they move on to the next chapter of their lives? It seems that many of them are opting out of university and choosing an alternative path - university applications have dropped by 8.8%, representing 15,000 students who have taken a different route. It is thought that the drop is a direct result of the rise in tuition fees (the cost of a degree is set to increase to an average £8500 per year by 2013).

Read More

Tagged:

Subscribe

Get notified when a new post is published.


Authors

Categories