Blog Archives: January 2016

It’s quite timely that the National Union of Students has launched its ‘#FEunplugged’ campaign today, making sure that the learner’s voice is heard at the heart of the Area Review process. This builds on growing concerns in the sector that the Area Review process is being pushed through without due consideration for the institutions it will affect.

I started my Apprenticeship in Software Development last January at NCFE, which I’ve recently completed. I’ve gained important knowledge and skills, as well as qualifications and work experience – all while getting paid! Before I started my Apprenticeship, I attended the NCFE Rising Stars boot camp. During this, I achieved a Level 2 qualification in IT Professionalism, which included many different aspects of IT. This helped me better understand the path in IT I wanted to go down – Software Development, which I really enjoyed learning during the boot camp.

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.

My name is Chelsea Dryden, and after a year-long Apprenticeship with NCFE, I’m now a permanent Junior Tester with NCFE. My journey as an apprentice began when I signed up for NCFE’s Rising Stars Academy. This came about because of a skills shortage of IT workers in the North East, and aimed to give young people a stepping stone to begin their career in IT.

Concerns have once again been raised around the mental health of our young people, as ChildLine has stated they are “deeply unhappy” due to modern pressures. Around 1 in 10 young people suffer from mental health illnesses, including depression and anxiety. Professor Tanya Byron, an expert in child and adolescent mental health, argues the education system is partly to blame, because: “We are teaching kids to pass exams – this is a fake marker of intelligence. While we are fetishising IQ, children and young people are so unbelievably anxious.”

The government is introducing new exams from next year that will mean that primary school pupils need to know their times tables off by heart. In what it sees as part of its “war on innumeracy”, the government’s new exams will see pupils expected to memorise their times tables, and be able to recite them by heart. Commenting on the new tests, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan stated, “Maths is a non-negotiable of a good education. Since 2010, we've seen record numbers of 11 year olds start secondary school with a good grasp of the three Rs. But some continue to struggle.

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.

The teacher recruitment crisis in schools has featured prominently in education headlines recently, but another study has revealed that 85% of Further Education (FE) employees have considered quitting their job due to an unmanageable workload. The study, carried out by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), revealed that schoolteachers aren’t the only educators to feel heavy pressure, but that this extends to their FE colleagues. The survey was carried out by ATL as part of its ‘It’s About Time’ campaign, dedicated to helping educators finding a work-life balance.