an article by Sandra Bohlinger (Technische Universitaet Dresden, Germany) published in Journal of Education and Work Volume 32 Issue 4 (2019)
Abstract
Launched in 2008 as a ‘Common Reference Framework’ including eight levels of learning and three descriptors that aimed at providing a ‘translation grid’ between national qualifications, the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) aims at numerous educational reforms such as promoting the learning outcomes orientation, transparency of qualifications and fostering mobility across national borders, employment sectors and educational sectors.
More than 10 years after, it is time to re-address these expectations and to question whether and, if so, in which ways the EQF has actually provided an impetus for the numerous reforms that were expected to be initiated by implementing it.
Reviewing policy documents, evaluation results and research on the EQF and therewith-linked national qualifications frameworks, there is little evidence that the EQF solved the challenges it was developed for.
Instead, findings suggest that it might be time to de-mystify qualifications frameworks as a panacea and reveal it as a paradigmatic case of travelling educational reforms around the globe that results in institutional isomorphism.
I looked up isomorphism and freely admit that I am somewhat confused as to it’s use here. I think it means that the more institutions follow the framework the more they become similar to each other.
Does that not, therefore, make mobility across national borders easier?
Showing posts with label education_policy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label education_policy. Show all posts
Thursday, 17 October 2019
Friday, 3 May 2019
Schools and Attitudes Toward Economic Equality
an article by Jane Gingrich (University of Oxford, UK) Policy Studies Journal Volume 47 Issue 2 (May 2019)
Abstract
Do policies that shape equality in schools have effects on the type of society and polity that the citizens educated in them want?
This paper examines this question by analyzing variation in the English schooling experiences using the British Cohort Study and British Panel Study. It shows that the social environment of schooling affects adults’ attitudes to fairness and Conservative vote choice, but that policies targeting these social environments have weak effects.
The paper theorizes that actual policy feedback in education is often limited, because the effects of policies on school experiences are mediated by the behaviors of other actors on the ground.
Full text (PDF 29pp)
Abstract
Do policies that shape equality in schools have effects on the type of society and polity that the citizens educated in them want?
This paper examines this question by analyzing variation in the English schooling experiences using the British Cohort Study and British Panel Study. It shows that the social environment of schooling affects adults’ attitudes to fairness and Conservative vote choice, but that policies targeting these social environments have weak effects.
The paper theorizes that actual policy feedback in education is often limited, because the effects of policies on school experiences are mediated by the behaviors of other actors on the ground.
Full text (PDF 29pp)
Tuesday, 7 November 2017
Shortage or surplus? A long-term perspective on the supply of scientists and engineers in the USA and the UK
an article by Emma Smith (University of Leicester, UK) published in Review of Education
Volume 5 Issue 2 (June 2017)
Abstract
A ‘crisis account’ of shortages of well-qualified scientists, engineers, mathematicians and technologists has shaped education policy in the UK and the USA for decades. The apparent poor quality of school science education along with insufficient numbers of well-qualified teachers have been linked to skills shortages by government and other agencies since at least the time of the Second World War.
There is, however, an alternative account that challenges the received view of a skills deficit and questions the evidence for sustained and long-term shortages across the sector.
This paper provides an historical account of some of the main events that have characterised debates over the supply and demand of science and engineering professionals in the UK and the USA and the implications that this has had for science education policy.
Starting from the end of the Second World War, the paper looks at the key challenges to the evidence that underpins the shortage debate and considers the consequences that more than seven decades of crisis accounts have had on the recruitment and retention of highly skilled scientists and engineers.
The paper shows that while the shortage debate has a long history, it is one that is characterised by poor quality data as well as methodological and conceptual challenges. It argues that there is no consensus view about the existence of a skills deficit and that while there may have been short-lived shortfalls in specialist areas, there is little evidence in support of widespread and far reaching shortages as the rhetoric often claims.
Full text (HTML)
Abstract
A ‘crisis account’ of shortages of well-qualified scientists, engineers, mathematicians and technologists has shaped education policy in the UK and the USA for decades. The apparent poor quality of school science education along with insufficient numbers of well-qualified teachers have been linked to skills shortages by government and other agencies since at least the time of the Second World War.
There is, however, an alternative account that challenges the received view of a skills deficit and questions the evidence for sustained and long-term shortages across the sector.
This paper provides an historical account of some of the main events that have characterised debates over the supply and demand of science and engineering professionals in the UK and the USA and the implications that this has had for science education policy.
Starting from the end of the Second World War, the paper looks at the key challenges to the evidence that underpins the shortage debate and considers the consequences that more than seven decades of crisis accounts have had on the recruitment and retention of highly skilled scientists and engineers.
The paper shows that while the shortage debate has a long history, it is one that is characterised by poor quality data as well as methodological and conceptual challenges. It argues that there is no consensus view about the existence of a skills deficit and that while there may have been short-lived shortfalls in specialist areas, there is little evidence in support of widespread and far reaching shortages as the rhetoric often claims.
Full text (HTML)
Saturday, 28 October 2017
How do different stakeholders utilise the same data? The case of school leavers’ and graduates’ information systems in three European countries
an article by Rita Hordósy (University of Sheffield, UK) published in International Journal of Research & Method in Education Volume 40 Issue 4 (2017)
Abstract
This paper analyses how three European countries produce and use data within a specific educational policy field, that of school leaving and graduation. It compares how stakeholders in England, Finland and the Netherlands know what happens to the leavers from schools and universities.
Through gathering evidence about the methodological underpinnings of the school leavers’ and graduates’ information systems (SLGIS) and whose data needs they aim to satisfy, this research provides insight into the discrepancies of data production. Moreover, as stakeholders from the policy and the institutional level are represented to a different extent when SLGIS are set up, the utility of the resulting data in their work is of differing degrees.
The paper models the problems of how SLGIS are set up and utilised, thus suggesting some of the possible solutions.
Using this particular example, the paper highlights the discrepancies of data production and utilisation in terms of the focus, the timing, the methodology and sampling as well as the processes of dissemination.
To provide a wider relevance, the paper outlines key issues around the utility of research evidence.
Abstract
This paper analyses how three European countries produce and use data within a specific educational policy field, that of school leaving and graduation. It compares how stakeholders in England, Finland and the Netherlands know what happens to the leavers from schools and universities.
Through gathering evidence about the methodological underpinnings of the school leavers’ and graduates’ information systems (SLGIS) and whose data needs they aim to satisfy, this research provides insight into the discrepancies of data production. Moreover, as stakeholders from the policy and the institutional level are represented to a different extent when SLGIS are set up, the utility of the resulting data in their work is of differing degrees.
The paper models the problems of how SLGIS are set up and utilised, thus suggesting some of the possible solutions.
Using this particular example, the paper highlights the discrepancies of data production and utilisation in terms of the focus, the timing, the methodology and sampling as well as the processes of dissemination.
To provide a wider relevance, the paper outlines key issues around the utility of research evidence.
Wednesday, 24 June 2015
What happened to the Beacon schools? Policy reform and educational equity
an article by Emma Smith (University of Leicester) published in Oxford Review of Education Volume 41 Issue 3 (2015)
Abstract
This paper considers the impact of the Beacon schools initiative on the social and academic characteristics of secondary schools in England.
The Beacon schools programme ran from 1998 to 2004 and epitomised the (then) Labour government’s focus on school improvement through diversity, collaboration and partnership. This paper looks at variation in the academic and social characteristics of the 322 secondary Beacon schools over a nine-year period.
The findings show that Beacon schools were among the most advantaged state schools in England and while they continue to outperform the general school population, the data suggest that the performance gap has decreased and there is little evidence that Beacon status conferred an advantage on schools, in terms of standard measures of academic success.
The Beacon school initiative exemplifies some of the key issues with policy based education reform.
Abstract
This paper considers the impact of the Beacon schools initiative on the social and academic characteristics of secondary schools in England.
The Beacon schools programme ran from 1998 to 2004 and epitomised the (then) Labour government’s focus on school improvement through diversity, collaboration and partnership. This paper looks at variation in the academic and social characteristics of the 322 secondary Beacon schools over a nine-year period.
The findings show that Beacon schools were among the most advantaged state schools in England and while they continue to outperform the general school population, the data suggest that the performance gap has decreased and there is little evidence that Beacon status conferred an advantage on schools, in terms of standard measures of academic success.
The Beacon school initiative exemplifies some of the key issues with policy based education reform.
- First, its emphasis on collaboration provokes tensions between schools that are increasingly in competition with each other.
- Secondly, clearly defined and measurable medium and long term outcomes for the initiative were not prescribed, thus making it difficult to determine the efficacy of the intervention.
- Finally, that the initiative did not appear to have any appreciable effect on the social and academic characteristics of the Beacon schools raises issues about the usefulness of externally prescribed interventions and the potential that they have to make a real difference to educational equity.
Friday, 12 July 2013
Educational attainment across the UK nations: performance, inequality and evidence
an article by Stephen Machin (University College London, UK and London School of Economics and Political Science, UK), Sandra McNally (London School of Economics and Political Science, UK and University of Surrey, Guildford, UK) and Gill Wyness (London School of Economics and Political Science, UK) published in Educational Research Volume 55 Issue 2 (2013)
Background
Political devolution occurred in the UK in 1998–99, following many years in which some degree of policy administration had been devolved to the four nations. Since devolution, all four countries of the UK have pursued increasingly divergent education policies. This is true in England in particular, where diversity, choice and competition have become a key focus of education policy. This political divergence between the four nations gives us the opportunity to appraise differences and similarities in educational policies and outcomes in the four UK nations.
Purpose
This article is a comparative review of the education reforms of the constituent countries of the UK, with particular focus on value for money.
The main aims of the article are to
We use a variety of sources of evidence to achieve these aims. We undertake a literature review of the existing evidence on the effectiveness and value for money of different programmes and policies that have taken place across the UK. We also collate and undertake an analysis of data on educational outcomes from published statistics sourced from the national statistics offices of each country. It is easier to be confident about comparisons based on international data sets because in this case all students will have taken exactly the same test, so we also compile and analyse survey data from international surveys of educational attainment such as PISA, PIRLS and TIMSS.
Main argument
We argue that while the systems of the four countries of the UK are becoming increasingly divergent, there are still many similarities. This is borne out in the evidence on educational outcomes, which show many similarities between the four countries. Because of these similarities, the positive impacts of many of the policies and programmes adopted in England may have relevance for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Conclusions
We find evidence that increasing school resources improves results, and also that more targeted spending benefits able pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. We also find positive results of several programmes. Evaluating the education policies of the four nations in terms of value for money – and therefore whether they have scope to be adopted – represents a bigger challenge. Whilst the value for money of certain policies – such as the literacy hour – can be reasonably well measured, for many other policies, value for money is hard to pin down accurately. However, this forms an important direction for future research.
Background
Political devolution occurred in the UK in 1998–99, following many years in which some degree of policy administration had been devolved to the four nations. Since devolution, all four countries of the UK have pursued increasingly divergent education policies. This is true in England in particular, where diversity, choice and competition have become a key focus of education policy. This political divergence between the four nations gives us the opportunity to appraise differences and similarities in educational policies and outcomes in the four UK nations.
Purpose
This article is a comparative review of the education reforms of the constituent countries of the UK, with particular focus on value for money.
The main aims of the article are to
- outline the key differences in the educational systems in terms of school type, choice and competition, educational resources and pedagogy;
- describe how the countries compare in terms of educational attainment during compulsory schooling years;
- examine inequalities in educational attainment, such as by gender and socio-economic status, and how the different countries compare on these measures; and
- examine existing evidence on the effectiveness and value for money of different education policies and programmes in the different countries.
We use a variety of sources of evidence to achieve these aims. We undertake a literature review of the existing evidence on the effectiveness and value for money of different programmes and policies that have taken place across the UK. We also collate and undertake an analysis of data on educational outcomes from published statistics sourced from the national statistics offices of each country. It is easier to be confident about comparisons based on international data sets because in this case all students will have taken exactly the same test, so we also compile and analyse survey data from international surveys of educational attainment such as PISA, PIRLS and TIMSS.
Main argument
We argue that while the systems of the four countries of the UK are becoming increasingly divergent, there are still many similarities. This is borne out in the evidence on educational outcomes, which show many similarities between the four countries. Because of these similarities, the positive impacts of many of the policies and programmes adopted in England may have relevance for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Conclusions
We find evidence that increasing school resources improves results, and also that more targeted spending benefits able pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. We also find positive results of several programmes. Evaluating the education policies of the four nations in terms of value for money – and therefore whether they have scope to be adopted – represents a bigger challenge. Whilst the value for money of certain policies – such as the literacy hour – can be reasonably well measured, for many other policies, value for money is hard to pin down accurately. However, this forms an important direction for future research.
Wednesday, 3 July 2013
The diploma qualification in England: an avoidable failure?
an article by Tina Isaacs (Institute of Education, Department of Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment, London, UK) published in Journal of Vocational Education & Training Volume 65 Issue 2 (June 2013)
Abstract
In 2005, the UK government introduced new vocationally-related diploma qualifications.
Two-year programmes were examined in the summers of 2010 and 2011; initial government hopes for candidate numbers proved largely ephemeral and results were disappointing.
This article explores what happened to the diploma’s lofty ambitions using the summer of 2010 and 2011 results and a 2006 government policy analysis that went largely unheeded, in order to draw out lessons from this centrally developed programme.
Critical insights from earlier vocationally related, centrally mandated qualifications such as General National Vocational Qualifications were generally ignored in policy-makers’ misguided attempts to create something ‘new’. The analysis centres on the neglected aspects of the qualification’s complex structure, hurdles-based assessment model and insistence that candidates had to pass Functional Skills qualifications, all of which were major contributors to its demise in the autumn of 2011.
Abstract
In 2005, the UK government introduced new vocationally-related diploma qualifications.
Two-year programmes were examined in the summers of 2010 and 2011; initial government hopes for candidate numbers proved largely ephemeral and results were disappointing.
This article explores what happened to the diploma’s lofty ambitions using the summer of 2010 and 2011 results and a 2006 government policy analysis that went largely unheeded, in order to draw out lessons from this centrally developed programme.
Critical insights from earlier vocationally related, centrally mandated qualifications such as General National Vocational Qualifications were generally ignored in policy-makers’ misguided attempts to create something ‘new’. The analysis centres on the neglected aspects of the qualification’s complex structure, hurdles-based assessment model and insistence that candidates had to pass Functional Skills qualifications, all of which were major contributors to its demise in the autumn of 2011.
Tuesday, 11 June 2013
Educational attainment across the UK nations: performance, inequality and evidence
an article by Stephen Machin (University College London, UK and London School of Economics, UK), Sandra McNally (London School of Economics, UK and University of Surrey, Guildford, UK) and Gill Wyness (London School of Economics, UK) published in Educational Research Volume 55 Issue 2 (2013)
Background
Political devolution occurred in the UK in 1998–99, following many years in which some degree of policy administration had been devolved to the four nations. Since devolution, all four countries of the UK have pursued increasingly divergent education policies. This is true in England in particular, where diversity, choice and competition have become a key focus of education policy. This political divergence between the four nations gives us the opportunity to appraise differences and similarities in educational policies and outcomes in the four UK nations.
Purpose
This article is a comparative review of the education reforms of the constituent countries of the UK, with particular focus on value for money. The main aims of the article are to:
We use a variety of sources of evidence to achieve these aims. We undertake a literature review of the existing evidence on the effectiveness and value for money of different programmes and policies that have taken place across the UK. We also collate and undertake an analysis of data on educational outcomes from published statistics sourced from the national statistics offices of each country. It is easier to be confident about comparisons based on international data sets because in this case all students will have taken exactly the same test, so we also compile and analyse survey data from international surveys of educational attainment such as PISA, PIRLS and TIMSS.
Main argument
We argue that while the systems of the four countries of the UK are becoming increasingly divergent, there are still many similarities. This is borne out in the evidence on educational outcomes, which show many similarities between the four countries. Because of these similarities, the positive impacts of many of the policies and programmes adopted in England may have relevance for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Conclusions
We find evidence that increasing school resources improves results, and also that more targeted spending benefits able pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. We also find positive results of several programmes. Evaluating the education policies of the four nations in terms of value for money – and therefore whether they have scope to be adopted – represents a bigger challenge. Whilst the value for money of certain policies – such as the literacy hour – can be reasonably well measured, for many other policies, value for money is hard to pin down accurately. However, this forms an important direction for future research.
Background
Political devolution occurred in the UK in 1998–99, following many years in which some degree of policy administration had been devolved to the four nations. Since devolution, all four countries of the UK have pursued increasingly divergent education policies. This is true in England in particular, where diversity, choice and competition have become a key focus of education policy. This political divergence between the four nations gives us the opportunity to appraise differences and similarities in educational policies and outcomes in the four UK nations.
Purpose
This article is a comparative review of the education reforms of the constituent countries of the UK, with particular focus on value for money. The main aims of the article are to:
- outline the key differences in the educational systems in terms of school type, choice and competition, educational resources and pedagogy;
- describe how the countries compare in terms of educational attainment during compulsory schooling years;
- examine inequalities in educational attainment, such as by gender and socio-economic status, and how the different countries compare on these measures; and
- examine existing evidence on the effectiveness and value for money of different education policies and programmes in the different countries.
We use a variety of sources of evidence to achieve these aims. We undertake a literature review of the existing evidence on the effectiveness and value for money of different programmes and policies that have taken place across the UK. We also collate and undertake an analysis of data on educational outcomes from published statistics sourced from the national statistics offices of each country. It is easier to be confident about comparisons based on international data sets because in this case all students will have taken exactly the same test, so we also compile and analyse survey data from international surveys of educational attainment such as PISA, PIRLS and TIMSS.
Main argument
We argue that while the systems of the four countries of the UK are becoming increasingly divergent, there are still many similarities. This is borne out in the evidence on educational outcomes, which show many similarities between the four countries. Because of these similarities, the positive impacts of many of the policies and programmes adopted in England may have relevance for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Conclusions
We find evidence that increasing school resources improves results, and also that more targeted spending benefits able pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. We also find positive results of several programmes. Evaluating the education policies of the four nations in terms of value for money – and therefore whether they have scope to be adopted – represents a bigger challenge. Whilst the value for money of certain policies – such as the literacy hour – can be reasonably well measured, for many other policies, value for money is hard to pin down accurately. However, this forms an important direction for future research.
Friday, 2 November 2012
Full-time employed students as university consumers – consequences and triggers of marketisation of higher education
an article by
Eve Mägi and Laura Kirss (PRAXIS Center for Policy Studies, Tartu, Estonia) and Krista Jaakson, Anne Aidla and Anne Reino (Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, The University of Tartu, Estonia) published in European Journal of Higher Education Volume 2 Issue 2-3 (June-September 2012)
Abstract
This article draws on a qualitative study of student employment patterns among students who both study and work full-time.
In the study, 17 employed bachelor students at state-commissioned study places in three Estonian universities, 12 lecturers from the same universities, and 13 employers supervising those full-time students, were interviewed.
While recognising that the role of marketisation in higher education can be explored from a number of vantage points, the aim of this article is to demonstrate how marketisation has caused the change in students’ expectations towards universities and encouraged them for full-time employment in Estonia.
As the latter is a widely accepted phenomenon and adjustments on the ‘supply’-side are made, the implications of full-time employment on education are discussed.
The results reveal three areas in which university education is not corresponding to students’ expectations: content of study provided at the university, the study process, and university requirements.
In some respects students’ point of view was supported by the lecturers’ and employers’ perspectives.
The authors argue that the consumer model and customer orientation in universities has decreased rather than enhanced the quality of education. However, the development in quality can only occur with policy measures and a shared responsibility of participants as universities in the current situation appear to have insufficient power to improve the system independently.
Abstract
This article draws on a qualitative study of student employment patterns among students who both study and work full-time.
In the study, 17 employed bachelor students at state-commissioned study places in three Estonian universities, 12 lecturers from the same universities, and 13 employers supervising those full-time students, were interviewed.
While recognising that the role of marketisation in higher education can be explored from a number of vantage points, the aim of this article is to demonstrate how marketisation has caused the change in students’ expectations towards universities and encouraged them for full-time employment in Estonia.
As the latter is a widely accepted phenomenon and adjustments on the ‘supply’-side are made, the implications of full-time employment on education are discussed.
The results reveal three areas in which university education is not corresponding to students’ expectations: content of study provided at the university, the study process, and university requirements.
In some respects students’ point of view was supported by the lecturers’ and employers’ perspectives.
The authors argue that the consumer model and customer orientation in universities has decreased rather than enhanced the quality of education. However, the development in quality can only occur with policy measures and a shared responsibility of participants as universities in the current situation appear to have insufficient power to improve the system independently.
Thursday, 25 October 2012
Why joy in education is an issue for socially just policies
an article by Morwenna Griffith (University of Edinburgh, UK) published in Journal of Education Policy Volume 27 Issue 5 (September 2012)
Abstract
The paper presents an argument that the usual account of social justice in formal education is too narrow. That account concerns itself only with the outcomes of education or only with general ethical precepts, such as ‘recognition’.
I argue that it should also concern itself with living educational experiences as part of what makes a good life.
I begin by noting that people find value in education for three linked but analytically separable reasons which I label: instrumental, inherent and integral.
The last of these focuses on the value of education as part of what it is to live a good life.
I point out how the usual accounts of social justice in education are seldom concerned with specifically educational experiences within formal education and that there is little clarity about the contribution of such experiences to living a good life.
I offer a provisional account of specifically educational goods in experiences of education, and compare this to research and policy on enjoyment and engagement concluding that the significance of joy in education should be recognised within education policy.
Abstract
The paper presents an argument that the usual account of social justice in formal education is too narrow. That account concerns itself only with the outcomes of education or only with general ethical precepts, such as ‘recognition’.
I argue that it should also concern itself with living educational experiences as part of what makes a good life.
I begin by noting that people find value in education for three linked but analytically separable reasons which I label: instrumental, inherent and integral.
The last of these focuses on the value of education as part of what it is to live a good life.
I point out how the usual accounts of social justice in education are seldom concerned with specifically educational experiences within formal education and that there is little clarity about the contribution of such experiences to living a good life.
I offer a provisional account of specifically educational goods in experiences of education, and compare this to research and policy on enjoyment and engagement concluding that the significance of joy in education should be recognised within education policy.
Wednesday, 11 July 2012
Potential Realised or Same Old Cinderella?
Future Options for England’s Further Education Sector
SKOPE Research Paper No. 109 June 2012 by Simon Norton (Independent Consultant)
Abstract
On size alone the further education (FE) sector forms a central part of the English post-16 education and vocational training system. But historically English FE colleges have not been given the degree of attention by policy-makers, the media or indeed academic researchers that their scale and strategic importance would appear to warrant. While this state of affairs seems rooted in the nature of the socio-economic groups FE colleges serve and the FE sector’s considerable heterogeneity, there are indications that FE’s role and profile may be growing in response to policy developments relating to higher education, greater freedoms for FE and the continuing emphasis of successive British governments on skills as a key to enhanced national economic competitiveness. Such a future is by no means certain, however. As pressures from greater competition in the post-16 education/training market and the Coalition Government’s programme of public expenditure reductions intensify, FE’s strategic and financial position could weaken, choking off these aspirations.
The paper considers the strategic options facing English FE colleges at this critical time for their future. It examines three issues of particular importance to the sector’s development – the potential to expand and develop the delivery of higher education in FE colleges; the role of FE in delivering vocational qualifications in light of shifts in government policy and employer attitudes; and the future sustainability of the current FE sector given the risk of reductions in colleges’ incomes and increases in their costs. It concludes that FE’s aspirations to enhance its impact and recognition in relation to national learning and skills are achievable, although not a given, with much depending on developments over the next two to three years. Increased research would help inform the policy and operational decisions that achieving this will require. The paper draws upon a review of the literature; contributions from a panel of the sector’s strategic decision-makers, influencers and practitioners; and the author’s experience as an FE college principal and funding council executive director.
Full text (PDF 25pp)
SKOPE Research Paper No. 109 June 2012 by Simon Norton (Independent Consultant)
Abstract
On size alone the further education (FE) sector forms a central part of the English post-16 education and vocational training system. But historically English FE colleges have not been given the degree of attention by policy-makers, the media or indeed academic researchers that their scale and strategic importance would appear to warrant. While this state of affairs seems rooted in the nature of the socio-economic groups FE colleges serve and the FE sector’s considerable heterogeneity, there are indications that FE’s role and profile may be growing in response to policy developments relating to higher education, greater freedoms for FE and the continuing emphasis of successive British governments on skills as a key to enhanced national economic competitiveness. Such a future is by no means certain, however. As pressures from greater competition in the post-16 education/training market and the Coalition Government’s programme of public expenditure reductions intensify, FE’s strategic and financial position could weaken, choking off these aspirations.
The paper considers the strategic options facing English FE colleges at this critical time for their future. It examines three issues of particular importance to the sector’s development – the potential to expand and develop the delivery of higher education in FE colleges; the role of FE in delivering vocational qualifications in light of shifts in government policy and employer attitudes; and the future sustainability of the current FE sector given the risk of reductions in colleges’ incomes and increases in their costs. It concludes that FE’s aspirations to enhance its impact and recognition in relation to national learning and skills are achievable, although not a given, with much depending on developments over the next two to three years. Increased research would help inform the policy and operational decisions that achieving this will require. The paper draws upon a review of the literature; contributions from a panel of the sector’s strategic decision-makers, influencers and practitioners; and the author’s experience as an FE college principal and funding council executive director.
Full text (PDF 25pp)
Friday, 22 July 2011
Fees and loathing: …
the impact of higher education finance on university participation
The cap on tuition fees will rise to £9,000 in 2012.
In the third of the Centre for Economic Policy’s series on policies of the coalition government, Gill Wyness describes evidence on the impact of past fee increases on young people’s decisions to go to university.
Full article (PDF 4pp) published in CentrePiece (Summer 2011)
The cap on tuition fees will rise to £9,000 in 2012.
In the third of the Centre for Economic Policy’s series on policies of the coalition government, Gill Wyness describes evidence on the impact of past fee increases on young people’s decisions to go to university.
Full article (PDF 4pp) published in CentrePiece (Summer 2011)
Saturday, 23 August 2008
Jim Knight on plans to close schools that fail to get a third of pupils thro...
via guardian.co.uk Education on 18 August
Schools Minister Jim Knight on plans to close schools that fail to get a third of pupils through five good GCSEs.
Read the full article (NB: I read it when I first picked it for blogging but it wouldn't link when I edited.)
Hazel's comment:
The Minister has pledged: "By 2011, all our schools will be at the required level". Excuse my cynicism but just how does he expect to achieve that? By closing all schools that don't reach the required standards and .... what?
One answer that is being bandied about is that they'll all be turned into Academies but by 2011? I doubt it.
Merge schools so that school A disappears but becomes a campus of the new school AB where B was already meeting the requirement? I can't see how that will do anything except reduce the average for the new school AB.
Accept the fact that there are children congregating in one geographic area or school who are not going to reach the required standard without removing all the "it's because s/he is black, a refugee, comes from a broken home" and start expecting that young people will achieve but not if schools are labelled failing when they aren't. They are doing the very best that they can under difficult circumstances but can't improve by attracting good staff if they're labelled in this way.
Schools Minister Jim Knight on plans to close schools that fail to get a third of pupils through five good GCSEs.
Read the full article (NB: I read it when I first picked it for blogging but it wouldn't link when I edited.)
Hazel's comment:
The Minister has pledged: "By 2011, all our schools will be at the required level". Excuse my cynicism but just how does he expect to achieve that? By closing all schools that don't reach the required standards and .... what?
One answer that is being bandied about is that they'll all be turned into Academies but by 2011? I doubt it.
Merge schools so that school A disappears but becomes a campus of the new school AB where B was already meeting the requirement? I can't see how that will do anything except reduce the average for the new school AB.
Accept the fact that there are children congregating in one geographic area or school who are not going to reach the required standard without removing all the "it's because s/he is black, a refugee, comes from a broken home" and start expecting that young people will achieve but not if schools are labelled failing when they aren't. They are doing the very best that they can under difficult circumstances but can't improve by attracting good staff if they're labelled in this way.
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