In Post-16 Educator 104 http://post16educator.org.uk/ Created to replace the Higher School Certificate in 1951 and with only 3% of the cohort sitting them, A-levels continued to be elite or ‘gold standard’ qualifications, educationally narrow, with universities having a major influence over their syllabus content. Until 1953 A-levels were only graded as pass or fail, at … Continue reading A-levels. Not as golden as they once were
Author: Martin Allen
BTEC funding facing the chop?
Eleven organisations including most of the teacher unions and the NUS have issued a statement warning of government plans to cut funding for vocational qualifications that overlap with the new T-levels. In particular there’s concern about the future of the tried and trusted BTEC qualifications. 0621-joint-position-statement-on-agqs-final1-1Download Of course the old-style teacher assessed BTEC qualifications no … Continue reading BTEC funding facing the chop?
E-book: Why young people can’t get the jobs they want and the education they need
With the 'Lost Generation' now being superseded by the 'Covid Generation', I've rewritten the 2012 E-book 'Why young people can't get the jobs they want or the education they need' Download the latest version why-young-peopleDownload
Reforming the upper secondary curriculum
Until relatively recently, discussion about an alternative curriculum for 14-19, the upper secondary years bloomed, with a variety of initiatives promoting either ‘over-arching’ certificates to link and equate academic and vocational learning, or even their full integration in a general diploma. Yet maybe a certain weariness was already creeping in, not helped by the fact … Continue reading Reforming the upper secondary curriculum
FE White Paper critiques
Another round of vocational qualifications won't create good jobs pse-allenDownload along with other critiques of the Further Education White Paper in the latest edition of Post 16 Educator http://www.post16educator.org.uk Download Martin Allen & Patrick Ainley's Skills without Jobs? The Further Education White Paper and beyond skills-without-jobsDownload
A Job guarantee scheme not ‘Kickstart’
Faced with the threat of a huge rise in youth unemployment in the final quarter of 2020, Chancellor Sunak set up Kickstart. Providing £2billion funding to create sixth month job placements for 16- to 24-year-olds on Universal Credit who are at risk of long-term unemployment, Employers of all sizes were encouraged to apply for funding … Continue reading A Job guarantee scheme not ‘Kickstart’
The furloughed economy
This month’s labour market date from ONS shows that if official unemployment has remained at around 5% since the last quarter, the number of people on payroll has plunged by 693,000 since the start of the pandemic, with younger workers under the age of 25 accounting for 60% of the jobs lost since February 2020. … Continue reading The furloughed economy
‘Closing the gap’—education and social mobility.
The fight for ‘equal opportunities’ has been a major aim of education reformers and campaigners. A fairer education system has also been considered integral if ‘social mobility’ is to be increased. But for years, researchers have reaffirmed the importance of social background and social origin on school performance, arguing that ‘education cannot compensate for society’. … Continue reading ‘Closing the gap’—education and social mobility.
Not a good time to be a NEET.
Published youth unemployment figures are often misleading because they usually include full-time students who are seeking or are in-between temporary jobs and also because now, many young workers in sectors shut down by Covid 9, may be furloughed in ‘zombie jobs’, unlikely to exist when the job protection measures end. But latest statistics for NEETs, (those … Continue reading Not a good time to be a NEET.
Education, Economy and Society 