Author: Martin Allen

Pegged back but not (yet) able to fight back – the Covid Generation faces a long winter.

As winter closes in on the ‘Covid Generation’ – those young people most affected by the pandemic – there continues to be few signs of optimism. Youth unemployment, though creeping up significantly, has not reached the levels feared in the early stages of the lockdown, but with furlough support winding down, it’s predicted a million … Continue reading Pegged back but not (yet) able to fight back – the Covid Generation faces a long winter. →

Youth joblessness edges upwards

It is still too early to assess the real, longer term effects of the pandemic on the labour market; but as the furlough winds down, even if some businesses have reopened, this month’s figures show that (official) levels of employment have fallen by significantly. Overall, employment is down by nearly half a million since the … Continue reading Youth joblessness edges upwards →

University lockdowns – the nightmare continues for the covid generation

As government focussed attention exclusively on reopening schools  ( in the hope more parents would be able to return to work),  universities anxious about the financial implications of empty campuses and with young people pressured by  their schools and  the anxieties of  parents,  taking up places rather than deferring, it hasn't  needed rocket science to … Continue reading University lockdowns – the nightmare continues for the covid generation →

‘Building back better’: not much sign in education!

  Despite conflicting medical evidence and signs of a Covid ‘second spike’ - Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings are desperate to send all children back to school this week. But except for photo opportunities, the Tories are not interested in schools or learning - education had been given little attention since Johnson became PM and … Continue reading ‘Building back better’: not much sign in education! →

Even before Covid, 1 in 8 still NEET

Remember the NEETs?  An acronym created by the Blair government and then used across Europe. Latest figures for young people Not in Education, Employment or Training for the first six months of this year, show 13% (more than 1 in 8) of all 18- 24’s in this category. Other research shows 75% being NEET for … Continue reading Even before Covid, 1 in 8 still NEET →

Exam grades ‘U-turn’. Why can’t we have teacher assessment all of the time?

As a result of  wide scale opposition -  from Tory MPs  to the National Education Union;  not to mention the spontaneous protests by young people -  the Westminster government, fearing another fiasco when GCSE results are published on Thursday, has followed its more astute Scottish counterparts and will allow  A-level grades  to be based on … Continue reading Exam grades ‘U-turn’. Why can’t we have teacher assessment all of the time? →

Exam grade ‘mess’ – Gove’s legacy lives on.

With their students unable to take A-level and GCSE exams this year, schools and colleges were asked ‘to use their professional experience to make a fair and objective judgement of the grade they believed a student would have achieved’.  This meant 'providing a full range of available evidence when they graded students - including non-exam … Continue reading Exam grade ‘mess’ – Gove’s legacy lives on. →

Covid generation: apprenticeships and grads continue to take a hammering

Barely a month after Boris Johnson promised an apprenticeship for any young person who wanted one, Department for Education  data shows the devastating effects of the pandemic.  The number of apprentice starts have already declined in recent months – between August 2019 and January this year, the number of new apprenticeships was 7.3 per cent … Continue reading Covid generation: apprenticeships and grads continue to take a hammering →