Guidelines on A-level assessment announced

We now know the basis on which this year's A-level students will be accredited. According to the in-house journal Schools Week, exam boards will: “Ask teachers to submit their judgement about the grade that they believe the student would have received if exams had gone ahead” Teachers should consider evidence including performance on mock exams … Continue reading Guidelines on A-level assessment announced →

Shut schools: cancel the exams

The Socialist Education Association (affiliated to the Labour Party) has issued a statement on the coronavirus crisis. https://socialisteducationalassociation.org/ The statement was issued before the Government’s most recent advice this Monday - so it’s possible the SEA will want to amend it. Halting classes, but also taking additional measures like those outlined in the statement would … Continue reading Shut schools: cancel the exams →

What price a graduate?

The Institute of Fiscal Studies has published detailed research on graduate earnings compared with non-graduates. It's based on those attending university in the mid-2000s. According to IFS, earnings of male graduates grow strongly throughout their 30s and far outstrips that of non-graduates. Male graduates enjoy a £15k growth between 30 and 40, compared with just … Continue reading What price a graduate? →

Tories dismantling their own ‘reserve army’

While all major western capitalist economies have experienced a growth in the proportion of low paid, low skilled work especially within the service sector, these trends have been particularly pronounced in the UK. Accelerated by a decade of austerity they have been the deliberate result of an economic model promoted by Boris Johnson's predecessors. … Continue reading Tories dismantling their own ‘reserve army’ →

Apprenticeships: Guardian’s editorial falls far short.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/16/the-guardian-view-on-apprenticeships-failing-the-young While the headline of this morning's Guardian's is correct, it's analysis falls far short....... It is not possible for the UK to emulate the German apprenticeship model. This continues to be based on a ‘social partnership’ where employers, trade unions and local state institutions work together to plan skill and employment targets, but also … Continue reading Apprenticeships: Guardian’s editorial falls far short. →

As Education ministers pull plug on vocational qualifications, what future for BTECs?

The government has announced a further pruning of vocational and technical education. According to the DfE, there are some 12 000 different qualifications - many of which, it argues have few or no students. In this respect the decision to cull almost half of them, could as the Department claims, represent an attempt to bring … Continue reading As Education ministers pull plug on vocational qualifications, what future for BTECs? →

Apprenticeship statistics – the good and the bad.

This week has been National Apprenticeship Week, with young people appearing on national media to promote the schemes. There are clearly some very good ones. But January also saw the release of new data on apprenticeship starts and apprentice profiles providing a very mixed picture. The good After a difficult period since the introduction of the … Continue reading Apprenticeship statistics – the good and the bad. →

Despite the raising of the leaving age, one in six 17-year olds are not in full-time education

Despite being a statutory requirement, (even if LEAs and schools are without the resources, let alone the incentive to enforce it) latest figures show one in six 17-year olds, not in full-time education. As an alternative, a young person can take up employment with training, in other words some kind of apprenticeship, but only 6% … Continue reading Despite the raising of the leaving age, one in six 17-year olds are not in full-time education →

Manufacturing jobs are not coming back.

Labour has always been the party of manufacturing. By the second half of the 20th century, factory workers had taken over from those working in ‘primary’ production as Labour’s main union base. A need to rebuild manufacture is now, if speeches by leadership candidates and trade union general secretaries are anything to go by, seen … Continue reading Manufacturing jobs are not coming back. →

Forever young….

YouGov data in the last few days - showing Labour's still winning a large majority of the younger electorate. Confirming the new relationship between educational attainment and voting. But also, between occupational class and politics.