Recent figures provided by PricewaterhouseCoopers show that ‘unsecured’ consumer debt rose 9% during 2014 –to nearly £10 000 per household, an all-time high. http://pwc.blogs.com/press_room/2015/03/pwc-uk-unsecured-debt-set-to-rise-to-nearly-10000-per-household-by-the-end-of-2016.html Though £4 billion of the increase came from credit card spending, £9 billion (around 46% of the increase) came from student borrowing, with PwC estimating graduates who started courses after 2012  … Continue reading Young people pile up the debts →

The National Union of Teachers has been using the run up to the General Election to promote its policies   http://www.teachers.org.uk/node                                                       Download  manifesto             Education researchers who support the Union  have published supporting material Download  reclaiming schools     Downloaded   chapters  from Martin Allen and Patrick Ainley's  Education Beyond the Coalition still available at                                                                    http://radicaledbks.com/       

Post for  Reclaiming Schools Schools have been criticised by government ministers and Ofsted for not doing enough to promote apprenticeships, but do they serve as a real alternative to university? Our research shows that most apprenticeships are low-skilled and ‘dead-end’ and don’t guarantee employment after completion. There are of course some very good schemes that lead … Continue reading Are apprenticeships a real alternative to university? →

  It’s Ed Miliband’s commitment to limiting primary school class sizes that’s received most attention, alongside his pledge to protect the education budget http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-31431456. Yet in his speech, delivered at his old school, Haverstock in Camden, Miliband also backed more personal, social and  citizenship education, arguing that school should be more than just about passing … Continue reading Ed Miliband’s Haverstock speech: Neo-liberal schooling goes rolling on? →

The monthly ONS statistics on the labour market show that unemployment as a whole continues to fall –now down to 1.9 million (5.8% of the ‘economically active population’). Data for the youth labour market points the other way however.  The December figures indicated that the fall in youth unemployment during recent months, is now bottoming out, … Continue reading Youth unemployment on the rise again? →