Unemployment may be falling and more people working, but analysis of labour market trends is increasingly focussing on the particular type of employment that are being created in the post-crash economy. The TUC have calculated that 44% of the new employment since 2010 has been ‘self-employment.’ (http://www.tuc.org.uk/economic-issues/economic-analysis/labour-market/labour-market-and-economic-reports/more-two-five-new) and 40% of this has been ‘part-time.’ Earnings … Continue reading Almost half of new jobs are ‘self employed’.
Author: Martin Allen
Tech-Bacc, step back.
Labour has published Qualifications Matter, proposals for 14-19 education, as part of its Policy Review (www.yourbritain.org.uk/uploads/editor/files/Skills_Taskforce_3rd_report.pdf) . It’s going ahead with its support for a Tech-Bacc, something announced by Ed Miliband two years ago and designed for the ‘Forgotten 50%’ of school leavers who do not go to university. Under Labour’s proposals, all 14 year … Continue reading Tech-Bacc, step back.
GCSE with Chinese Characteristics (East Asian Illusions Part 2)
Ofqual justifies the latest reforms to GCSE in terms of needing to peg grades against those achieved in China and other East Asian countries, even if making these ‘incomparable comparisons’ raises as many questions as they provide answers and continues to ignore an array of other reasons for the staggering economic performance of these countries. (http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/apr/02/tougher-marking-gcses-peg-grades-chinese-students-results) … Continue reading GCSE with Chinese Characteristics (East Asian Illusions Part 2)
East Asian Illusions.
Martin Allen (due to appear in Education for Liberation Journal of the Socialist Teachers Alliance, NUT Conference April 2014) Though his right-wing ideological credentials cannot be disputed; Michael Gove also continues to justify many of his curriculum changes in the context of the UK’s declining international economic performance and says we should import learning practices … Continue reading East Asian Illusions.
‘Robbins Remembered and Dismembered’
Patrick Ainley 'Robbins Remembered and Dismembered, Contextualizing the anniversary' in Higher Education Quarterly Vol 68, Issue 2, pp.225-240 published online 28 Mar 2014. Download onlineLibraryTPS 'With students everywhere complaining they are paying too much for too little, why do they keep applying? Prof Patrick Ainley decided to find out...' (p.9) Latitude Lookout February 2014 Latitude … Continue reading ‘Robbins Remembered and Dismembered’
A Great Training Robbery? Initial Research on Apprentices
A NEW DIRECTION FOR VOCATIONAL LEARNING OR A GREAT TRAINING ROBBERY? INITIAL RESEARCH INTO AND ANALYSIS OF THE REINVENTION OF APPRENTICESHIPS AT THE START OF THE 21ST CENTURY ESRC Seminar 28/02/14 Martin Allen & Patrick Ainley The new emphasis placed on apprenticeships by the Coalition (achieving 1.5 million starts since coming to office) is a response … Continue reading A Great Training Robbery? Initial Research on Apprentices
Are young people the new poor?
Newspapers have reported research findings from the Intergenerational Foundation on how young people’s prospects continue to worsen compared to other sections of the population. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/10658002/The-over-50s-enjoy-record-earnings-while-younger-workers-wages-fall.html http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/feb/24/young-workers-pay-divide-widens For the Foundation, young people are now the ‘new poor’ – facing higher levels of unemployment than adults, suffering significant declines in wages and having to spend growing proportions … Continue reading Are young people the new poor?
Grammar Schools: learning from the past to avoid repeating mistakes
Patrick Ainley Today politicians offer everyone a chance of rising up through education, ignoring the fact that there isn’t employment for all those who qualify. They think bringing back grammar schools will restart what sociologists call the upward social mobility that existed after the war when selected working-class children could move up into growing managerial … Continue reading Grammar Schools: learning from the past to avoid repeating mistakes
Stuart Hall – rethinking education, economy and society
Stuart Hall, who died last week, was regarded as one of Britain’s leading intellectuals and exerted huge influence on recent academic, political and cultural debates. Though not writing much specifically about education, Hall’s work on the importance of ‘culture’ as a key political area of social action and intervention provided a new intellectual framework for … Continue reading Stuart Hall – rethinking education, economy and society
Up to 27 applicants for every apprenticeship vacancy
As The Telegraph (www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/10617382/Up-to-27-school-leavers-competing-for-each-apprenticeship.html) has reported; recent National Apprenticeship Service figures show a huge shortage in the number of apprenticeships –with 12 applicants for each vacancy but over twice that in some sectors. Having largely disappeared by the end of the 1980s, apprenticeships have been reinvented in response to high levels of youth unemployment and … Continue reading Up to 27 applicants for every apprenticeship vacancy
Education, Economy and Society 