Martin Allen Post-16 Educator March-April 2008 ‘Functional skills’ are being piloted in 1000 schools and colleges. Part of the Tomlinson working group proposals for 14-19 education, their introduction is a response to demands from employer representative for higher standards in literacy and numeracy amongst young people. Completing functional skills will … Continue reading Functional for who? A quick assessment of the new functional skills
Author: Martin Allen
Dropping selection? UCL and the Camden Academy
Patrick Ainley Letter Education Guardian 27/11/07 Malcolm Grant, provost of University College London and chair of the Russell Group of universities, is sponsoring a non-selective mixed academy in his borough of Camden as a way of widening participation to elite higher education (A university is the best kind of sponsor for an academy, Education Guardian … Continue reading Dropping selection? UCL and the Camden Academy
Desperate Diplomacy – Ed Balls announces more diplomas
Martin Allen Post-16 Educator Nov-Dec 2007 Ed Balls' announcement of 3 new ‘subject based’ diplomas does not represent a fundamental change of heart by the Government. Neither, as Head teachers leader John Dunford correctly observes (TES, 26/10/07), does it constitute a return to the spirit of Tomlinson. As Balls' announcement … Continue reading Desperate Diplomacy – Ed Balls announces more diplomas
Learning for Labour: specialist diplomas and 14-19 education.
Martin Allen FORUM Vol 49 No 3 2007 http://www.wwwords.co.uk/forum/content/pdfs/49/issue49_3.asp Despite reports of ministers wanting to delay implementation, government have given the go-ahead for 5 new specialist diplomas to begin from September 2008 in a limited number of schools and colleges. The 2006 Education Act gave young people a ‘national entitlement’ to … Continue reading Learning for Labour: specialist diplomas and 14-19 education.
Getting personal?
Martin Allen The Teacher Secondary and Sixth-Form Supplement September 2007 The chances are that as a high school teacher, you will have had some introduction to the idea of ‘personalised’ learning. At the very least, SMT members will have referred to it at one time or another and there might also … Continue reading Getting personal?
Social tinkering spells disaster for our young
Patrick Ainley and Martin Allen Times Higher 20/04/2007 Raising the school-leaving age to 18 could do more than any other measure to widen participation in higher education. But not in the heavy-handed and incriminating way that the Government proposes. Staying at school or going to college is now the norm … Continue reading Social tinkering spells disaster for our young
Will staying on to 18 open up possibilities, or close them?
Patrick Ainley The Guardian 13/03/2007 Education make you fick, innit?” was how one further education student explained why he was not “aiming higher” for university. So it’s perhaps not surprising that many young people oppose raising the school-leaving age to 18. They echo the working-class children and families who saw the previous … Continue reading Will staying on to 18 open up possibilities, or close them?
A-levels: not as golden as they used to be
Martin Allen Socialist Education Journal No2 August brings the annual hue and cry about A-levels being too easy, with this year proving to be no exception. The London Evening Standard front paged with ‘A-grades for one in four A-levels’ while The Guardian provided a picture of a 12 year old computer games fan, … Continue reading A-levels: not as golden as they used to be
Education, Economy and Society 