Youth unemployment rises again

There is no sign of any pick up in the labour market. Though unemployment , as measured by the broader Labour Force Survey method has fallen by 8000, this is much lower than City analysts had predicted and still leaves joblessness at 7.8%. More significantly, the quarterly figures from the Office for National Statistics  show the ‘Claimant Count’ … Continue reading Youth unemployment rises again →

Lost Generation. New Strategies for Youth and Education. Patrick Ainley and Martin Allen

  Pass rates at record high for GCSEs and A-levels Half of 850 000 A-level   candidates achieving A*-B         yet 150 000+ UCAS applicants without places Unemployment  for the 18-24 age group at 17% Average end of course student debt now predicted to be £24000 As a new academic year begins; a  must for any … Continue reading Lost Generation. New Strategies for Youth and Education. Patrick Ainley and Martin Allen →

Still trying to answer the A-level question

As expected, the 2010 A-level results show  increases in entries and pass rates, but also a further drift towards traditional or ‘hard’ subjects, like maths and economics,  at the expense of  those such as  law and  business Studies, now regularly denounced as ‘soft’ or ‘inappropriate’ for  entry to top universities.   Statistics also show a sharp … Continue reading Still trying to answer the A-level question →

Post-14 education: what next after 13 years New Labour?

Martin Allen and Patrick Ainley BERA social justice seminar  Birmingham City University 10/06/10 Despite the continued administrative separation of schools under the resurrected Department of Education from post-compulsory provision (17+ in 2013 and 18+ after 2015) with F&HE plus adult and training still funded from the Department for Business Innovation and Skills, English education and … Continue reading Post-14 education: what next after 13 years New Labour? →

The real ‘lost generation’?

Martin Allen Labour market statistics, published by the Office for National Statistics, for January  to March 2010, continue to highlight the plight of young people and confirm many of the arguments in our book  Lost Generation? The latest figure show  unemployment levels, as measured by the Labour Force Survey method  rising again - sounding alarm bells … Continue reading The real ‘lost generation’? →

Education is losing its legitimacy – time for staff and students to step in

  Martin Allen and Patrick Ainley   Education Guardian  13/04/10 Another "lost generation" will emerge this summer as many graduates, school and college leavers are added to the 900,000 16- to 24-year-olds out of work, despite the recession having supposedly ended. With demand for university courses again reaching record levels, including from those re-applying after being … Continue reading Education is losing its legitimacy – time for staff and students to step in →

Lost Generation? New strategies for youth and education – New book by Martin Allen and Patrick Ainley

      'With wit and simplicity, insight and passion, Allen and Ainley illuminate how the promise of "education, education, education" has come to its miserable end- and what can be done to get us out of it'  Ken Jones, Head of Education Department, Goldsmiths College, Univ of London                                                                     www.continuumbooks.com   Another ‘Lost Generation’ … Continue reading Lost Generation? New strategies for youth and education – New book by Martin Allen and Patrick Ainley →

‘Gissa job’

Martin Allen Education for Liberation Journal of the Socialist Teachers' Alliance No 1 April 2010 If Ofsted, SATs, league tables, rising workloads, the never ending culture of target setting and performance management continue to be the most visible shortcomings of New Labour’s ‘standards agenda’, then official statistics showing 950 000 18-24 year olds out of … Continue reading ‘Gissa job’ →

DPR Conference presentation-Lost Generation? The class of 2010

Concern with promoting social mobility has been central to all Labour governments since the Second World War. However, rates of relative social mobility (when the chances of upward mobility improve for working-class children in relation to middle-/upper-class children who, as Roberts 2009 points out, only exceptionally move downwards) have remained low despite all the changes in education at all levels designed to promote it – not to mention society recently officially becoming a ‘meritocracy’.