The road to university
Our step-by-step guide to the application process
People assume that studying at university means getting a degree and that it will take three years. It is not necessarily that straightforward. There are a range of different qualifications available, which can take from two to six years to complete. Just look at a popular subject like business [...]
Apprentice tsar who understands the benefits
Lord Young, a former apprentice telephone engineer, says demand for training is high
It is impressive to meet a minister enthusing about apprenticeships who has actually done one himself.
With a logic not always obvious in such appointments, Lord Young, a former apprentice telephone engineer, has been given the flagship apprenticeship programme as his brief.
“I went up [...]
Government considers subsidising apprentices’ pay
MPs are looking at plans to allow apprentices, whose employers cannot support them, to claim allowances as a wage subsidy
Ministers are looking at ways to subsidise wages for apprentices in a bid to boost numbers in the teeth of the recession.
With more than 2,000 apprenticeships cut short in the construction industry and fears of reductions [...]
Brightest pupils are baffled by ‘easy GCSEs’
Candidates look for hidden catch in questions, says private schools’ leader
By Richard Garner, Education Editor
Monday, 27 April 2009
The new leader of Britain’s top independent schools today warns that some GCSE exams have become so simplistic that they are confusing intelligent pupils.
Andrew Grant, who takes over this week as chairman of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference [...]
Training too complicated and wasteful, say MPs
MPs claim Leitch report now outdated
• Employers describe system as ‘dog’s breakfast’
A powerful committee of MPs have today accused the government of spending millions of pounds on qualifications employers do not want and do not understand.
The current system of training is “impenetrable to everyone apart from possibly a few civil servants and a handful of [...]
Budget 2009: £250m to safeguard sixth-form places
Cash injection from chancellor Alistair Darling to deliver on guarantee that all 16- and 17-year-olds who want to stay in education or training can do so
The chancellor, Alistair Darling, has promised £250m this year to provide extra places in school sixth forms and further education colleges and prevent them having to turn away students.
Schools and [...]
What are GCSEs testing, if not skills?
Mike Baker
The Guardian, Tuesday 21 April 2009
Article history
To understand the crazy world of modern education you need look no further than the vexed issue of “functional skills”. It follows a familiar pattern. Feeling the need to respond to employers and the media, the government issues a general diktat to schools. A government agency then [...]
Why higher school-leaving age means rise in Neets
New strategy needs to help prevent 16- and 17-year-olds losing jobs and expand education and skills provision to avert a sharp rise in youth unemployment
It’s not the way anyone would have planned it, but one positive consequence of recession will be the increasing numbers of young people staying in education.
What the recession is inevitably going [...]
Flunked your GCSEs? Now you can blame your teacher
Cost of being taught by bad teachers identified by new research
By Richard Garner education editor
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Children taught by the worst teachers get at least a grade lower pass mark at GCSE than those taught by the best, research out today claims.
A study to be presented to the Royal Economic Society’s annual conference reveals [...]
Unemployment more appealing than college
A skills package is essential for 16- to 17-year-olds who lose their jobs and can’t face more full-time education
Tomorrow, the chancellor, Alistair Darling, will use his budget to try to regain control of the public finances. Yet, even success will not prevent unemployment rising ever upwards - possibly to 3 million by next spring.
The prospect [...]
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Information, news and resources for everyone involved in 14-19 education in the UK.
Functional Skills
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