Monthly Archives: January 2015

Inspectors make the case for comprehensive colleges

Posted on January 31, 2015 by Eddie Playfair

A report by the national education inspectorate makes a strong case for comprehensive sixth form colleges rather than vocational colleges. The case is based on evidence that comprehensive colleges are more socially mixed and achieve better results. The report has … Continue reading →

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Post-16 performance tables: taking the long view

Posted on January 31, 2015 by Eddie Playfair

The recently published 2014 post-16 performance tables show that A-level students at Newham Sixth Form College (NewVIc) improved their performance faster than the national average for the second year running. They also show that our advanced vocational students performed better … Continue reading →

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NewVIc: highest number of disadvantaged students going to university

Posted on January 30, 2015 by Eddie Playfair

Which sixth forms help the most disadvantaged students progress to university? The latest university progression data has just been published. This relates to sixth form students who completed their advanced qualifications in 2012. The figures include the numbers of students … Continue reading →

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‘True worth’ in the education market

Posted on January 23, 2015 by Eddie Playfair

“In future we could try to link qualifications to tax data to demonstrate the true worth of certain subjects.” Nicky Morgan, Education Secretary (Jan 2015). Flash forward to 2020 and 17 year-old Amina is meeting her progress coach at the end … Continue reading →

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Colleges and violent extremism

Posted on January 21, 2015 by Eddie Playfair

I work in a large inner city sixth form college with 2,600 students in London’s 3rd most socio-economically deprived borough where unemployment, poverty and homelessness are more common than average. Another way of describing the college is that it is also … Continue reading →

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Do qualifications create wealth?

Posted on January 18, 2015 by Eddie Playfair

Does education make us richer? A ridiculous question perhaps, but the belief that educational achievement leads to economic growth is strongly held by many politicians despite all evidence to the contrary. The recent Department for Education press release claiming that … Continue reading →

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Where do all our A level students go?

Posted on January 18, 2015 by Eddie Playfair

NewVIc’s A-level university progression suggests that sixth forms which set excessively high A-level entry requirements are missing out on many students who could progress to higher education, including to the most selective universities. I have already posted here about the university destinations of the … Continue reading →

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Vocational education: rejecting the narrative of failure

Posted on January 13, 2015 by Eddie Playfair

According to Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, we have a ‘lamentable record on vocational education’ which is ‘failing to deliver the needs of both young people and society’. Criticism of vocational courses is echoed by many, including the Labour Party in … Continue reading →

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Berkeley and the promise of the public university

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Eddie Playfair

Frederick Wiseman’s brilliant documentary ‘At Berkeley’ which takes a long (4 hour) look at this large Californian university as it was in one semester of 2010. Despite its length, I warmly recommend it to anyone interested in education.  As viewers … Continue reading →

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5 New Year wishes for post-16 education

Posted on January 1, 2015 by Eddie Playfair

Here are my 5 personal post-16 education wishes for 2015. I think they are modest, realistic and realisable and could probably be progressed at no net cost. I believe that, taken together, these 5 changes could start to yield tangible benefits for … Continue reading →

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