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- Frigga Haug and the mystery of learning December 6, 2022
- Debating Growth. November 29, 2022
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Category Archives: Education policy
Bacc on the agenda
If England is to have a post-16 education system fit for an advanced modern democracy we need to move towards a single national baccalaureate capable of meeting the aspirations of all young people and founded on shared values and a … Continue reading
Time for a new Great Education Reform Act
27 years ago, Kenneth Baker’s 1988 Education Reform Act changed the direction of travel of English education. It introduced an element of school choice and Local Management of Schools, established more autonomous City Technology Colleges and Grant Maintained Schools as … Continue reading
Education 2020: market or system?
What will education in England be like in 2020? As the 2015 general election approaches, what are the possible futures for education in England? An election is a democratic moment where we are offered a choice of futures and we … Continue reading
Posted in Education policy, Politics
Tagged competition, Democracy, Education, elections, England, Equality, future, marketisation, National baccalaureate, selection, Social cohesion
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Resisting selection
Thanks to the prime minister, it seems that educational selection is back on the agenda again. The grammar school issue in Kent and elsewhere is one aspect of the debate but it’s worth remembering that the segregation of learners by ‘aptitude’, ‘potential’, test … Continue reading
Posted in Education policy, Politics
Tagged Clyde Chitty, comprehensive education, David Cameron, Education, Equality, grammar schools, Jane Addams, selection
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Investing in 16-19 education
Labour’s promise to maintain education spending from nursery to 19 year olds and increase it at least by inflation is very welcome. No such protection is on offer from the Conservatives who are promising ‘flat cash’ for pre-16’s and apparently … Continue reading
Posted in Education policy
Tagged 18 year olds, aspiration tax, Education, elections, England, Equality, Labour party, Post-16 funding, Sixth form, young people
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Inspectors make the case for comprehensive colleges
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
Colleges and violent extremism
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
Do qualifications create wealth?
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
Posted in Education, Education policy
Tagged Alison Wolf, economy, Education, employment, Ha-Joon Chang, qualifications, wealth, young people
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5 New Year wishes for post-16 education
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
People’s College and Top Academy: which is best?
Imagine two colleges, let’s call them People’s College and Top Academy. We want to compare them, so we turn to the national performance tables which tell us that the average A-level point score for People’s College is 200 (C-) compared … Continue reading
Market madness #6 Students as commodities: premium, discount and remaindered
Originally posted on Eddie Playfair:
Enrolment is always a challenge. We come back from our holidays to an empty college. Like someone organising an open house, we’ve stocked up on a range of snacks and drinks for our guests but…
Market madness #5 Qualifications as currency
A series of short posts about the marketisation of public education: #5 Qualifications as currency. All economies need a currency which we all use to represent the value we give to things and which can be exchanged for real things. … Continue reading
Posted in Education policy
Tagged competition, Education, marketisation, qualifications
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Labour’s disappearing National Bacc
Has Labour ditched its commitment to a National Baccalaureate for 14-19 year olds? According to the party’s Education and Children statement, Labour will ‘establish an overarching National Baccalaureate framework for all post-16 students which would include high quality academic and … Continue reading
Building the Bacc from below
I was delighted to attend the National Baccalaureate summit on 28th November held at Highbury Grove School and hosted by Tom Sherrington, the headteacher. This was an opportunity for a range of people to take stock of the various baccalaureate-like … Continue reading
Posted in Education policy
Tagged Chris Husbands, curriculum, Education, England, Ken Spours, liberal education, National baccalaureate, young people
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Alison Wolf on education and the economy
NewVIc autumn lecture: 12th November 2014 Alison Wolf is Professor of Public Sector Management at King’s College London and the author of the ‘Wolf Report’ commissioned by Education minister Michael Gove in 2010 to ‘consider how we can improve vocational … Continue reading
Eddie Playfair 