Category Archives: Education

Election 2015: Labour’s draft education manifesto

Posted on April 21, 2014 by Eddie Playfair

Will education feature as a significant campaign issue in the 2015 general election? Will the major parties be offering us distinct visions of the future of education? It’s clear that any incoming government will inherit a divided and incoherent non-system. … Continue reading →

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Post-16 funding: making the wrong choices

Posted on April 18, 2014 by Eddie Playfair

I agree with quite a lot of what Michael Gove says about the purpose of education and I like his championing of egalitarian aims. I welcome the fact that he has moved the Conservative party away from selection pre-16. I … Continue reading →

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The digital college: learning from France

Posted on April 17, 2014 by Eddie Playfair

I have just returned from #Ecritech5, a major French digital education conference held in Nice. I was invited to give a presentation about recent developments in digital learning at Newham Sixth Form College (NewVIc).  For those who are interested and … Continue reading →

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Aspiration tax for the many, jackpot for the few

Posted on April 6, 2014 by Eddie Playfair

Now that colleges have received their funding allocations for next year, we know the full extent of the “aspiration tax” on 18 year olds. At Newham Sixth Form College (NewVIc), 472 of our students are over 18 and they will … Continue reading →

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Russell group offers: hype and reality

Posted on April 2, 2014 by Eddie Playfair

Comprehensive sixth form college: 162 Selective 16-19 free school: 100 I wrote here about the misleading use of Russell group offer data to demonstrate the impact of a new 16-19 free school in our area. The fact that 100 students from … Continue reading →

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Existing state-funded sixth forms offer better value for money

Posted on March 30, 2014 by Eddie Playfair

Private fee-charging schools promote themselves as market leaders in post-16 education and are increasingly involved in launching new publicly funded sixth form projects such as the London Academy of Excellence and Westminster Harris sixth form. But do they offer value … Continue reading →

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Culture, tradition and values in education

Posted on March 23, 2014 by Eddie Playfair

Eric Robinson, who died in 2011, was an outstanding and progressive college principal and polytechnic director. He was appointed deputy director of North East London Polytechnic (now the University of East London) in 1970, led Bradford College from 1973 to … Continue reading →

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Progs and trads: is a synthesis possible?

Posted on March 22, 2014 by Eddie Playfair

Dialectical pairings like “radical traditionalism” or “revolutionary reformism” may seem paradoxical but instead of cancelling each other out, the contradictions they contain can make us think about each idea in relation to the other. This is not just an attempt … Continue reading →

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Guess what? Vocational students go to university too

Posted on March 16, 2014 by Eddie Playfair

Zakiyah, Shah, Robyn, Natasha and Daiva all have something in common; they are high achieving vocational students who completed advanced courses at NewVIc last year. Together with many others, they achieved the highest possible grades. In their case in: construction, … Continue reading →

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Don’t be young!

Posted on March 12, 2014 by Eddie Playfair

It’s a tough time to be young. Since 2010, young people have taken quite a battering from policies and cuts which have narrowed their opportunities and limited their prospects of becoming active, fulfilled members of society. All this in a context of … Continue reading →

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The National Bacc: a “one nation” curriculum

Posted on March 8, 2014 by Eddie Playfair

The curriculum we offer young people aged 14-18 in England is a divided patchwork of qualifications which is increasingly seen in hierarchical terms: “facilitating” A levels worth the most, non “facilitating” A-levels worth less and vocational qualifications least valued of … Continue reading →

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London’s colleges promoting social mobility

Posted on March 6, 2014 by Eddie Playfair

Inner London’s colleges are helping more disadvantaged students get to university than all its school sixth forms. In 2010, Inner London’s 19 colleges and 16-19 schools helped more disadvantaged students to progress to university than all 81 of the area’s … Continue reading →

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16 year olds need a universal “sixth form UCAS”

Posted on March 2, 2014 by Eddie Playfair

Nick Clegg’s announcement that the government wants to introduce a “UCAS-style one-stop on-line shop for 16 year olds who do not want to go to university” (BBC 27/02/14) is an interesting idea, even with all those hyphens. However, as presented … Continue reading →

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The comprehensive college

Posted on February 24, 2014 by Eddie Playfair

Why do we persist in describing our sixth form college as comprehensive when the term has been unfashionable for some time and there is no requirement to have an inclusive admissions policy? We’re proud to be comprehensive and, for us, … Continue reading →

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Unashamedly egalitarian

Posted on February 23, 2014 by Eddie Playfair

If you had the choice before birth of the type of society to be born into but didn’t know your status in advance, what type of society would you choose? No doubt most of us would choose a more egalitarian … Continue reading →

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