Tag Archives: National baccalaureate

Education 2020: market or system?

Posted on February 22, 2015 by Eddie Playfair

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 →

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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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Labour’s disappearing National Bacc

Posted on December 14, 2014 by Eddie Playfair

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 →

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Building the Bacc from below

Posted on December 7, 2014 by Eddie Playfair

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 →

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Alison Wolf on education and the economy

Posted on November 23, 2014 by Eddie Playfair

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 →

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Learning to love liberal education

Posted on October 14, 2014 by Eddie Playfair

Talk given at the The Future of Liberal Arts conference at King’s College London on 14th October 2014. A video of this talk is available here: http://www.newvic.ac.uk/futureliberalarts/ (select ‘Liberal Arts in Schools’ starting at 3:33) I want to start by saying that … Continue reading →

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The oath and the compass

Posted on October 12, 2014 by Eddie Playfair

It sounds like the title of a medieval thriller; the brotherhood of educators send their top monks out to roam the world having sworn to serve learning and they solve all sorts of intractable problems with the help of a … Continue reading →

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Reading the education manifestos

Posted on October 4, 2014 by Eddie Playfair

What is the point of manifestos, whether for education or any other policy area? Are they even worth the paper they’re written on given that we are fairly desensitised to parties straying from their election pledges in the name of … Continue reading →

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The forgotten 50% need a one nation education system.

Posted on September 22, 2014 by Eddie Playfair

A dialogue between Simplex and Sapiens, two education policy commentators: Simplex: You don’t need to be a historian to know the value of education. Sapiens: And history shows that we cannot achieve ‘one nation’ goals with ‘two nation’ policies. Sim: No … Continue reading →

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Labour’s vocational vision: two-nation thinking wrapped in one-nation talk?

Posted on July 19, 2014 by Eddie Playfair

The Labour party wants to position itself as the party of skills and vocational education. Party leader Ed Miliband and shadow minister Liam Byrne have both made recent major speeches on this issue. Clearly, any party standing on a ‘one … Continue reading →

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One nation education

Posted on January 21, 2014 by Eddie Playfair

“One nation under a groove … is what we’re funkin’ for” sang George Clinton’s Funkadelic in the late 1970’s. After I bought the single I had the tune in my head for weeks. It was funky and catchy and the lyrics … Continue reading →

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