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Recent Posts
- Zola : a political reading. August 13, 2023
- Hotter than July? August 5, 2023
- Rethinking work July 30, 2023
- Educating for political literacy in an age of crisis. July 21, 2023
- Savoirs et valeurs : pratiquer et conjuguer July 21, 2023
- ‘Transformative Teaching and Learning in Further Education – Pedagogies of Hope and Social Justice’ July 18, 2023
- Dilemmas of Growth June 14, 2023
- A broader view of skills? June 7, 2023
- In praise of ‘low value’ subjects. February 27, 2023
- Frigga Haug and the mystery of learning December 6, 2022
- Debating Growth. November 29, 2022
- Code red for human survival November 8, 2022
- The politics of silence. September 4, 2022
- Posts on Corsican themes. August 10, 2022
- When Corsica welcomed thousands of Serb refugees (1916) August 9, 2022
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Tag Archives: young people
Skill shortage, training shortage or job shortage?
Unpicking the ‘skills gap’ narrative. “The number of job vacancies unfilled because employers cannot find candidates with the appropriate skills has risen by 130% in 4 years” (UK Commission for Employment and Skills UKCET report, January 2016) When employers or … Continue reading
A level minority report: Dance, Music, Philosophy.
I start from a belief that Dance, Music and Philosophy are wonderful A level subjects which should be accessible to sixth form students not too far from where they live as part of a broad educational offer. The published performance tables provide … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Education, Education policy, music
Tagged A levels, competition, curriculum, dance, Education, London, marketisation, music, philosophy, Sixth form, Sixth form college, young people
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Reducing London’s disadvantage gap.
There is much talk of the educational performance gap between disadvantaged students, eligible for free school meals (FSM), and their peers. One measure of success for sixth form students is progression to university of students reaching the end of their … Continue reading
Posted in Education
Tagged disadvantage, Education, England, free school meals, London, Sixth form, Sixth form college, Social mobility, university progression, young people
2 Comments
Let’s celebrate vocational success!
I never cease to be surprised at how little most politicians and commentators know about vocational qualifications and their value. There is no shortage of people who will tell us that we need to ‘do something’ about vocational education in this country … Continue reading
New Year wishes for sixth form education in 2016
A year ago I posted 5 New Year wishes for post-16 education. I thought they were modest, realistic and realisable while also offering tangible benefits. My 5 wishes were: Recognise that innovation does not necessarily require the creation of new … Continue reading
Reviewing post-16 education in London
Principals and chairs of governors from most of London’s colleges assembled at City Hall last week for a briefing on the post-16 area review process. It’s not often that this group meets and although it happened without any great fanfare … Continue reading
A parent’s guide to sixth form enrolment
Welcome to enrolment. As parents or guardians your role is vital. You can help your daughter or son to understand their options and you know them better than anyone so your insights can be really useful. So how can you … Continue reading
Posted in Education, NewVIc, Parents
Tagged Colleges, Education, enrolment, information advice and guidance, Newham Sixth Form College, NewVIc, parents, Sixth form, young people
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Enrolment: where aspiration meets reality
It’s a crazy way to start the year; enrolling all our students over a few days in late August before we can start teaching them. Enrolment is a major cross-college team effort which requires every member of staff to do something different … Continue reading
Imagining a better future is the first step
My article on the post-16 area-based reviews from this week’s Times Education Supplement. Think of all the 16-18 year olds in your area. What do you see? Talented and ambitious young people keen to improve their knowledge and skills? Students … Continue reading
What’s at stake in the new post-16 Area-based Reviews?
Large and cost-effective v. small and inefficient? In Reviewing post-16 Education and Training Institutions published 3 days ago the government suggests that we need ‘fewer, often larger, more resilient and efficient providers’. The implication is that larger colleges are better … Continue reading
No austerity of the imagination
What’s the mood in sixth form and further education 10 weeks after the election? Following the May general election there’s no question that post-16 education wherever it takes place faces greater austerity than any other phase of education. 16-18 year olds are funded … Continue reading
Posted in Education policy
Tagged austerity, Colleges, competition, Education, elections, imagination, marketisation, National baccalaureate, Post-16 funding, teaching, young people
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Teachers create wealth too!
It’s become a commonplace to say that wealth has to be created before it can be spent and the received wisdom in mainstream political discourse is that the private sector does the wealth creating which then allows the public sector … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
Tagged austerity, children, Colleges, crossing patrol, economy, Education, Elizabeth Warren, politics, resilience, Social cohesion, Solidarity, young people
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Glasto-Bacc
At last week’s National Baccalaureate convention, the ‘Glastonbury analogy’ was used to describe the way we’re choosing to develop this new curriculum framework. I don’t know if this is its first outing, but the idea is that lots of different … Continue reading
Posted in Education
Tagged 18 year olds, A levels, curriculum, Education, Glastonbury, Ken Spours, liberal education, National baccalaureate, young people
2 Comments
Market madness: condition critical
Market madness: condition critical From Forum vol.57, no.2, 2015 The condition of English education is critical. It has been weakened by pathological marketization and is in desperate need of treatment to restore it to health. In this article, I try to … Continue reading
Posted in Education policy
Tagged aspiration tax, competition, comprehensive education, Democracy, Education, elections, Equality, Forum, marketisation, selection, Solidarity, young people
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Speaking up for 16-19 year olds
SFCA Summer Conference 2015 Our Sixth Form College Association conference is always a great opportunity to meet old friends, make new friends, share our fears and frustrations, hopes and joys, find comfort and support from colleagues across the country. We … Continue reading
Eddie Playfair 