Tag Archives: young people

A sixth form college manifesto for 2015

The Sixth Form College Association has published its manifesto for the 2015 general election. It will join the manifestos of many other organisations in politicians’ in-trays, no doubt prompting many warm words but few cast-iron promises. This was evident in … Continue reading

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Education and skills coming together?

The appointment of Peter Lauener as the chief executive of the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) while remaining as chief executive of the Education Funding Agency (EFA) has prompted speculation that the two agencies could soon be merged, although this has … Continue reading

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‘Hindering’ subjects and ‘bad’ universities

The way we talk about subjects and universities has changed dramatically over the last few years, and not for the better. The English Bacc with its favoured GCSE subjects has led to a secondary school subject hierarchy which appears to … Continue reading

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How can we reduce educational inequality?

Meeting organised by “working towards a national campaign for education” at the Mechanics Institute, Manchester on 23rd September 2014 during the Labour Party conference. Many thanks to Sarah Williams for her work in organising and promoting this meeting. Speakers: David … Continue reading

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The forgotten 50% need a one nation education system.

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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Market madness #6 Students as commodities: premium, discount and remaindered

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 we can’t really be sure … Continue reading

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Careers guidance: failing to inspire

This month has seen the publication of new guidance to FE and sixth form colleges on careers. This aims to help us implement the requirement to provide independent careers guidance. There’s nothing in here which good colleges aren’t already doing. In … Continue reading

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How to choose a sixth form

During year 11 you are free to apply to any sixth form you want, whether it’s a sixth form college, further education college or school sixth form. If your own school has a sixth form, there is absolutely no requirement … Continue reading

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Post-16: education’s wild frontier

Sixth form education in England has become the wild frontier for selection and marketisation with a plethora of new providers, whether 11-18 academies or 16-18 free schools trying to outdo each other in setting ever more exclusive entry requirements and competing … Continue reading

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College success with disadvantaged students

Newham Sixth Form College (NewVIc) in East London sent more disadvantaged students to university than any other sixth form in the country in 2011. Overall, England’s 338 colleges sent more disadvantaged students to university than its 1,839 school sixth forms: … Continue reading

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If not now, when?

So, first we slashed the funding for education for 18 year olds Even if they were half way through a 2 year advanced course. When was education ever the wrong choice?   Then, if they haven’t yet achieved an advanced … Continue reading

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Sixth forms working together against the tide

Opening speech to the Sharing Good Practice conference at St.Angela’s school, Stratford, 4th June 2014. We are all here today because we are committed to providing the best possible educational opportunities to young people aged 16-18 and because we think … Continue reading

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Post-16 citizenship in tough times

The times we live in demand more than ever that we assume responsibility for ensuring that all young people are educated for global citizenship, in other words for survival. What might this look like post-16? The context The current context … Continue reading

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Voting and the habit of democracy

Do young people see the point of voting? Is democracy important in their lives? Should ‘something be done’ about low election turnouts among 18-25’s? Today, we are voting in elections for the European parliament and in many areas we are … Continue reading

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A tale of two boroughs

I want to start by telling the story of 16-18 education in two London boroughs; a story which illustrates some of the things I think we should be concerned about. Borough A was an economically disadvantaged area where most secondary schools … Continue reading

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