Mike Cooper reflects on current and past prophecies of the brave new worlds of ‘work’ and ‘leisure’ – and their implications for further education A recent ‘OECD Insight’ blog again raises some familiar, and hard, questions: just what are we …
Further education – does it need to prepare young people for ‘leisure’? Read more »
First roll out then roll back? is an interesting piece by RSA’s Chief Executive Matthew Taylor about outsourcing and payment by results (PbR) in the public sector, with what is a fairly chilling conclusion: “Opponents of outsourcing focus on the …
What are the implications for vocational learning if loans take-up crumbles? Read more »
The recently published report from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) on college governance [350KB PDF] is in many ways a model of how to develop policy. Unlike many announcements, which appear out of the blue and seem only to …
Mick Fletcher questions the wisdom of tackling college governance in isolation Read more »
Lasting success in education does not come overnight For truly outstanding performance a school or college needs the ‘three Ps’ – patience, professionalism and partnership, says Andrew Morris, author of a 20-year progress report on the path to success in …
Andrew Morris celebrates twenty years of City and Islington College Read more »
It is now broadly accepted that one of the factors holding back the progress of vocational education in England is the association between different types of education and social class; the snobbery that sees academic education as being for the …
Mick Fletcher comments on possible anti-FE snobbery in the UTC movement Read more »
What does it cost to open a 14-19 University Technical College? If you are Lord Baker, Education Secretary to Margaret Thatcher, it’s upwards of £20m. If you are from Cleveland and Redcar College you get the same for £30,000 – …
The Wolf Report on vocational education for 14–19 year olds could prove to be one of those rare documents that marks a real turning of the tide – the point at which one educational orthodoxy starts to crumble and another …
The Wolf Report on vocational education – unanswered questions Read more »