Higher Thoughts

Not enough apprenticeships to go round? New bill aims to have it sorted by 2013

Published 21 October 2008

New legislation is going through parliament to radically overhaul how apprenticeships will operate in England.

A quiet summer? Not as far as the raft of developments in education was concerned

Published 23 September 2008

Over 20 years ago I wrote a chapter, Examinations post-16: the need for radical reform, for a book called The Revolution in Education and Training. Apprenticeships continued to make the news: the DIUS select committee announced an inquiry into the draft Apprenticeship Bill and the LSC resourced a Vacancy Matching Service amidst concerns that the gloomy economic news will have a negative impact on numbers.

Applaud educational achievement but also note the drawbacks of the English system

Published 20 August 2008

A couple of months ago I was driving to work one day listening to the radio.

Upskilling is the buzzword for Britain, and we’ve been given a big part to play in it

Published 22 July 2008

The new academic year approaches and with it the mixture of excitement and trepidation as children and young people move into the next phase of learning.In the Carlisle district it is estimated that out of 46,000 people who are economically active, 11,000 do not have qualifications at level two.

Where is policy heading? Hopefully not into reform overload and sector instability

Published 25 June 2008

Unnoticed by even the specialist press, in May the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) published its business plan for 2008/09 to 2010/11, Investing in our future.

It’s easy to criticise the plans for post-16 provision, but the knockers are wrong

Published 26 May 2008

The Government recently published a consultation document called “Raising Expectations: enabling the system to deliver”.

Amid all the change, we mustn’t lose sight of the fundamental purposes of education

Published 26 May 2008

People and change don’t always go well together. For some people change is about excitement, freshness and new beginnings, whilst for others change is difficult, upsetting and bewildering.

We’re proud of our record but there’s still more work to do to educate the masses

Published 26 May 2008

Higher education is a major contributor to the economic success and social well-being of the country. And the Government’s annual grant letter to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) sent in January recognises this.

At the heart of education has to be skills, knowledge, values, and of course, attitude

Published 26 May 2008

Recently the University of Cumbria announced its intention to become co-sponsor (along with Brian Scowcroft and Andrew Tinkler) of the Richard Rose Central Academy and the Morton Academy in Carlisle, together with a potential academy in Barrow-in-Furness.