Schools and Education
The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) and the Department for Education have published an implementation plan to the ‘The Future of Apprenticeships in England’ review which reported in May 2013 (Science Council and member bodies responses available here). The plan sets out new apprenticeship standards including meeting “professional registration requirements in sectors where they already exist (for example in engineering, science and accountancy)”. It is envisaged that new ‘Trailblazer’ apprenticeships will be developed through collaboration between employers and professional bodies and become “the apprenticeship standard”. It is hoped that the new standards for all new apprenticeships will be in place by 2017.
The announcement is very good news for professional bodies, with the Government stating its commitment to ensure that apprenticeship standards will need to meet professional registration standards where they exist. The Science Council has been invited to join the BIS Trailblazer Programme Group, the first meeting of which will be on 13th November 2013.
The Education and Training Foundation is to review the professional standards for teachers and trainers in England. The review will take in evidence from other sectors in the UK and internationally; followed by feedback on the draft proposals in early 2014. The final review will be launched in Easter 2014. The Foundation is inviting views on the proposed changes until December 2014. The Science Council is in contact with the Foundation on how to contribute to the review.
Elizabeth Truss MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Education and Childcare spoke at the School Leaders Summit Conference to further outline the Government’s case for curriculum reform.
The Department for Education (DfE), in partnership with the Advisory Committee in Mathematics Education (ACME) has announced new maths qualifications aimed at enabling more students to take up maths post-16 from 2016. The announcement comes as new figures from DfE show that a high proportion of students who achieve a ‘D’ grade in GCSE maths did not enter the post-16 exam.
Latest figures from the Department for Education show an increase in the number of pupils taking the GCSE English Baccalaureate. In 2012/13 35% of all state-school pupils took the EBacc, up from 23% in the previous year.
The Department for Education and Ofqual have opened a consultation on the proposed changes to subject content and assessment for new AS and A-levels. The consultation will remain open until 17th January 2014.
The Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt was interviewed on Newsnight. He said that “under a Labour Government we will move to a position where those teaching in the state sector will have qualified teacher status”.
A Learndirect report has called for the national curriculum to enable pupils to spend more time on practical skills. As well as calling for more focus on vocational pathways, the proposals include two maths GCSE qualifications: for those looking to progress onto further maths or STEM subjects at A-level, and a less technical qualification which provides the “skills needed for life and work”. The latter qualification would, the report says free up pupils to develop softer skills.
Careers Colleges have been proposed by Conservative Peer and former Education Secretary Lord Baker of Dorking. They would focus on areas like hospitality, catering and tourism; finance and insurance; health and care; cultural and creative arts; sports and events management; and construction, and would be established through existing further education colleges to provide “accelerated vocationally-focused programmes of study alongside core academic work”.
A Sutton Trust report on apprenticeships has said that the UK faces a “fundamental skills mismatch” particularly because too few technicians have been trained. To rectify this the report recommends offering ‘booster’ STEM courses in all Further Education colleges to vocational students who have not achieved the minimum level to pursue STEM qualifications and boosting funding for qualifications in areas with skills shortages.
Higher Education
Universities UK has published its report of the state of part-time and mature students in higher education, saying that “part time students, particularly mature undergraduates seem to be an invisible and in nation policy terms, poorly understood cohort”. The report found that that part-time students in HE has fallen by 40% since 2010. The review calls for greater promotion of part-time study among employers and potential students, with particular focus on local economic needs, and to expand the financial help available. The report comes on the back of an announcement at the Conservative Party Conference Universities and Science Minister David Willetts that fee loans would be extended to part-time STEM students who already have a degree in a different discipline.
Reaction from the 1994 Group; Association of Colleges; million+
Sir Andrew Whitty’s Review of Universities and Growth has published its final report and recommendations, calling for universities to “assume an explicit responsibility for facilitating economic growth” and be incentivised more to embrace local economic growth as a core activity. Universities are “ideally placed to carry out a central role in the development of sectors, taking forward key emerging scientific and technological developments”. Key to this is putting universities at the heart of the Local Enterprise Partnership agenda, doing more to support innovative small businesses, and doing more to identify through regional and national clusters where critical masses can be developed to support innovation and growth (also recommended by the Wilson Review of Business-University Collaboration in 2012).
Reaction from million+; Russell Group; Universities UK
The Universities UK report above picked up on the requirement for higher education to be more in tune with local needs saying that “universities also have a sense of duty to their local area - a sense of pride in civic engagement, a commitment to the public good*
The 1994 Group of Universities has published a report looking at proposals to increase funding for postgraduate students in the UK, arguing that there is widespread consensus that the current system of support is not working. The report recommends that the higher education sector and professional bodies collaborate to establish a ‘Council for Universities and the Professions’ to monitor take-up of postgraduate courses in professional disciplines. The report also suggests that there is merit in investigating further the NUS-proposed loan system for students seeking to enter the professions run and funded in partnership with professional bodies.
The Higher Education Careers Services Unit and Department for Business, Innovation and Skills report on employer support for part-time HE students shows that more employers are less willing to provide financial support to part-time students as a result of higher tuition fees, despite 70% believing that the skills acquired through the combination of part-time study and employment was better than those acquired by graduates on full-time courses.
A Policy Connect report states that “It is essential that the higher education sector be properly regulated” and has called for the Government to introduce a Higher Education Bill within the current Parliament. The report is concerned with “a growing unregulated sector of higher education that may be offering insufficient provision to students”. While the report does not mention degree accreditation specifically it does state that all students should
“be assured that the degree that they receive is recognised domestically and internationally”. It calls for a new independent, overarching regulator - a Council for Higher Education - to replace the Higher Education Funding Council for England.
A House of Lords EU-Sub Committee questioned the Universities and Science Minister, David Willetts MP on developments in European higher education.
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has published a research paper on the wider benefits of higher education to students.
The Universities and Science Minister, David Willetts MP spoke at an event hosted by the London School of Economics to mark the 50th Anniversary of Lord Robbins’ report on the future of higher education. To mark anniversary Mr Willetts also wrote a pamphlet, “Robbins Revisited” for the Social Market Foundation think tank outlining how the original report has influenced current higher education policy.
Skills and Careers
At a Westminster Education Forum event Graham Stuart, Chair of the House of Commons Education Select Committee said that the latest figures on careers advice for young people “should shame the Department for Education into action”. The Conservative MP cited data from the recent Ofsted report showing that more than 1.3 million pupils in Years 9, 10 and 11 are currently in schools where they cannot be confident of receiving careers advice of the quality they need.
The Skills and Enterprise Minister, Matthew Hancock spoke at the Edge Foundation on the importance of vocational education.
The House of Commons Science & Technology Select Committee has announced the first oral evidence sessions for its inquiry into ‘Women in STEM careers’, to which the Science Council and member bodies submitted written evidence.
A Department for Education evaluation report on work experience placement models for 16 to 19 year olds has recommended that the Department take a more proactive role in disseminating examples of good practice to schools, colleges and employers.
A Department for Business, Innovation and Skills assessment report on the 2011 ‘New Challenges, New Chances’ further education and skills reform plan calls on Government to strengthen the role of Local Enterprise Partnerships and other local stakeholders to drive investment in skills that meet both current and future local priorities.
The 157 Group of Further Education Colleges has published a manifesto for further education and skills calling for a more stable education policy landscape.
A Department for Business, Innovation and Skills research paper evaluating the Department’s further education reform plan found that they have widespread support across the sector, and have begun to change the behaviour of FE colleges in the way they deliver education and training. The research also found that most providers took responsibility to deliver local skills needs, working in partnership with Local Enterprise Partnerships and local authorities.
Science and Industry
The Chancellor, George Osborne announced a new visa scheme to encourage Chinese students and investment into the UK.
The Universities and Science Minister, David Willetts announced £186 million on funding for 8 new technologies, including a joint project between the Technology Strategy Board and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council for a £70 million catalyst fund for the agricultural technology sector to help commercialise research.
The Triennial Review of the Technology Strategy Board has concluded that the TSB should be retained in its current form as a non-departmental public body.
Sir Anthony Cleaver has been selected as the Government’s preferred candidate to be the next Chair of the Natural Environment Research Council. The House of Commons Science & Technology Select Committee published a pre-appointment hearing report.
The House of Commons Science & Technology Select Committee has published its report on the work of the
European space agencies and on clinical trials.
The Northern Ireland Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment has launched a consultation on a draft Northern Ireland Innovation Strategy for 2013-2025.
Lord Adonis Growth Review
Lord Adonis has been asked by Labour Party leader Ed Miliband to conduct an independent growth review, which will feed into the Labour Party’s developing growth and industrial strategy. The review will focus on a number of areas including: high growth companies and sectors; long-term investment and responsible capitalism; government machinery for growth including regional delivery and leadership; infrastructure; innovation and skills.
The Science Council is in discussion with Lord Adonis to arrange a roundtable meeting to consider these issues and feed into his review. A meeting had been scheduled for 6th November, but was cancelled due to another commitment in Lord Adonis’s diary. Further details of the rescheduled meeting will be sent out in due course.
