EDUCATION
Tories warn Ofqual A-level accreditation remit may be thrown on quango bonfire
Times Educational Supplement
10/07/2009
The Conservatives' plans to reduce quangos would see the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency abolished, and could lead to a tighter remit for Ofsted and the Training and Development Agency for Schools. They are also considering leaving the job of A-level accreditation to exam boards and universities, instead of Ofqual.
Better protection for disabled children
DCSF
09/07/2009
Updated guidelines for police, teachers, social workers and health workers to protect disabled children from abuse and neglect have been published.
Government to honour 2.3% pay rise for teachers
Guardian
09/07/2009
Teachers have welcomed the government's announcement that it will honour a 2.3% increase in their pay for the next two years, despite calls that it should be revised to reduce public spending in the recession.
Ofsted is a poodle, say MPs
Guardian
08/07/2009
Members of the cross-party Children, Schools and Families select committee told the schools minister, Vernon Coaker, they feared the inspectorate had a "too cosy" relationship with government and did not dare question new policies.
EDUCATION - FURTHER EDUCATION
Adult skills contracts to get more competitive
Times Educational Supplement
10/07/2009
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is considering proposals to allow bidders to undercut other colleges and training providers for some adult skills contracts.
Building bids: anger over minimum compensation
Times Educational Supplement
10/07/2009
The LSC was accused this week of shirking its moral duty after it confirmed there would be no compensation beyond the bare minimum guarantees set out in earlier funding guidance for colleges left out of pocket in the capital funding debacle.
Government Announces New Plans for Publishing FE College Performance Results
BIS
09/07/2009
Overall national results of further education institutions will be published later this month for the first time. BIS will continue to develop the Framework for Excellence and to improve understanding of the data and how it will be used, ahead of full publication of the results in 2010. DCSF will also develop the Framework to include school sixth forms and they will be piloting this from September 2009 in over 100 school sixth forms across the country.
LSC tightens controls to lesson risk of fraud in its final year
Times Educational Supplement
10/07/2009
The funding body is tightening up its procedures to avert the possibility of increased fraud during the recession and its final months.
LSIS announces first elected Council
LSIS
10/07/2009
A year after its launch, the Learning and Skills Improvement Service has announced the results of its first open, sector–led elections for its council.
EDUCATION - HIGHER EDUCATION
Bombay dreams
Times Higher Education
09/07/2009
Report on higher education standards and policy in India, including plans to overhaul the regulatory regime and open India up to overseas providers.
Clout of business department will boost sector, committee head says
Times Higher Education
09/07/2009
Universities could get a better deal from the Government now that they share a Whitehall department with business, according to Peter Luff, chairman of the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee.
Cut estates spending at your peril, sector told
Times Higher Education
09/07/2009
Rod Mallinder, secretary of the Association of University Directors of Estates, has warned that universities risk storing up problems for themselves if they surrender to the temptation to cut spending on their estates during the economic downturn.
Drayson says REF will give points for public outreach
Times Higher Education
09/07/2009
Researchers have received confirmation that they will be rewarded for engaging with the public in the forthcoming research excellence framework, raising the prospect of funding being linked to articles for newspapers or television work.
MPs reject university sub-committee proposal
Times Higher Education
04/07/2009
MPs responsible for scrutinising Lord Mandelson’s new “super-department” for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) have refused to set up a separate committee to examine its work on higher education.
'No fee degrees' university plan
BBC
08/07/2009
The government is considering dropping tuition fees for students who stay at home to study in exchange for them waiving their right to grants and loans. The proposal is in a draft framework for the future of higher education.
Purdah imposed on vote-sensitive work
Times Higher Education
09/07/2009
Academics decry the Economic and Social Research Council's pre-election silencing as restriction on freedom. Purdah is imposed in the run-up to elections, when public bodies are required to suspend activities that could call into question their political impartiality. It is usually interpreted as applying to bodies such as government departments rather than academics.
Quango cuts put Hefce in danger
Times Higher Education
09/07/2009
Liam Byrne, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, has asked Whitehall departments to review all their quangos with a view to possible merger or abolition, raising speculation that the Higher Education Funding Council for England could be cut.
University crisis sparks emergency places plan
Guardian
09/07/2009
Ministers are working on emergency plans to increase university places by 10,000 to ease the looming crisis of a 50,000 places shortfall. But universities have been told they may have to pay for the extra places out of their existing budgets if the Treasury refuses to fund them. Vice-chancellors said they would veto the plans unless the exchequer comes up with the money needed, thought to be around £90m.
V-cs say extra money is 'essential' to support any rise in student numbers
Times Higher Education
09/07/2009
Vice-chancellors have urged Lord Mandelson not to undermine the unit of resource by expanding student numbers without extra funding. The warning follows a proposal put to the First Secretary that, if pursued, could see an extra 10,000 unfunded.
Visa proposals could drive academics into arms of British rivals, UUK warns
Times Higher Education
09/07/2009
Visa restrictions are being considered that could limit foreign academics' access to the UK, a move described as potentially "disastrous" by Universities UK. The Migration Advisory Committee which provides independent advice to the Government, is consulting on possible changes to "Tier 1" and "Tier 2" of the new points-based immigration system.
EDUCATION - SCHOOLS
A licence to tick boxes or a tool to cut the wheat from the chaff?
Times Educational Supplement
10/07/2009
Analysis of the controversial new policy - licence to teach - and regulation of teachers.
Amendments to the Education (School Teachers’ Qualifications) (England) Regulations 2003
DCSF
09/07/2009
Consultation paper on proposed amendments to the Education (School Teachers' Qualifications) (England) Regulations 2003 which govern who can gain qualified teacher status. The government is aiming to bring amending regulations into force on 1 January 2010.
Check on school places cheating
BBC
03/07/2009
Schools Secretary Ed Balls has asked England's Schools Adjudicator to look at the problem of parents cheating to get school places as part of his annual report due to be published in November 2009.
Dozens of primary and secondary schools projects put on hold
Building
09/07/2009
Research by Barbour ABI has revealed that 35 primary and secondary school projects are on hold awaiting funding, and the current funding gap for these schemes is £122.5m.
Finding a way in
Times Educational Supplement
10/07/2009
Discusses school admissions policies and parents' increasingly desperate measures to get their children into a good school.
Labour has shut 200 rural schools, say Conservatives
Guardian
07/07/2009
The Conservatives have promised to safeguard village schools from closure as part of their countryside manifesto. They pledged to do this by scrapping the "surplus places" rule that forces schools to shut if pupil numbers fall below a nationally-set minimum. Under a Tory administration, villages would be allowed to start up academy schools, which are semi-independent of local authority control.
Licence to teach: DCSF to close academies loophole
Times Educational Supplement
10/07/2009
Ministers have pledged to close the loophole that would have exempted teachers in some academies from the controversial new licence to teach.
