EDUCATION
Better protection for vulnerable children
DCSF
11/06/2009
New guidelines for police, teachers, social workers and health workers to protect children at risk from sexual exploitation have been published. 'Safeguarding children and young people from sexual exploitation' is an update to ‘Safeguarding Children involved in Prostitution’ which was issued in 2000.
Changes to the machinery of Government
Prime minister's Office
05/06/2009
The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills has been merged with the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. Together they will form a new Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). The new department will be headed by Business Secretary Lord Mandelson. Some of the education, training and enterprise aims of the new department are:
- Assess the changing skills needs of the UK economy.
- Invest in the development of a higher education system committed to widening participation, equipping people with the skills and knowledge to compete in a global economy and securing and enhancing Britain’s existing world class research base.
- Continue to invest in the UK’s world class science base and develop strategies for commercialising more of that science.
- Continue to invest in skills through the Further Education system to help people through the downturn and to prepare Britain for the future.
- Deliver on the government’s ambitious objectives to expand the number of apprenticeships.
Home Education - registration and monitoring proposals
DCSF
11/06/2009
Following the review of home education, the Government is proposing to introduce arrangements for the registration and monitoring of home educated children. The consultation document sets out proposals for a registration scheme and arrangements for the monitoring of provision to ensure that children are receiving the education they are entitled to.
Ministerial responsibilities announced at Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS)
11/06/2009
Positions of interest to the educational community are:
- Lord Mandelson, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.
- Pat McFadden, Minister for Business, Innovation and Skills.
- Lord Drayson, Minister for Science and Innovation.
- David Lammy, Minister for Higher Education and Intellectual Property.
- Kevin Brennan, Minister for Further Education, Skills, Apprenticeships and Consumer Affairs.
- Lord Young, Minister for Postal Affairs and Employment Relations, but this role includes responsibility for “student issues”.
Monopoly on vocational qualifications
Guardian
05/06/2009
Ofqual commissioned a study into how much exam boards charge schools, colleges and training centres to submit millions of pupils each year for vocational exams. The results reveal a handful of exam boards hold a worrying monopoly over England's 8,000 vocational qualifications.
Parents who teach pupils at home are to be vetted
Times Educational Supplement
12/06/2009
Parents who teach their children at home will be vetted for any convictions related to abuse following recommendations made in the Elective Home Education Review.
Report to the Secretary of State on the Review of Elective Home Education in England
HC Paper No.610 (Session 2008/09)
12/06/2009
Graham Badman, the former Director of Children's Services in Kent, has completed his review of elective home education in England for the DCSF. The recommendations, which have been accepted in full by the Government, include: that local authorities should provide more support to home educating families, e.g. through helping provide access to the national examination system, sports facilities, libraries and music tuition; a compulsory annual registration scheme, in which all parents who plan to home educate have to inform their local authority; the submission, on registration, of a statement of parents' intended approach to the child's education, including what they aim to achieve over the following 12 months; granting properly trained local authority officials the right of access to the home, following a minimum two week notification to the parents; and allowing local authorities to refuse registration to home educate if there is clear evidence of safeguarding concerns.
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/_download/?id=6080
The trouble with intervention: rough justice for teachers
Times Educational Supplement
12/06/2009
Teachers have a legal right to step in when there is violent behaviour, but increasing numbers are finding themselves facing police investigation for assault following complaints from pupils and parents.
EDUCATION - FURTHER EDUCATION
Low Pay Commission to consider minimum wage for apprentices
BIS
12/06/2009
The Low Pay Commission has been asked to consider the detailed arrangements for an apprentice minimum wage under the New Minimum Wage framework, and to recommend the rate and arrangements that should replace the existing exemptions, together with the timing for its introduction. The Commission has been asked to report to the Prime Minister and the Business Secretary by the end of February 2010.
Report calls for boost to kudos and funding
Times Educational Supplement
12/06/2009
The 14-19 Nuffield Review, which is billed as the largest investigation into education and training for 14-19 year olds in England and Wales in 50 years, suggests the difference in funding between schools and colleges should be reduced.
Trainers cut jobs and courses as fears over funding grow
Times Educational Supplement
12/06/2009
Train to Gain providers say they are being kept in the dark regarding the amount of funding they will receive from the Learning and Skills Council for 2009-10, so they are having to take action to ensure their continued financial viability.
EDUCATION - HIGHER EDUCATION
City lawyer to steer university vice-chancellors' lobby group
Guardian
08/06/2009
Universities UK has appointed Nicola Dandridge, the former head of the head of the Equality Challenge Unit, as chief executive from September.
Funding our future blueprint
National Union of Students
10/06/2009
The National Union of Students has published a blueprint for an alternative model for funding higher education. They propose the abolition of tuition fees and their replacement with a "tax" by which graduates should pay a proportion of their income into a trust for 20 years after they leave.
Research by Higher Education Institutions
Charity Commission
11/06/2009
The Charity Commission has published guidance setting out what universities must do to meet charity law requirements applying to research.
http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/supportingcharities/higherres.asp
'Universities' out as DIUS is succeeded by business ministry
Times Higher Education
11/06/2009
Universities have reacted with disappointment after the Government department that dealt with higher education was scrapped and replaced by a 'super-ministry' that will focus on business, skills and the economy. Fears grow that higher education is now seen as an arm of industry.
EDUCATION - SCHOOLS
Building Schools for the Future: renewing the secondary school estate
House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, HC Paper No.274 (Session 2008/09)
11/06/2009
A Commons Public Accounts Committee report on the Department for Children, Schools and Families' Building Schools for the Future Programme (BSF) states DCSF was over-optimistic in its original planning assumptions, creating expectations for the speed of delivery that could not be met. The programme is now expected to take 18 years, rather than the original 10-15 years. States it is too early to conclude whether the BSF will achieve its educational objectives; the establishment of Partnerships for Schools has helped local authorities to deliver more effectively, but Local Education Partnerships have yet to prove their value for money. The Committee criticises the DCSF and Partnerships for Schools for wasting public money on consultants and for appearing complacent about the challenge of renewing all secondary schools by 2023, concluding this target will be very challenging.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/
cm200809/cmselect/cmpubacc/274/274.pdf
Head teachers to get greater powers to control budgets locally
Guardian
11/06/2009
Ed Balls, the continuing Secretary of State at the DCSF, told a conference that a new white paper would give greater power to head teachers to control budgets locally, in a shift away from centralised government control.
New schools minister pledges support for academies
Guardian
09/06/2009
The new schools minister, Vernon Coaker, was forced to defend his view on academies after it emerged that, as a former deputy head teacher, he is a member of the National Union of Teachers and the Socialist Education Alliance, both of which oppose the privately-run schools.
Ofsted to replace 'light touch' with tougher school inspections
Guardian
12/06/2009
Ofsted is abandoning "lighter touch" inspections, introduced four years ago, in favour of tougher systems in which inspectors will spend twice as much time in the classroom scrutinising lessons. Schools that get lower exam results cannot be rated good, even if they are in tough areas and are making steady improvements.
School diversity lowers standards and raises costs, says review
Times Educational Supplement
12/06/2009
The Nuffield Review on 14-19 education and training claims that the diverse school system lowers attainment, raises costs and reduces choice. The final report also calls for teachers to be given more say in what they teach and rethink of the national curriculum.
Schools let CCTV pictures fall into the wrong hands
Times Educational Supplement
12/06/2009
Many schools are unwittingly selling CCTV images of pupils that are stored on camera they sell when they upgrade their photography equipment. Also a study shows that 90% of schools are breaking the law by not following guidance when fitting and using CCTV cameras.
Swine flu pandemic is threat to school term
Times
12/06/2009
The Government's Chief Medical Officer predicts a huge increase in swine flu when the Autumn term starts. He has warned that thousands of schools could be forced to close for weeks.
