EDUCATION
Balls asks for £2.6bn to boost education
Financial Times
17/11/2009
The Children's secretary Ed Balls has asked the Chancellor Alistair Darling to grant the DCSF an inflation-busting increase in the next three-year spending review as he hopes education will not suffer greatly in the forthcoming public spending cuts.
Proposal to restrict student visas to degree level education - AoC comment
Association of Colleges
12/11/2009
The AoC has commented on Gordon Brown's announcement that the student visa system will be reviewed and entry may only be granted in future to people signing up to degree and postgraduate courses. Chief Executive Martin Doel said colleges are "a source of considerable benefit to the UK economy and to the students themselves. We do hope that the review does not become a blunt instrument which undermines the good work that legitimate Colleges undertake.” The review announcement was made alongside the draft Immigration Bill which replaces the five current application categories available to migrants with one clear concept - ‘permission’ to be in the UK.
EDUCATION - FURTHER EDUCATION
Capital funding fiasco brings campus closure
Times Educational Supplement
13/11/2009
Brooklands College in Surrey has announced that its Ashford campus will have to close due to the £11 million debt accrued in preparing a bid to the LSC for funding new facilities.
Colleges face threat of further £200m cutback
Times Educational Supplement
13/11/2009
Colleges face pay freezes, redundancies and reduced funding for student places next year as ministers may need to cut budgets by £200 million more than expected.
Investing in the right skills: Government publishes Skills Investment Strategy
BIS
16/11/2009
The Skills Investment Strategy 2010 -11 sets out how the Government will fund the priorities announced in the national skills strategy, Skills for Growth.
Mandelson announces 35,000 new apprenticeships
Guardian
11/11/2009
The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills has published "Skills for Growth", a national skills strategy report. It proposes cuts to low-quality college courses and the Train to Gain scheme to fund 35,000 apprenticeships. Schools, colleges and universities are all included in the 10-year plan to refocus adult education towards practical skills training.
Sector Skills Councils Relicensing – Further Decisions Announced
BIS
12/11/2009
ConstructionSkills (for the construction industry) and the Institute of the Motor Industry (for the retail motor industry) have been successful in their application for a further trademark licence to operate as Sector Skills Councils and have gone through a comprehensive assessment process led by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills.
Slash funding for 'non-essential' courses, say CBI
Times Educational Supplement
13/11/2009
The Confederation of British Industry has published a paper that calls on the government to reform the way it funds adult skills and training support. Reforming Skills Funding: Delivering Productive Results recommends a wholly market-led structure with funding for courses that have "no economically valuable output" to be cut.
The Review of Governance and Strategic Leadership in English Further Education
LSIS
17/11/2009
The Association of Colleges and the Learning and Skills Improvement Service have published a review of governance practices in colleges, private work based learning providers and adult community learning providers. The commissioned review sought to identify 'good' practice and reviews the implications of the proposed move towards shared regulation and the machinery of government changes in 2010.
Will council funding bring a new wealth to colleges?
Guardian
17/11/2009
This article considers the preparations being made by colleges as control of 16-18 funding is due to move from central control to local authorities.
EDUCATION - HIGHER EDUCATION
Ancient university buildings under threat
Guardian
17/11/2009
This article considers the challenge of adapting historic listed buildings to make them fit for purpose, with specific focus on compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act and improvements for technological advances.
David Lammy Announces Appointments to the Board of The Higher Education Funding Council for England
BIS
10/11/2009
The four new Hefce Board members are Madeleine Atkins, Vice-Chancellor of Coventry University, Ruth Farwell, Vice-Chancellor of Buckinghamshire New University, Shirley Pearce, Vice-Chancellor of Loughborough University, and Anil Ruia, Director of Wrengate Limited.
FEC scrutinised as deficit lingers
Times Higher Education
12/11/2009
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is commissioning a new review into the full economic costing system, which provides universities with extra money to pay for infrastructure and other costs that are not covered by research grants.
New network for advisers offering words to the wise
Times Higher Education
12/11/2009
The University Alliance is setting up a policy advisers group. This new network group reflects the increasing trend for vice-chancellors to appoint policy advisers.
Nursing to become graduate entry
BBC
12/11/2009
The Department of Health has announced that all new nurses in England will have to be educated to degree level from 2013.
Tories likely to stick with framework if they take over
Times Higher Education
12/11/2009
The Shadow Universities Secretary David Willetts has said that the majority of the Government's higher education framework fits with Conservative thinking.
Unions angry over breaches to collective salary negotiations
Times Higher Education
12/11/2009
Several higher education institutions are paying a 0.5 per cent salary increase to staff in the absence of a national deal, leading the unions to claim that they have broken a collective agreement.
Universities cut back on building over funding fears
Building
13/11/2009
Some universities are cutting back capital spending by as much as 40% because they are concerned that Hefce funding will be slashed by the next government when it is due for renewal in 2011.
Universities plan job losses in response to looming public spending cuts
Guardian
17/11/2009
Unions are concerned over planned university job cuts at universities as managers anticipate reduced funding.
EDUCATION - SCHOOLS
Faith schools attacked over staff
BBC
15/11/2009
The National Secular Society has argued that the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 which allows faith schools to take into account an applicant's religious beliefs, discriminates against non-religious teachers. The DCSF has said it has not received any complaints.
'Irrelevant' and 'unwieldy' - GTC damned by own study
Times Educational Supplement
13/11/2009
A survey of 15 of the General Teaching Council for England's partners concludes it is not a convincing professional body and has failed to engage with teachers.
New and improved guidance for schools sends out a clear message about the dangers of drugs and alcohol
DCSF
13/11/2009
A consultation has been launched on guidance for schools on all matters relating to drug education and the management of drugs within the school community. The guidance will help support schools to develop their drug and alcohol curriculum until September 2011 when PSHE – which includes drug, alcohol and sex and relationships education – is expected to become a compulsory subject for all school aged children in England. This guidance will then form the basis of new guidance on statutory drugs education as part of PSHE.
Poorly performing sponsors could be allowed to carry on running academies
Times Educational Supplement
13/11/2009
Critics claim a government document setting out details of the proposed Accredited School Providers scheme is so loosely-worded that academy sponsors who lose their government-approved kitemark could still retain control over state schools.
Schools fear Ed Balls' guarantees will trigger litigation
Guardian
15/11/2009
The Queen's speech on 18 November is expected to include a new bill setting out plans to force schools to improve that would include guarantees of the services parents and pupils can expect from their school. Head teachers have warned that this would lead to an avalanche of litigation.
Schools want lawyers to fill governor shortage
Birmingham Post
11/11/2009
The shortage of school governors could be made up by lawyers looking for voluntary roles, the Law Society has claimed.
Sorry governors, can't make the meeting - I'm off to do a spot of fishing
Times Educational Supplement
13/11/2009
The School Staffing Regulations 2009 introduces a new rule this month which demands that it is the governors responsibility to ensure the head teacher is given sufficient free time to have a satisfactory work-life balance.
Tories ask teachers to go it alone with 'free schools' of their own
Times Educational Supplement
13/11/2009
If the Conservatives form the next government in 2010 they plan to encourage groups of ambitious teachers to set up their own state-funded schools.
