EDUCATION
John Healey unveils proposal to do away with planning permission for wind turbines
Times
18/11/2009
A consultation paper from the Department of Communities and Local Government includes proposals to ease planning permission for small scale renewable energy infrastructure (including solar panels, heat pumps and wind turbines) on non-domestic premises as part of proposals to achieve national commitments on climate change.
EDUCATION - FURTHER EDUCATION
Colleges stung by 6% cut in Train to Gain funding
Times Educational Supplement
20/11/2009
The Government has announced a 6% cut in Train to Gain funding and a 3% reduction for all college course rates in 2010.
'Embracing efficiency' could save FE from frontline cuts, claims 157 Group
Times Educational Supplement
20/11/2009
A policy paper by the 157 Group suggests savings of £175 million could be made across further education without cutting teaching and other frontline services.
FE staff ordered to pay up for compulsory membership of IfL
Times Educational Supplement
20/11/2009
The recently published national skills strategy proposes the Institute for Learning will have to become self-funding within three years. This means all teaching staff in further education would be forced to pay for the IfL membership that is required by statute. The IfL have admitted that its fees would have to rise to cover establishing a collections department.
Head of skills budget still in doubt as row over hierarchy rolls on
Times Educational Supplement
20/11/2009
The post of chief executive of the new Skills Funding Agency, rumoured to be Geoff Russell of the LSC, has still not been announced despite the agency taking over the adult skills budget in a few months time.
LSC absolves colleges
Times Educational Supplement
20/11/2009
Geoff Russell, chief executive of the Learning and Skills Council, has apologised for the capital funding crisis and said that colleges were not to blame.
Mandelson 'slashes' adult education spending
Guardian
19/11/2009
Lord Mandelson's department has been criticised over the new skills budget for 2010-2011 that cuts £150m funding for qualification-free courses often taken by people with learning disabilities and older people, and redirects the money for re-training unemployed people.
EDUCATION - HIGHER EDUCATION
Anti-racism initiatives by universities are failing to have an effect off campus
Guardian
24/11/2009
Universities are struggling to provide an effective response to a worrying rise in racism off campus.
Cuts will cost British universities their international reputations
Guardian
20/11/2009
Sir Alan Langlands, head of Hefce, has warned that the UK risks losing its international reputation for higher education due to public spending cuts and intense competition from overseas.
Extra student places - Institutions in for disappointment
Times Higher Education
19/11/2009
Most universities that competed for 2,000 additional student numbers in 2010-11 will be turned down as Hefce is allocating the places to "strategically important and vulnerable" subjects and some areas of health education.
Trainee bursaries slashed
Times Educational Supplement
20/11/2009
The Training and Development Agency for Schools has announced it will cut bursaries for trainee teachers by a third from September 2010 as the recession has increased potential recruits and all targets have been hit for the first time in 14 years.
Universities forced to cover student loan gap
Guardian
18/11/2009
Three-quarters of universities polled in a BBC survey have made payments from their hardship funds to help students affected by the Student Loans Company delays.
EDUCATION - SCHOOLS
Curtains for Tory plans to step up Ofsted 'dawn raids'
Times Educational Supplement
20/11/2009
The Conservatives have abandoned controversial plans that would have allowed Ofsted to increase "no notice" inspections if it wins the 2010 general election.
Government to fail on zero-carbon schools target
Building
24/11/2009
A report by the Westminster Sustainable Business Forum into the sustainability of the Building Schools for the Future programme concludes that the government will fail to meet its target of delivering zero-carbon schools by 2016.
Independents' leader slams child protection register
Times Educational Supplement
20/11/2009
David Lyscom, chief executive of the Independent Schools Council, has criticised the government over its decision to roll out ContactPoint nationwide. He is worried about the bureaucratic burden on schools, the risks of information falling into the wrong hands, and unclear guidance on the information that schools need to provide.
Major reform to curriculum at the heart of a renewed push to drive up standards
DCSF
19/11/2009
Schools Minister Vernon Coaker has announced a new curriculum for primary education in England. The new legislation introduced today is based on recommendations from an independent review of the primary curriculum by Sir Jim Rose. Reforms include: creating six "areas of learning" that will shape what children learn from September 2011; the right for 7 year olds to learn a foreign language; a new focus on speaking and listening; increased expectations of ICT skills; and giving all parents the option to send their child to school in the September after they are 4.
'Stubborn core' of bad teachers holds back progress - Ofsted
Guardian
24/11/2009
Ofsted's annual report warns that school improvements are being held back by a "stubborn core of inadequate teaching" that fails to inspire pupils.
Top 50 worst-performing schools to be 'named and shamed', unions warn
Times Educational Supplement
20/11/2009
Unions have warned that the proposed new powers in the Children, Schools and Families Bill for the Schools Secretary to intervene in fifty schools with the lowest standards could lead to them being publicly named.
