Government’s push for more skilled workers
By Rachel Wood
McDonald's now offer their staff the opportunity to study for a McDiploma.
Lord Leitch’s review of the UK’s long term skills needs in 2006, highlighted the importance of investing in what he called “our natural resource – people”.
Leitch argued that the UK needed to keep up with the emerging economies like India and China and that “without increased skills, we would condemn ourselves to a lingering decline in competitiveness, diminishing economic growth and a bleaker future for all”.
This review was written amidst a backdrop of steady economic growth in the UK for the past 14 years. Now as a global recession looms, these values would appear ever more significant.
New vision
Leitch’s report recommended that the UK form a new vision – to become a world leader in skills by 2020.
Part of this vision was to be achieved by the government asking employers to sign a “pledge” to train more employees at work.
Sainsbury’s was the first supermarket to sign this pledge in 2007, and fast-food restaurant McDonald’s, airline Flybe and the Network Rail were the first companies to offer the in-house Level 3 courses.
The recent creation of both practical and theory based diplomas mean students are able to combine units from these courses with others.
In January, McDonald’s announced – along with other commercial companies – that it had won approval from the government’s exam watchdog to offer courses which could form part of an A-level.
The pilot course is entitled “Basic Shift Manager” and it covers finance, marketing and human resources.
Senior Vice President of McDonald’s UK, David Fairhurst, feels it is right for their work-based training to be nationally recognised.
Mr Fairhurst told the BBC: “We know that our standards are high and a lot of the skills that people learn at McDonalds will really serve them well to progress either in our system or to the point to move beyond our system to other employers”.
Click here to watch BBC News’s report on McDiplomas.
Increasing employer investment in higher level qualifications and raising people’s aspirations and awareness of the value of skills was very central to Leitch’s plans.
But some employers are concerned that by introducing many different qualifications – like the McDiploma – onto the market, this might just lead to confusion.
Nick Gooderson, of Construction Skills, voiced this concern to the BBC: “Unless it is managed carefully, we could see a proliferation of qualifications and make the marketplace very complicated and back to where we were six years ago”.
Click here to read the leading article: “Sainsbury’s offers nationally recognised qualifications to entire workforce”.
Click here to view my blog.
(Image courtesy of Steve Brandon)
How do schools tackle bullying?
By Rachel Wood
In a BBC Radio 4 interview with ‘Midweek’ presenter, Libby Purves, educational consultant, Dr Carrie Herbert, criticised schools for what she saw as “abandoning” severely bullied children.
Dr Herbert has established special Red Balloon Schools that educate children who would otherwise miss school to avoid the bullies – find out more by reading the leading article.
A great deal of work is being done to raise the awareness of bullying – the above youtube clip shows a recording of ipoweri’s National Anti-bullying Conference for Young People in 2006.
Under the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, schools are legally required to have an anti-bullying policy which aims to ensure that pupils learn in a supportive, caring and safe environment without fear of being bullied.
A recent case study in Educational Psychology in Practice, investigated 142 school anti-bullying policies in one county, and concerns were raised about a lack of coverage of important areas:
· Follow up of incidents.
· Management and use of records.
· Detailed preventative measures such as playground work and peer support.
· Infrequent mention of homophobic bullying and cyberbullying.
· Little differentiation made between policies from primary and secondary schools.
Kidscape
Kidscape – an anti-bullying organisation – provides an example of their anti-bullying policy, which is in accordance to government guidelines, on their website.
It outlines the importance that all staff appreciate what constitutes bullying and that these definitions should be passed onto the children.
Speaking to a Family GP, Dr Becky Viney, who has dealt with a lot of victims of bullying during her time, she highlighted the importance of recognising the signs that a child is being bullied as early as possible.
These signs can be confusing and hard to identify, for example, Kidscape gives a possible sign that a child is being bullied as if they “become aggressive, disruptive or unreasonable”.
Within the school’s curriculum
An anti-bullying policy must become part of a school's culture.
Kidscape suggests a preventive of ‘bullying’ is making it something that is talked about, and explored with the children.
This can be achieved by the children helping to design a set of rules or signing a behaviour contract.
The issue of bullying can be explored in a literary lesson, through poetry and creative writing so the students are able to express their fears and feelings about it.
Kidscape advises schools to follow the ethos that “We are a TELLING school” to communicate to the children that bullying is a high priority and something that will not be ignored.
Click here to read the leading article about Dr Carrie Herbert’s Red Balloon Schools.
Click here to view my blog.
(Image courtesy of Banksider)
What is sex education?
By Rachel Wood
Schools minister, Jim Knight, has just announced the government’s decision to make sex education compulsory in all primary and secondary schools in England by 2010.
Sex and Relationships education (SRE) is an age appropriate programme that “teaches children and young people about sex, sexuality, emotions, relationships and sexual health”.
The areas covered may include the importance of establishing stable relationships, how to overcome peer pressure regarding sexual activity and the benefits of safer sex.
Parents have always had the right to withdraw their child from SRE lessons if they deem it appropriate, provided the lessons did not form part of the national curriculum.
The Learning Schools Act 2000 states that parents can view a school’s SRE policy.
SRE in primary schools
Up until now, primary schools have not been required to teach SRE, apart from the elements that fall under the science curriculum.
These elements are compulsory for all pupils of primary and secondary school age (7-16). Children are expected to be taught the biological aspects of human reproduction, anatomy, puberty, uses of hormones to control fertility and how viruses can affect human health. This includes teaching regarding sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS.
Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHE) may also cover other aspects of SRE and alcohol and drug awareness.
Under the science curriculum for 5-11 year olds, children are expected to be able to:
- Recognise similarities and differences between male and female body parts.
Click here to view an extract of a primary school lesson teaching this.
- Understand how animals and humans reproduce and how their offspring grow and develop.
- Know the stages of the human life cycle.
Secondary school children from 11-16, cover much more detailed and technical aspects of reproduction in their science curriculum. This includes, for example, learning about how the fusion of the male and female reproductive cells leads to fertilisation.
As a result of the recent governmental decision, lessons about personal, social and health matters including sex and relationships will be compulsory for all schools to cover. The details of the new programme of study are currently being discussed. See the leading article for more information.
Click Here to see my blog.
Interested further?
You can find out more about the current statutory areas of SRE from the websites below:
Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) – Sex and Relationship Education Guidance
fpa – Factsheet on Sex and Relationships Education
What has Lord Adonis contributed to educational reform?
By Rachel Wood
Lord Adonis had been regarded as an influential figure in former prime minister, Tony Blair’s educational plans.
Adonis had worked as a Downing Street policy advisor for seven years until he was controversially appointed junior education minister in Blair’s cabinet reshuffle in May 2005.
Former Liberal Democrat spokesman, Phil Wilis, disapproved of Adonis’ promotion from advisor to minister, arguing that it was unacceptable for an unelected figure to have “unprecedented power.”
Ruth Kelly – former Education Secretary – in contrast, heralded Adonis as a “man of immense intellect, passion, commitment to the cause of education and social justice.”
Adonis’s early vision
By the time Adonis was appointed junior education minister in 2005, he had been largely accredited with driving Labour’s radical educational policies throughout their two terms.
Whilst a journalist for The Observer in 1996, Adonis wrote an article that outlined an educational ideology that has come to characterise Labour’s reforms over the past 11 years.
Here, he emphasised the importance of “standards, public-private partnership, higher expectations of teachers, the setting and selection of pupils by aptitude, vocational education, and decisive intervention to revive failing schools”.
In addition to this, he suggested some decisions “would be difficult in the fields of student finance [and] secondary school selection.”
Top-up fees
Indeed, Tony Blair’s decision to push through the introduction of university top-up fees in January 2004 was a difficult and controversial decision to make, particularly given Labour’s manifesto commitment in 2001, not to introduce top-up fees.
The Higher Education Bill was won by just five votes when it was put to the House of Commons. At the time, it was widely regarded as Blair’s biggest test as prime minister.
Adonis was a firm advocate of top-up fees, arguing that it would lead to “a £1.4 billion increase in funding for universities”. As Blair’s chief policy advisor, he pushed for top-up fees to be considered.
Meanwhile some ministers feared alienating ‘Middle England’ parents, and believed that top-up fees were not being pursued for their own merit but because “There was a vacuum in the search for a solution to the problem of university funding”.
City academies
Adonis’s earlier reference to the future importance of ‘public-private partnership’ within education, paved the way for the establishment of special ‘city academies’ that aimed to raise the aspirations and development of pupils living in poorer parts of the country. Academies are funded through the government and external businesses. See leading article for more details.
Adonis also promoted a partnership between the Labour government and the independent schools sector. William Hulme’s Grammar School in Manchester, for example, opted to abandon fees and academic selection in order to become an academy in 2007.
William Hulme’s former head-teacher, Steven Patriarca, explained that the move was about continuing to reflect the ethnic and social diversity of Manchester: “We take pride in contributing to community cohesion”.
Adonis hoped that city academies would help to address, what he saw as “the deep anti-education culture of the underclass”.
Click here to read the leading article about Lord Adonis’s exit as schools minister.
Click Here to view my blog.
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