GCSEs - or the poor-man's equivalent Poor quality 'vocational' or 'vocationally related' qualifications at GCSE are locking both low-income pupils and vocational education into second-class status.·         Pseudo 'vocatio » Read More

Research / Think Tanks

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Michael Gove the Shadow Education Secretary in a series of speeches is setting out the Tory education stall. The most recent speech at the IPPR on 4 August was designed to demonstrate that there is clear blue water between the Tories and the Government on education and indeed that they are not simpl » Read More

Comment and Analysis

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Every one of the country's 3,500 secondary schools is to be improved or rebuilt under the BSF initiative by 2020. There are currently 13 schools which have completed their full or partial refurbishment through the Building Schools for the Future programme .BSF funding is provided to local author » Read More

Comment and Analysis

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The Government has issued a pamphlet, The Diploma: Bringing Learning To Life, which aims to convince more teenagers to take diplomas the courses, which combine academic theory with practical work experience. It says a diploma "will help you earn more" and has a table suggesting a 16-year-o » Read More

Comment and Analysis | FE/HE/ Skills

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Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5 » Read More

Comment and Analysis

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Ofsted still feels that too many teachers are teaching to the test so that creativity in the classroom suffers .Greg Watson of the OCR says that Government interference and control from the centre is creating confusion and undermining confidence in the testing and qualifications regime. Teachers mor » Read More

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The Independent; Thursday, 7 August 2008 This year's SATs results have provided a sorry spectacle. From last month's shambles over marking to this week's release of provisional results for primary schools before all pupils had their scores, we have watched a sequence of unadulter » Read More

Comment and Analysis | Lead Story

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  5 August 2008   Schools Minister Jim Knight today welcomed the improvements in provisional test results for 11 year olds. The figures show that the number of primary school pupils reaching the expected level for their age at Key Stage 2 in English has improved by » Read More

Whitehall / Westminster

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  31 July 2008  England’s KS2 mathematics, science and literacy curricula are broadly similar to those in other high performing countries, although there are some systematic differences. However, the analytic demands placed on English pupils in reading make it more demanding » Read More

Research / Think Tanks

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  Comment   Educational Testing Services Europe last year won a five-year contract to mark standardized tests taken by 11- and 14-year-old pupils across England in English, science and mathematics.    The company is a subsidiary of Princeton, New Jersey- » Read More

Comment and Analysis

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