Leadership

Review of Level 4 and 5 Education

This DfE research reveals that less well known Level 4 and 5 qualifications could be the key to unlocking the skills demanded by employers and lead to rewarding, well-paid jobs.

This DfE research reveals that less well known Level 4 and 5 qualifications could be the key to unlocking the skills demanded by employers and lead to rewarding, well-paid jobs.

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      string(277) "Vulnerable children, including those in care and those with SEND are particularly likely to underperform at school. This DfE report recognises the extra help these children need and pledges a review of the ‘children in need’ system.
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      string(407) "... are less likely to enter high quality higher education. Actions:Introduce the first T levels from 2020.Review higher technical education at level 4 and 5. Incentivise more employers to provide quality apprenticeships through the apprenticeship levy. Develop and increase the take-up of degree apprenticeships.Develop a further education ..."
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      string(277) "Vulnerable children, including those in care and those with SEND are particularly likely to underperform at school. This DfE report recognises the extra help these children need and pledges a review of the ‘children in need’ system.
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      string(5365) "The social mobility strategy provides a focus on closing the education gap between rich and poor children. However, it will be a challenge for the Government to deliver a step change in social mobility in the face of on-going cuts to benefits and public services, and the projected dramatic rise in child poverty over the next five years. To be effective, this strategy must form part of a wider cross-Government commitment to a country that works for all children. Main Points:Identify and spread evidence-based home learning environment programmes that support early language development. Form a partnership with Public Health England to enable health visitors and early years practitioners to identify and support children’s early speech, language and communication needs. Provide £50 million funding to create more high-quality school-based nursery provision for disadvantaged children. Identify communities with low take-up of early education – particularly for disadvantaged children – and provide bespoke support to improve this. Develop and deliver a comprehensive offer of support to improve early language and literacy – especially for disadvantaged pupils. Spread best practice to where it is needed, including from high performing local authorities to underperforming areas. Improve the outcome goals in reception, with a particular focus on reducing burdens and strengthening literacy and numeracy in the early years. Identify and share best practice on what should be taught in reception year. Ensure the accountability regime gives full credit to what teachers and leaders achieve in challenging schools. Ensure that the consequences of accountability are about securing the right support at the right time, rather than simply imposing punitive sanctions or structural change. Introduce smarter incentives to train, attract and retain the best teachers in challenging areas. Provide £30 million in tailored support to schools with disadvantaged intakes that are facing significant recruitment and retention challenges. Provide an enhanced offer of early career support by strengthening qualified teacher status (QTS), and support clearer career pathways and improved professional development for all teachers. Transform the quality of professional development available in challenging areas, by investing over £115 million in evidence-based approaches. Prioritise the growth and coverage of high quality MATs and Teaching Schools in challenging areas. Provide £300 million of targeted, evidence-based school improvement support for underperforming schools across the country. Increase access to the most effective curriculum support in more challenging areas and schools.Extending the reach of the free school programme to benefit more areas of educational underperformance. Make sure our system can benefit from the full range of expertise from across the education sector. Prioritise work to understand the needs of the most vulnerable children and how best to improve their outcomes. Transform the quality of Alternative Provision (AP) and special provision. Ensure that disadvantaged pupils can access the core academic subjects that unlock opportunity. Spread evidence-based approaches to supporting disadvantaged pupils. Young people who currently choose a technical route face a fragmented and confusing system.Young people who have fallen behind their peers by age 16 then find it harder to catch up and have options shut off. Young people from less advantaged backgrounds are less likely to enter high quality higher education. Actions:Introduce the first T levels from 2020.Review higher technical education at level 4 and 5. Incentivise more employers to provide quality apprenticeships through the apprenticeship levy. Develop and increase the take-up of degree apprenticeships.Develop a further education improvement support structure. Invest in further education college leaders to raise standards. Establish new Institutes of Technology. Invest the resources and capacity needed to make further education colleges centres of excellence for maths and English. Introduce a new transition year, with English and maths as a key component, for 16-year-olds who are not ready for more advanced academic or technical study or employment. Ensure higher education providers spend their access and participation funding effectively, targeting low participation areas. Improve transparency of widening participation practices to encourage applications to the most selective higher education institutions. Ensure every young person has at least seven encounters with employers during their education. Improve the quality of careers advice in school.Improve the advice available outside of education to young people and adults, including those who need the most support. Provide an Essential Life Skills programme in targeted areas, alongside a national mentoring programme. Introduce a National Retraining Scheme.  Improve adult basic skill provision. Provide more flexible provision to develop advanced skills. WEB LINK Unlocking Talent, Fulfilling Potential KeywordsSocial mobility, talent, potential, SEND, vulnerable children, underperform, children in need, child poverty, best practice"
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Leadership

Unlocking Talent, Fulfilling Potential

3 Jan 2018

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      string(398) "... education as part of its integrated inspections of localauthority looked after children and safeguarding services, but it has also calledthe government to conduct a national review of children missing education, toimprove the way data is collected both locally and nationally. The review shouldconsider how local authorities, schools, social services and ..."
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      string(5760) "sensitive to signs that mayindicate possible safeguarding concerns’. They have a duty to report to their localauthority if a child is absent for ten or more days continuously. The local authority is thenresponsible for investigating the child’s whereabouts and wellbeing, and if he cannot betraced he is placed on the list of children missing from education.The study by NCB highlights the fact that some local authorities do not keepadequate systems for monitoring all children in its county. Her Majesty’s Chief InspectorSir Michael Wilshaw makes it clear that there are some shortcomings in terms of localauthority leadership effectiveness. What is required, he says, is strong commitment fromsenior officials, for robust systems to be put into place, good partnership working andhigh expectations for the children involved. It also requires clear accountability at localauthority level.The Ofsted report shows that the effective local authorities and providers who supporttheir children successfully are those who have exercised their responsibility for leadershipwell – both strategically and at a personal and individual level. The individuals in all thelocal authorities must be proactive in communicating with others ensuring that no child intheir area slips out of sight.Ofsted’s calls for reformThe Ofsted report of 2013 highlighted the need for ‘clearer lines of accountability’over who is responsible for these young people’s education and said thatlocal authorities, schools and partner agencies need to work together to shareinformation more effectively and systematically to identify children missing fromeducation, particularly when their whereabouts are unknown.Ofsted promised to carry out an assessment of local authorities’ arrangementsfor children missing education as part of its integrated inspections of localauthority looked after children and safeguarding services, but it has also calledthe government to conduct a national review of children missing education, toimprove the way data is collected both locally and nationally. The review shouldconsider how local authorities, schools, social services and their partners can workwith children and their families, to ensure they and their families receive the bestsupport possible so they can get back into education.www.teachingtimes.com n Vol 4.5Education Every Child Journal59RecommendationsOfsted sets out a list of recommendations that details how each partner organisation should conduct its management ofchildren missing education. In particular it recommends that each local authority should:establish a central record of all children not accessing full-time education in the usual way, including those who areaccessing alternative provision, regardless of where they are on roll; maintain good information about the achievementand safety of any child or young person not accessing education in the usual way.identify clear lines of accountability for the quality and amount of provision, as well as the educational and socialoutcomes, for all children and young people of compulsory school age who do not access education in the usual way,taking note of the survey’s finding that this was most effective when a named person at a senior level was held toaccount for this statutory duty.share information across local authority boundaries in a timely and appropriate way to minimise interruption to a childor young person’s educational provision.ensure that every child is on the roll of a school, regardless of circumstances, unless parents have elected to educatetheir child at home.Schools, including academies and free schools, should:immediately stop unlawful exclusions and provide suitable support for children with behavioural difficulties.establish clear accountability for the achievement, safety and personal development of all children who are on theschool roll but not accessing school in the usual way, and for the quality and amount of provision made for them.inform the local authority of any part-time education arrangements, regardless of the type of school. This includesschools maintained by the local authority, academies, free schools and independent schools.keep children and young people on the school roll during periods of illness or custody (or for as long as it is relevant), inline with Government policy and guidance.respond quickly to any early signs of children and young people’s raised anxiety or dips in their progress, attendance orengagement in learning.give governors sufficient information about children and young people who are not accessing school in the usual way,so that governors can challenge the amount of provision being made and evaluate its effectiveness.**Taken from Ofsted (2013) Pupils missing out on educationExample of good practice: information sharing and monitoring (Ofsted 2013)One local authority has a single data system that uses information from education welfare services, behaviour supportservices and mental health services. 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Special Needs

Invisible children

7 Aug 2014

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      string(303) "By deciding to withdraw from the EU’s world leading international education exchange programme ‘Erasmus+’, the UK has undoubtedly shot itself badly in the foot.  Simon Sharron writes how this Brexit 'surprise' serves to underline again the lamentable state of language learning in the UK."
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      string(334) "... said they had stopped offering at least one foreignlanguage course to 16-year-olds.There were also five council educationdepartments in Scotland where no National 4 or 5 exams in German were recordedin 2017/18.A Level entries fall for MFLGiven the parlous state of languages forthe 5-16 age ..."
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      string(303) "By deciding to withdraw from the EU’s world leading international education exchange programme ‘Erasmus+’, the UK has undoubtedly shot itself badly in the foot.  Simon Sharron writes how this Brexit 'surprise' serves to underline again the lamentable state of language learning in the UK."
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      string(5782) "international engagement. “Schools with fewer teaching hours forlanguages at KS3 are more likely to have higher proportions of pupils eligiblefor FSM and lower overall educational attainment.”EBacc and new Scottish exams fail to revive languages The British Council’s findings revealthe Government’s failure to revive languages by making MFL or Classics one ofthe five pillars of the so-called ‘English Bacc’.“Languages form one of the five pillars of the government’s EnglishBaccalaureate (EBacc) measure of school performance alongside English,mathematics, the sciences, and the humanities (geography or history). The EBacchad a temporary effect on improving uptake of languages at General Certificateof Secondary Education (GCSE) in 2013; however, in 2017 only 38.2%7 of pupilsin the state sector were entered for the EBacc, and of those who entered 4 outof the 5 components 80.4% were missing the languages component”A 2019 BBC survey about modern languagestrends in UK secondary schools had a response from 2048 mainstream schoolsshedding light on the gloomy picture around the country:In England: drops of between30% and 50% since 2013 in the numbers taking GCSE language courses in the worstaffected areas.In Wales figures showed that GCSE language entries fell by 29% overfive years, and 35% of schools have dropped at least one language from theiroptions at GCSE.In Northern Ireland, the numbers taking modern languages at GCSEhave fallen by 40% since 2003, with 45% of schools saying they have cut thenumbers of specialist language teachers in the past five years.In Scotland: since 2014 a 19%decline in language entries at National 4 and 5 level (GSCE equivalents) . 41%of schools who responded said they had stopped offering at least one foreignlanguage course to 16-year-olds.There were also five council educationdepartments in Scotland where no National 4 or 5 exams in German were recordedin 2017/18.A Level entries fall for MFLGiven the parlous state of languages forthe 5-16 age group, it is hardly surprising that the rot has spread to post-16and university coursesIn OFQUAL’s  2019 analysis of“Recent trends in modern languages exam entries in anglophone countries”, itsauthor, Darren Churchward, found that in the UK A Level entries in MFL haddropped by 20% in the period 2002-2019. The BBC survey used figures from the Joint Council for Qualifications toillustrate this alarming downward trend.However, interestingly, the same analysis shows that in the Republic ofIreland, an Anglophone country fully committed to the EU, the level of entriesfor Modern Languages in its A Level equivalent Leaving Certificatequalification increased over a 13-year period between 2005 and 2013. Incontrast to England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, this upward trendincluded an increase in the number of entries for German.To enhance cooperation in education with Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland will pay and make it possible for any student holding a British passport and enrolled at a university in Northern Ireland to participate in the EU flagship Erasmus+ Programme.University MFL courses disappearingIn their report for the British Academyentitled “Language learning: turning a crisis into an opportunity”, Neil Kennyand Harriet Barnes collated startling data showing:“The number of students studying modernlanguages at undergraduate level has fallen by 54 per cent since 2007–08 ….In the same period, at least 10 university modern language departments haveclosed, and another nine have significantly downsized. Fewer than half thepupils in English secondary schools take a GCSE in a modern or ancientlanguage. Half of sixth-form colleges in England have stopped offering at leastone modern language A level. And can you guess how many secondary school pupilsstudied German A level in Wales in 2018? A mere 70.”Call for ActionIn 2016 the Teaching Schools Councilproduced an authoritative, review of pedagogy in Modern Languages under the leadershipof Ian Bauckham CBE, recently appointed in December 2020 as interim head ofOFQUAL. The review resulted in  a compendiumof good practice instructions in an attempt to shore up Modern Languages whichBauckham recognised was in a fragile state.In November 2018, a Primary LanguagesPolicy Summit (RIPL), assembled leading players in policy making as well leadingprimary languages practitioners and academics from across the country toproduce the ‘White Paper Primary Languages Policy in England – The Way Forward’.In March 2019, the ‘All-Party Parliamentary Group on Modern Languages producedits own recovery plan for languages. In July 2020, The British Academy, the Arts and Humanities ResearchCouncil, the Association of School and College Leaders, the British Council andUniversities UK joined forces to propose ‘Towards a national languagesstrategy: education and skills’National Centre of Excellence for LanguagesIn August 2018, the DfE itself unveiled a“new drive to deliver a nation of confident linguists and ensure businesseshave the skilled workers they need.”A national Centre of Excellence was ledagain by Ian Bauckham CBE and supported by 9 regional hubs. DartfordGrammar School, DartfordDixonsKings Academy, BradfordPresdalesSchool, Ware, HertfordshireSirWilliam Borlase’s Grammar School, MarlowSt James’School, ExeterTheBroxbourne School, Broxbourne, HertfordshireArchbishopTemple School, PrestonBlatchingtonMill School and Sixth Form, HoveCardinalHume Catholic School, GatesheadIts mission is  “to improve language curriculum design"
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Leadership

UK’s Huge Languages Skills Deficit Revealed By Erasmus Exit

23 Jan 2021

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      string(5783) "Leadership BriefingLeadership Briefing – www.teachingtimes.comReports Summaries – a weeklyservice of essential summaries,in-depth reports and criticalanalysis that’s new and relevantto education, linked to originalsource documents.A CENSUS OF THE CHILDREN’S HOMESWORKFORCEKeywordsChildren’sHomes,workforce, pay,qualifications,training, reform,programme,effectiveness,managers, staff SummaryThis DfE report gives a census about the pay, qualifications and training of people working inchildren’s homes in England in 2013.This census was the first of its kind and was carried out to capture a snapshot of the children’s homessector in 2013. The findings are being used to inform the Department for Education’s children’s homereform programme. This census gathered detailed information about staff qualifications (includingwhether staff met the qualification requirements set out in regulation), data on staff pay and trainingand Continuous Professional Development (CPD) in the sector. The census also gathered informationon the services homes offered and the type of staff they employed. A separate review of theeffectiveness of training and qualifications currently undertaken by staff in children’s homes is beingcarried out as part of the reform programme.Main Findings: ■ Over nine in ten staff (excluding registered managers) either held a Level 3 qualification, or wereworking towards the Level 3 Diploma (92% – of which 80% held a Level 3 qualification or higherand 12% were working towards the Level 3 Diploma). Similarly, around nine in ten managerseither held the Level 5 or equivalent Level 4 NVQ qualification or were working towards the Level5 Diploma (89% – of which 76% held the Level 5 or equivalent Level 4 qualification and 14% wereworking towards the Level 5 Diploma). ■ Three quarters of all homes had budget for CPD, 98% had a formal appraisal system and 93%had CPD in place for their staff. Managers reported that a wide range of training was available tostaff, with 83% of homes offering to release staff for external training, 79% saying they bring inexternal trainers to the home and 80% offer internal training. ■ Over half of all managers (54%) said that they find it difficult to recruit staff with the appropriatelevel of skills and training for the advertised position. Managers who have difficulty recruitingwere asked why they have these difficulties. The main responses given were that applicants donot have the required experience (91%) and do not have the necessary qualifications (52%). ■ When asked where staff had worked in their job prior to their current position in the children’shome, the most common response was in other children’s homes (29%). Similarly, mostemployees leave to go to another children’s home (44%). Also common was that staff come froma job working with young people (14%) and leave to go into employment working with youngpeople (40%). This indicates that staff within the children’s home sector are dedicated to workingWeek Commencing 19th January 2015https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/391529/RR437_-_Children_s_homes_workforce_census_.pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/391529/RR437_-_Children_s_homes_workforce_census_.pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/359483/DFE-RR286_-_Are_free_schools_using_innovative_approaches.pdfLeadership BriefingLeadership Briefing – www.teachingtimes.comReports Summaries – a weeklyservice of essential summaries,in-depth reports and criticalanalysis that’s new and relevantto education, linked to originalsource documents.with children and young people.Conclusions: ■ The level of staff meeting qualifications set out in regulation was generally positive across thesector. Managers reported that 80% of staff held a Level 3 qualification or higher and 12% wereworking towards the Level 3 Diploma. Nine in ten managers held the Level 5 or equivalent Level4 qualification. ■ Overall, managers reported that only 1% of staff were being paid at or below the NationalMinimum Wage (NMW) and 11% of staff were being paid less than the Living Wage Rate (LWR).There are areas where staff pay is low (for example, London where 27% of all staff in the regionare paid below the LWR). Similarly, it was more common for staff to be paid below the LWR in theprivate sector compared (15% in private sector compared with 0% in local authority run homes).All other staff were paid above the NMW and LWR. ■ All homes have some form of training and personal development system in place for their staff.Three quarters have budget for continuous professional development (CPD), nearly all (98%)had a formal appraisal system and 93% had CPD in place for their staff. Generally a variety oftraining is available to staff, with 83% of homes offering to release staff for external training, 79%saying they bring in external trainers to the home and 80% offering internal training. The censusdid not capture if additional training to these options was offered by homes. ■ Recruitment of new staff across the sector seems to be of concern to managers, with over halfof all managers (54%) saying that they find it difficult to recruit. When those who have difficultyrecruiting were asked why they believe they have these difficulties, the main responses werethat applicants do not have the required experience (91%) and do not have the necessaryqualifications (52%). ■ Career pathways into and out of children’s homes seemed to be broadly"
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Leadership

A Census Of The Children's Homes Workforce

14 Jan 2015

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