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The Modern Apprenticeship Advisory Committee was appointed by the Secretary of State for Education and Employment in March 2001 to provide advice to the Secretary and the Learning and Skills Council on a three year action plan for the development, promotion and delivery of Modern Apprenticeships in the United Kingdom (UK). The initial sections of the report provide a rationale for the development of an apprenticeship system, and an outline of the current situation after recent reforms. Recommendations are made in relation to the essential aspects of a national framework for apprenticeships, development in the content and certification of apprenticeships, the delivery of apprenticeships, and pre-employment and 'other training'. The report also provides projections of targets for the eventual place of apprenticeships within the education and training system, suggests basic entitlements to apprenticeship places, and looks at aspects of the task of promoting apprenticeships. The report concludes with a suggested timetable for the implementation of the action plan and a summary of recommendations. Annexes contain the terms of reference and committee membership, representations from various organisations, market research outcomes, participation statistics for apprenticeships by sector and gender, and the timetable for implementation. Show less

This document outlines a number of key proposals and opportunities for young people. Those relating to information, advice and guidance will be of most interest to schools. These proposals will help schools to deliver the 14-19 curriculum set out in the recent White Paper, as well as giving them a clearer voice in the services that are delivered to their pupils. They will also provide clearer routes to help outside the school for pupils with additional needs. Show less

This report has been prepared to describe how the UK can best promote progress in taking forward the Lisbon Agenda to develop 'a dynamic, competitive, knowledge-based economy in Britain', the British contribution to the same, broader EU goal. The report sets down the UK's position in relation to education, skills and lifelong learning and examines how these can best support economic reform under the Lisbon Agenda. The report examines four key areas: where the UK is doing well; where it is falling behind other member states; where there are significant differences between member states; and what can be learned from other member states. The author suggests that the UK has emerging strengths in developing a knowledge economy and implementing the Lisbon Agenda, and, in most areas, policy is encouraging movement in the right direction. However, there are still significant weaknesses, for example, lower levels of skills among the adult workforce than other member states, the lack of a well-established formal system of vocational training, a lack of parity of esteem and integration between vocational and academic pathways to learning, and a poorly coordinated, under-resourced and undervalued further education system. Political and institutional cooperation and determination will be required to continue taking forward the Lisbon Agenda. Show less

The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) holds its annual research conference as a means of communicating its research and information interests to the research community and to encourage engagement in key policy issues. This report provides details of the papers presented at the conference along with information about the Department’s recently commissioned work and research publications. The report begins with the keynote speech by John Healey, Minister for Adult Skills, in which he emphasised the importance of strong links between policy and research evidence in education and skills. Strategies to achieve this goal include improving accessibility of research evidence to potential users outside the research community, employing a strategic approach to investment in research, and ensuring a coherent research effort and the effective dissemination and impact of research. Charles Desforges, Director of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) teaching and learning research program, outlined the challenges ahead for educational research over the next five years. The report provides summaries of the following seminars: Education and exclusion: multi-agency responses; Childcare; School; 14-21 participation; Skills; Adult participation and basic skills; The wider benefits of learning; Early years: Effective Provision of Pre-school Education (EPPE); The teacher labour market; Returns to education; Youth issues; Workforce development; Higher education: widening participation; EPPI-Centre (the Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre). The concluding plenary session summarises the contributions of a panel discussion of future directions for education and skills research. The final section of the report lists research funded by DfES in 2000 and 2001. Show less

A two part research project investigating the administration of 17 funds for communities was carried out with the aims of: reporting on the range of methods that exist for allocating government funding to communities; assessing the impact of the different methods of allocation in terms of who they reach and what they support; assessing the delivery of the Community Champions and the Community Development Learning Fund (CDLF) initiatives and their supporting activities; assessing the outcomes of Community Champions and CDLF funding; making recommendations for improving the operation of Community Champions and CDLF; and developing relevant outcomes for linking community activity to education, training and employment activities. This report contains the findings from the first part of the project. It covers the range of methods used for allocating government funding to communities and provides an assessment of the different allocation methods in terms of who they reach and what they support. The chapters are: Introduction; Funding for communities: who does what?; Funding for communities: what works?; Pointers for future government funding policy and programmes.

The second report from this project is indexed at TD/TNC 67.459. Show less

Consultation on the Green Paper '14-19: extending opportunities, raising standards' (indexed at TD/IRD 88.170) revealed strong support for reform of learning opportunities available to 14-19 year olds at school, college and in the workplace. The UK compares poorly with other countries on measures of participation and achievement. The most persistent shortcoming of the system is the weakness of vocational provision. The challenge is to create a 14-19 phase that provides a clearer and more appropriate curriculum and qualifications framework that embraces strong provision for both academic and vocational options. The 14-19 next steps document (indexed at TD/TNC 74.144) builds on the proposals outlined in the Green Paper and extensive responses to the Green Paper consultation. This companion report contains a number of annexes providing a more detailed explanation of elements of the strategy: Inquiry into A Level standards; The 14-19 curriculum and qualifications; Supporting local delivery; 14-19 Pathfinders; Supporting choice: advice and guidance; Working Group on 14-19 Reform; Implications for schools and colleges and timetable for change; 14-19 education and training in other countries (featuring Australia, Denmark, France, Netherlands, USA, Canada, Finland, Germany, and Sweden).

A summary of the main report is indexed at TD/TNC 74.146. Show less

In the United Kingdom (UK), prisoners who are unemployed on their release are twice as likely to re-offend as those with stable employment. Success in the workplace is more likely if prisoners have the mix of vocational skills and personal qualities which employers are looking for. This statement outlines a plan to lift prisoners' knowledge, education and skills levels along with their self-esteem, both in prison and in the key period after their release, to enable them to succeed in the workplace on their release. The plan is to be achieved through a strategic partnership between the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) and the Prison Service and in cooperation with all the key agencies. The statement describes the partnership's aims and objectives and concludes with an outline of the new partnership model and priorities for immediate action in the first year. Show less

This report explores the important issues of recruitment and retention of staff who work with learners across the post-16 learning and skills sector. The study has involved four key elements, comprising of: a large-scale quantitative telephone survey; a large-scale quantitative telephone survey of human resources (HR) managers in further education (FE); large-scale qualitative interviews with staff with an emphasis on those working in maths and science subjects; and small-scale qualitative telephone interviews with dissatisfied staff (identified at the initial survey stage). The main aims of the research were to identify: what motivates those who teach to join the sector; the main barriers to entering the sector; the main benefits of teaching in the sector and general levels of satisfaction; at what point in their career teachers join the sector (and their previous occupation) and at what point they leave the sector; and reasons for leaving the sector and subsequent destinations. The report contains: an outline of the methodology and a profile of respondents; a section on what motivates staff to join the sector; a report on the experiences of staff on entry to the sector; information about turnover, vacancies and hard to fill vacancies; a discussion of issues relating to working in the sector; a report on levels on satisfaction, benefits and drawbacks; a report on training and development issues; an examination of staff perceptions of government strategy for the sector; and conclusions resulting from the research. Show less

A two part research project investigating the administration of 17 funds for communities was carried out with the aims of: reporting on the range of methods that exist for allocating government funding to communities; assessing the impact of the different methods of allocation in terms of who they reach and what they support; assessing the delivery of the Community Champions and the Community Development Learning Fund (CDLF) initiatives and their supporting activities; assessing the outcomes of Community Champions and CDLF funding; making recommendations for improving the operation of Community Champions and CDLF; and developing relevant outcomes for linking community activity to education, training and employment activities. This report contains the findings from the second part of the project and covers the evaluation of the Community Champions and CDLF and includes suggestions for the development of outcome measures linking community activity to education, training and employment activities. The chapters are: Research methodology; The Community Champions Fund: an overview; The Community Development Learning Fund: an overview; The Community Champions and Community Development Learning Funds: a comparative analysis; Towards a new evaluation methodology for the Community Champions Fund; Conclusions and recommendations. Also included are seven appendices which include delivery arrangements and budgets, regional criteria and procedures for the Community Champions pilot round; awards, case studies and evaluation terminology.

The first report from this project is indexed at TD/TNC 67.440. Show less

The main purpose of the OECD's 'Thematic review of tertiary education' is to provide policy makers with information and analysis to assist them in formulating and implementing policies to achieve national social and economic objectives through tertiary education. Its key objectives are to: synthesise research-based evidence on the impact of tertiary education policies and disseminate this knowledge among participating countries; identify innovative and successful policy initiatives and practices; facilitate exchanges of lessons and experiences among countries; and identify future policy options. The review, which involved 24 countries (Australia, Belgium - Flemish Community, Chile, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Japan, Mexico, Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom), 'examines how the organisation, management and delivery of tertiary education can help countries achieve their economic and social objectives'. As part of the review, each of the participating countries was asked to prepare a country background report. This document is the country background report for the UK. Its contents are: The national context of tertiary education in the UK; Overall description of the tertiary education system; The tertiary education system and the labour market; The regional role of tertiary education; The role of tertiary education in research and innovation; Achieving equity in and through tertiary education; Resourcing the tertiary education system; Planning, governing and regulating the system; Assuring and improving the quality of tertiary education; Internationalisation and globalisation of tertiary education; Conclusion.

Documents from this thematic review are indexed from TD/TNC 89.551 to TD/TNC 89.585. Show less