OTLA English: building a writing community
Andy Convery, Research Lead for the Outstanding Teaching, Learning and Assessment (English) programme, writes a review of two very productive writing days.
Other Tag: Research, Commentary, Reports
A new mathematics GCSE curriculum for post-16 resit students
The final report has been published of a project conducted by Mathematics in Education and Industry (MEI) to look into the feasibility of a new maths GCSE curriculum for post-16 resit students. MEI says the new course would be the same level as the foundation tier of the current maths GCSE, giving students the chance to achieve a grade 4 or 5, and would have a focus on the maths needed for every day life and work.
Ofsted Annual Report 2018/19
The Ofsted Annual Report 2018 / 2019, published on the 21st of January 2020, presents inspection findings for further education and skills, early years childcare, schools and social care.
New digital skills qualifications
An update on the progress of Essential Digital Skills Qualifications and Digital Functional Skills Qualifications through Ofqual’s technical evaluation process.
Leitch Report and Skills for Life
The final report of the Leitch review of the UK’s long term skills needs, published in 2006, called for 95% of British adults to have basic numeracy and literacy by 2020.
Adult Participation in Learning Survey 2019
There has been a 10% (almost four million) drop in the number of adults taking skills training since 2010, according to the latest annual assessment of participation rates by the Learning and Work Foundation.
Assess for Success
This programme, created by Manchester College, aims to improve the assessment of learners resitting GCSE English.
Action Research in the Post-16 Sector
Claire Collins, OTLA English programme lead for the ETF, and Dr Catherine McPartland share their experiences of running action research (AR) projects in the post-16 sector, and offer some practical suggestions to support AR projects.
GCSE reforms have very little effect
Research by the Sutton Trust shows that the GCSE reforms of 2015 have had very little effect on attainment rates, and that the introduction of harder exams and the new grading system has led to a slightly bigger attainment gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged learners.
Building a numerate nation: confidence, belief and skills
This newly published report from National Numeracy and TP ICAP reveals that millions of adults lack basic numeracy skills, leaving them unprepared for the workplace and everyday life, and calls for a major new ‘Fresh Start for Adult Numeracy’ initiative.
Focus on the #StudyGood Programme Community of Practice
The Community of Practice was an innovative element of the #StudyGood programme, and was based on the experience of its sister project, #APConnect.
The disadvantage gap is bigger than we thought
A new report shows that the gap in the percentage of disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged 16 year olds achieving a grade 4 or above in English and maths is much wider than previously estimated.