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Ofsted Annual Report 2017/2018
In this year's report, Chief Inspector Amanda Spielman highlights concerns around the effectiveness of the government's policy to require learners who have not achieved a grade 4 in English and/or mathematics to continue studying for a qualification.
Functional Skills - Guided Learning Hours
The Minister of State for Apprenticeships and Skills has outlined the government's expectation that guided learning hours for reformed Functional Skills qualifications should be set at 55.
Incentive programmes for the recruitment and retention of teachers in FE
This research, commissioned by the DfE and carried out by CooperGibson Research, aimed to identify the strategies or incentives which may most effectively drive recruitment and retention of FE teachers. A key finding was that although financial incentives may help drive recruitment, high-quality mentoring and support are key to retention.
Skills to Drive a Productive Society
This report, researched and written by NOCN in partnership with the Learning & Work Institute, recommends an inclusive National Skills Strategy to increase productivity, improve literacy, numeracy and digital skills levels and help achieve greater social mobility.
The Mindful Toolkit, which includes information cards and task cards, was designed to be used with prisoners with a range of SEND needs, and has a focus on mental well-being.
EEF Blog: How do you solve a problem like GCSE resits?
What's the Education Endowment Foundation doing in the post-16 sector to improve outcomes for disadvantaged students? That's the question programme manager Kathryn Davies tackles here.
Improving adult basic digital skills
The Department for Education is seeking your views on the draft national standards, improving basic digital skills qualifications and introducing a national entitlement to basic digital skills.
Government should invest in reading to combat loneliness
A new report entitled A Society of Readers, from leading think tank Demos and commissioned by national charity The Reading Agency, finds a significant body of evidence to show that reading can help to combat the growing issue of loneliness, as well as acting as a tool to protect future generations from the loneliness epidemic.
Digital Teaching Professional Framework
The Education and Training Foundation has launched the Digital Teaching Professional Framework designed to help the Further Education and Training workforce to become confident and effective users of technology in teaching and learning.
The Association of Colleges has published observations and a detailed summary of the announcements in this year's Budget that are relevant to the education and skills sector, concludes that it's hoping for positive news from the forthcoming Spending Review.
Family learning in prisons toolkit now available
The Evaluation of Family Learning in Prisons toolkit has been developed to empower providers, practitioners and prison staff to demonstrate the impact of family learning programmes on offenders and their families, and to continuously monitor and make improvements to their programmes.
Digital Teaching Professional Framework launching soon
The Education and Training Foundation's new educational technology competency framework aims to develop a common understanding of digital skills in the FE sector and promote a set of professional standards for using technology to support learning. The framework will be piloted from mid October.
The Government has named the 21 colleges selected to be Maths Centres of Excellence. The programme will provide grant funding to build teaching capacity and spread best practice on what works to improve basic maths for learners over the age of 16 with low prior attainment.
Improving engagement and attainment in maths and English courses
This research and project report outlines how behavioural interventions can improve participation in and completion of maths and English courses. A legacy of the projects is a set of scalable and effective interventions that colleges and other training providers can implement with minimal additional resources.
Essential digital skills framework
Five categories of essential digital skills for life and work: see the newly published Essential Digital Skills framework, which will form the basis for revised digital skills qualifications, including Functional Skills ICT.
Survey shows only 41% of students feel prepared for the digital workplace
A JISC survey of 37,000 students shows that half of college learners and almost 70% of university students think digital skills will be important for their chosen career, yet only 41% believe their courses prepare them for a digital workplace.
An overview of maths and English GCSE re-sit results 2018 and an update on professional development opportunities to help you support your GCSE learners
New funds to boost diversity of people working in digital and tech jobs
Over £1 million will be available for initiatives which will help boost the digital skills of underrepresented groups and disabled people.
Mental health - how can we support our learners?
Mo Ollier of Focused Training writes about the mental health issues faced by young people in FE, and how developing and implementing an effective mental health strategy can support learner wellbeing, engagement and achievement.
Which students benefit from retaking maths and English GCSEs post-16?
Research by Cambridge Assessment shows that 53 per cent of the students retaking GCSE English and 60 per cent of those retaking GCSE maths did not improve their grade. The report concludes that there might be more fitting solutions or alternative pathways to enable students' English and Mathematics skills to develop further.
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