Education Journal

      

Education Journal No.117 (2009-04)

Quite a lot old, a little bit new, much of it borrowed, some of it blue
A new schools White Paper with a new Bill promised to implement it, machinery of government changes, local and European elections catastrophic for the Government and good for virtually everyone else, and serious budget cuts here and on the way. Is there too much policy too quickly introduced?

Features

To cut or not to cut, is that the question?
Demitri Coryton, George Low and Ian Nash reveal that, despite the Government’s claims to the contrary, there will be cuts across nearly all spending departments of at least ten per cent coupled with tax increases to reduce the £200 billion budget deficit by half by 2015.

 

All change in higher education
John O’Leary writes about the recent widespread upheaval in higher education, and the growing uncertainty over the future of the sector.

The creation of BIS
Ian Nash writes about the demise of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills and the creation of the new Department of Business, Innovation and Skills under Lord Mandelson. What does it mean for colleges?

Education for all
Professor Richard Pring details the various themes running through the recently published Nuffield Review of 14-19 Education and Training, and asks what counts as an educated 19-year-old in this day and age.

Higher Ground
John Izbicki reports from around Britain’s universities.

Credit crunch?
Our Wales editor, Professor Ken Reid, writes about the potential consequences for Wales of a change of UK Government at the next general election.

Take it from the top
Frances Rafferty writes the first of a new regular series on the view from school leaders. How do secondary heads and their senior management team see policies like the school report card?

Abolishing SATs
Warwick Mansell reports on Shadow Schools Secretary Michael Gove’s announcement that a Conservative government would scrap national curriculum tests for 11- year-olds.

Less than 300 days and counting
John Freeman, Director of the React programme, on the implications of the Government’s announcement that funding for 16-19 education will be going to schools and colleges via the local authority education budget.

Local elections
Election results and analysis of the county and unitary council elections in June.

Independence? Expertise? A critique of two reports
Professor Colin Richards argues that the Primary Curriculum Review and Expert Group on Assessment are merely telling the Government what it wants to hear.

More rewards for teachers
Some of the results from the OECD’s first Teaching and Learning International Survey.

Academies
For the second time in recent months an academic study has cast doubts on the effectiveness of the academies programme.

Innovative CPD leadership
Carol Taylor, of the London Centre for Leadership in Learning, London University Institute of Education, writes about the pilot of a Masters module designed to address a lack of dedicated support for CPD leaders.

Machinery of Government changes
Chris Waterman explains changes to the DCSF and BIS

Royal Academy
Julia Coryton writes about and illustrates the Royal Academy of Arts’ A-level online exhibition.

Children First – NCSL
Susan Young looks at the response of directors of children’s services to NCSL’s Director of Children's Services Leadership Programme.

Children’s Health
The effect of medication on ADHD sufferers’ educational attainment, clues to the origin of Autistic Spectrum Disorder, compulsory vaccinations, the National Patient Safety Agency’s first report and the need for toddlers to wear sunglasses.

Media Watch

 

General

Opinion
John Izbicki on the dangers of so-called “degree mills” and the Government’s long overdue admission that they present a global problem. And Bill Boyle and Marie Charles write about the inherent flaws within the Government’s Assessing Pupils’ Progress programme.

Events
We report on the a recent NFER seminar showcasing three online databases, the NAHT conference in Brighton and the annual Guardian FE debate at the Hilton Metropole in London.

Conference round-up

 

Reference

Document Review
We review Your Child, Your Schools, Our Future: Building a 21st century schools system from the DCSF, Valuable Lessons: Improving economy and efficiency in schools from the Audit Commission and Learning Together About School Improvement from HMIE in Scotland.

Document Digest

Reports Digest

 

Research

Research Notes
Our research editor, Michael Marshall, writes about recent research reinforcing the theory that too much exposure to television for young children can damage their social and linguistic development.

Integrated working in children’s services
John Cassidy of E3Net writes about the importance of stability and continuity in the process of integrating children’s services.

Research Digest

 

Parliament

The ASCL Bill in committee
Our Parliamentary editor, Nick Kent, reports on the committee stage of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children & Learning Bill in the House of Lords.

Post-16 education
We report on a debate in the Welsh Assembly on further education college budgets.

The Merfyn Jones Higher Education Review
We report on a statement in the Welsh Assembly on the Assembly Government’s response to the Merfyn Jones Higher Education Review.

Child protection in Dundee
Arabella Hargreaves, editor of EPM Scotland, reports on a debate in the Scottish Parliament child protection in Dundee.

Funding schools in a different way
We report on a ministerial statement to the Scottish Parliament on the Scottish Futures Trust.

Parliamentary Questions
Answers to written parliamentary questions on disadvantaged students with SEN and play schemes in the House of Commons; the EMA, school building programmes and class sizes in the Scottish Executive; and school breakfast schemes, FE funding and pupils with communication difficulties in the Welsh Assembly.

Phoenix
The Open University and Investors in Families abroad.