Confused by the 'new norm'

by Mark Corney 

The Coalition wants 'apprenticeships or university to become the new norm for young people leaving school'. Apart from the reference to a 'new norm' this statement of education and skills policy is little different to that of the last Labour Government. 

The problem is that this formulation of policy is as confusing today as it was then. To grasp the confusion it is best to start at the end on this occasion and 'young people and leaving school' are uncomfortable bedfellows. 

The 'RPA' Challenge

by Mark Corney

Three factors are conspiring to make the policy of raising the participation age (RPA) extremely challenging for the Coalition Government.

Late last month, there was confirmation that the number of 16 and 17 year olds in England is 56,000 higher than previously expected. In addition, 16-19 spending on participation in education and training by the Department for Education unlike 5-16 education will not be protected as part of Spending Review 2013. And 2015/16 is the first year when cuts to the 16-19 budget and the RPA is increased to the 18th birthday coincide.

Feeding poor kids at college

by Mark Corney

An increasingly well-known anomaly in post-16 legislation is that free meals are available to students from poor families attending schools but not colleges. Come from a poor family and attend a school sixth form, academy or university technology college and the state will feed you. Go to a sixth form college, general FE college or specialist college and you will go hungry.

Living off ‘Traineeships’

by Mark Corney

As the ‘education and skills’ world joins the Coalition in a discussion over the development of Traineeships* there a real danger it will miss the key issue which has to be decided upon.

The single sentence paragraph, number nine, states ‘we want to consider a range of options for supporting young people on Traineeships financially, such as wages or allowances, and the fit with the benefit system’.

It is the answer to the question ‘what will trainees live off?’ which will shape the response to the formal questions in the discussion paper regarding the activities, curriculum content, the funding of provision and even the age range of traineeships.

Full-time education and ‘employment schemes’ cut NEET

by Mark Corney

Credit where credit is due: there were 90,000 fewer 18-24 year olds not in full-time education and either unemployed or inactive during August and October compared to the previous quarter.

Part of the fall is due to 14,000 fewer young people aged 18-24.

In addition, an extra 20,000 18-24 year olds are in full-time education or 32% of the age group.

But the striking feature of the figures is that there were 55,000 more 18-24 year olds classed as ‘employed’ and outside of full-time education.

Two views of the Future

by Mick Fletcher

‘No Stone Unturned’ is the catchy title of the Heseltine Review which looks at ways to restore growth in the British economy.  Unfortunately there is one stone he never bothered to turn – according to the credits in the report he listened to more people from Canada or from Sweden than in the English FE system and he appears to have taken little notice of the policies of the key department concerned with UK skills – BIS.   His analysis of a sector he clearly sees as central to growth policy consists of the repetition of tired clichés about too many hairdressers and a study he accepts as based on seriously flawed data.

What lies beneath good news of more jobs for the over-50s

by John Philpott

Ever since the start of the recession youth unemployment has been public policy enemy number 1. Politicians and commentators of all persuasions warn of a ‘lost generation’ unless action is taken. It’s therefore good news that the number of unemployed 16-24 year olds has fallen below 1 million, with young people accounting for almost the entire fall of 49,000 in total unemployment between July and September as reported yesterday by the Office for National Statistics. Yet while this is the headline news, just as interesting is what is happening at the opposite end of the age-employment spectrum, with the over-50s taking the lion’s share of new jobs.