Highlights of the week ending 8 April
The Skills and Post-16 Education Bill completed its ten-month journey through parliament after peers agreed to the withdrawal of Lord Blunkett’s amendment that would have applied a three-year wait to the defunding of applied qualifications at level 3. This came after ministers clarified their position in order to address Lords’ concerns. This included Baroness Barran’s announcement that the government “expect(s) to remove just a small proportion of the total level 3 BTEC and other applied general style qualification offer – significantly less than half”. This represents a change in position from the start of the Bill’s passage when it was said only on small number of such qualifications would remain.
Ofsted published four reports on the continuing impact of the pandemic on education and the progress of education recovery. They looked at schools, FE colleges, early years settings, and prisons. COVID continues to cast a long shadow across all stages of learning – whether it be the impact of lost learning and lockdown, or staff absences. Providers have been working hard to develop strategies to support catch up.
In a speech at the think tank Policy Exchange, Skills Minister Alex Burghart announced that the new ‘Unit for Future Skills’ will start publishing data this month. The new Unit, announced in the Levelling Up White paper, will reportedly be cross-government, publicly accessible and will produce information on local skills demand, future skills needs of businesses and the pathways between training and good jobs. It will replace the DfE’s skills and productivity board.