Policy Watch is our regular policy update service, covering national and international developments in the world of education. We try to keep things simple, sharing the latest news and information with you through weekly updates, monthly summaries, papers and events.
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Monday saw Education Questions in the Commons, with the usual mixed bag of topics from MPs, including the future of BTEC, National Tutoring Programme & education catch up, access to higher education, and home schooling. Robin Walker also set out, in a statement, the announcements made by the Secretary of State last Friday, around NTP funding and a new curriculum body.
The Secretary of State, Nadhim Zahawi, trailed the upcoming Schools White Paper in his address to the ASCL annual conference, reiterating his focus on literacy and numeracy. He announced that Oak National Academy will become a new arms-length curriculum body (a move questioned by some in the sector) and a continuation of the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF). The sector awaits the first education White Paper since 2016 with interest .
It has been a busy couple of weeks since the last Policy Watch with several significant (and long awaited) announcements being made. Ministers finally responded to Sir Philip Augar’s review of higher education finance, with changes proposed to repayment thresholds and terms. Many worry that this could prevent those from disadvantaged backgrounds entering HE. The details of the Lifelong Loan Entitlement were more warmly received as the policy has the potential to support reskilling. The Government also announced it would not be pursuing a post-qualifications admission system at the current time. And this week, the OfS set out its plans for tackling poor quality provision. After waiting for so long, if nothing else the sector has some clarity.
Although Parliament is in recess, that hasn’t stopped the flow of policy pronouncements and speeches. DfE published Sir David Bell’s review of the Education and Skills Funding Agency, and in doing so announced the removal of its policy role. Response from the sector has been mixed with some welcoming ESFA’s tighter focus, whereas others wondered whether an opportunity had been missed for a more radical shake up.
Apprenticeships took centre-stage as England, Wales and Northern Ireland celebrated National Apprenticeships Week (NAW). This gave policy makers the opportunity to make apprenticeship related announcements – in England, prisoners will soon be able to undertake apprenticeships for the first time, and in Wales £366m was pledged to deliver 125,000 all age apprenticeships over three years. Read the Pearson blog on NAW here.
