I lived in Germany for 4 years and thought their approach to education at kindergarten level and 11/13 years onwards was good, pragmatic and served the German economy well.
Yes, good to finally see at least ambition to join the dots.
LemonJam
See new post 'Burnham to tell schools in England to adapt teaching to local business needs'- sounds like the government is seeking to join the dots by involving teachers and schools....
How true. How many years have we all been banging on about this issue.
The Dutch ( and Germans) have been doing this for years.
At last someone is joining the dots 👏👏👏👏
So true, westendgirl so many different attempts to vary qualifications and regrettably after a few years they they count for very little.
Good to focus on practical skills, and great to get pupils to focus on working for a living, but the Welfare State mentality is deeply entrenched in some* families and I don't think enough people realise how much in the way of benefits a Special Needs diagnosis brings.
One the subjects I loved which I haven't often used was latin. I don't think the idea of just teaching household skills will help the children of today .How do you know what you will use in the future ?.I really would hate to be the time tabler in a school where every child had an individual timetable. There have been many courses in the past offered to pupils who were not academic . As I said on the other post touching this subject how many of you remember NVQ, City and Guilds, BTec ,CSE?
.
Sounds right stop teaching things you will never use and teach useful skills while you are still in school ideas sewing cooking wall papering child care care of the elderly Making things out of recycled things such as benches out of plastic Allow children to drop subjects they aren't interested in like history religious education languages if they have no aptitude For any who would like languages let them learn more than one of they can
I have written before about T levels.these are equivalent to 3 A levels and combine practical and theoretical learning with an industry placement. there are about 365 schools colleges offering them and they seem to be popular with the pupils. I know of one school where they had a long waiting list . Please read about them .
I think the other post with AB's pan to introduce more vocational educational routes for 14 to 16 year olds and link with local employment business economy links to this announcement that NEETS are expected to engage with support on offer or perhaps lose financial entitlements?
I don't doubt it is a huge task, complex and will need incremental implantation phases over serval years.
2 years ago AB introduced his vision and plans for the Manchester Baccalaureate or MBacc. Now he wants to take the same visit nationally and give pupils the opportunity to study more vocational courses and work with other regional Mayors.
BBC News website running an interesting article- Can Burnham's vision for Manchester's schools really work for the rest of England?
Perhaps it will go back to the days of the fifties when we had technical colleges where students joined Inthink at 14.
I used to work in an F E college in the ninetie, swhere we had into work programmes. I used to go into local businesses, big and small, as part of our local Skills Analysis. From this we designed relevant courses for long term unemployed adults and 16 year olds
We also arranged for 16 year olds to do work placement and day release training. These young people were all under achievers. It worked very well. We covered electronics,, welding, robotics plus health and beauty and social care. The training was free to employers. I am out of the oicture but i Modern Apprenticeships 1 believe are not government funded.
Sounds good in principle.
Apart from the points already raised, are there going to be jobs at the end of it all?
How are they going to materialise?
Are they going to be taken away from other people?
I think I have more opinions and thoughts.
Will see how the thread pans out, and what new details come forward from the government.
LemonJam
See new post 'Burnham to tell schools in England to adapt teaching to local business needs'- sounds like the government is seeking to join the dots by involving teachers and schools....
It isn't just that though. There are huge ramifications for schools in the development, implementation and assessment of new courses, even when you have full details of what is expected and the training required.
I have been responsible for implementing major educational change in an LA. I know how hard it is. Change to vocational education is desperately needed, but it is a huge task.
What extra funding is allocated for teaching the new curriculum? Who agrees it? How many teachers are qualified to teach it? Etc etc
Sounds like exactly what people have been saying we needed for ages. Looking forward to it being implemented.
See new post 'Burnham to tell schools in England to adapt teaching to local business needs'- sounds like the government is seeking to join the dots by involving teachers and schools....
It all sounds very glib to me. Where are teachers and schools in this? What is the timetable for educational change?
Such a pity the excellent Tomlinson report on vocational education of 2004 never got implemented. It could have made a world of difference by now.
Where are the apprenticeships going to come from? My experience is of Gloucestershire and Devon where there are already not enough
A step in the right direction?
Young people will be expected to engage with new support to find work, Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary has said.”
McFadden said a new bursary would compensate for a quirk in the system that could mean families lose some benefits if a teenager took up an apprenticeship. The penalty – where the family loses the child component of universal credit – is most likely to affect single parents or disabled teenagers under 18.
Burnham is seeking to address the crisis of mounting unemployment among young people and said on Tuesday morning he would aim to implement fundamental changes in the education system to emphasise technical and vocational skills, especially those relevant to local businesses. Both Burnham and McFadden have said they are determined to reform the welfare system, especially by providing more opportunities for young people on long-term sickness benefits to return to the workforce.
The prime minister also said on Monday he wanted to change the nature of the support and make some of it conditional upon people taking opportunities that are presented in front of them … So you might increase the conditions required to receive benefits The government is also expected to receive the second part of Alan Milburn’s review this autumn, looking at growing youth unemployment and lack of engagement with education and training.
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