Tag: Press Release

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 24 October 2012.

The ‘Ensuring quality in apprenticeships’ report has been published by Ofsted today to look at apprenticeships in more detail.

The report also assesses the quality of subcontractors providing services for colleges and training providers.

In 2011 the Skills Funding Agency introduced a policy of minimum contract values. This meant smaller providers had two main choices – to form a consortium or set up as a subcontractor for larger providers. In many cases smaller, often good providers have been penalised by the loss of funding they can use to support apprentices because their lead contractors took too high a fee for very little work, often equating to the loss of frontline members of staff.

National Director of Learning and Skills, Matthew Coffey, said:

Following criticism of the delivery of some apprenticeship programmes earlier in the year, Ofsted commissioned a rapid response survey with particular focus on subcontracting arrangements.

This report has found the introduction of the minimum contract value has forced often very good smaller providers to either work together or become a subcontractor of a larger provider. In several cases this has diluted accountability and has placed a greater distance between the learner and those responsible for learning.

Ofsted found that resulting consortia often added value to learning programmes and benefitted learners. However the report also found some unintended consequences of the policy where smaller providers became a subcontractor of the larger organisation. The criteria to act as a lead contractor are based on the size of contract rather than a track record of delivering high quality apprenticeships. Some lead contractors lacked sufficient expertise of work-based learning to quality assure the work of their subcontractors. For example, one was unaware that the subcontractor was not carrying out reviews of learners in the workplace, a contractual obligation.

Lead contractors charge smaller providers a top-slicing fee as a percentage of the contract value in return for allowing them to access the funding and supporting them in their work. This fee varied considerably and inspectors found no clear link between the quality of support and challenge and the fees charged to subcontractors.

As part of the survey report, inspectors found some of the apprenticeship programmes too short in duration to sufficiently embed the skills being developed. There were also some examples of apprentices, particularly younger ones, being used as inexpensive labour during their training and then being discarded as employees to be replaced by new apprentices.

Many apprentices were unclear about who was ultimately responsible for their training programme. Ofsted has recommended that the government and other agencies should consider introducing an independent whistleblowing hotline, so concerns and potential problems can be picked up quickly.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 19 October 2012.

Prestigious £20,000 scholarship for top graduates to train as computer science teachers

New computer science teacher training course to replace ICT

Upskilling current teachers as experts in computer science

As part of the government’s mission to ensure Britain competes and thrives in the global race, Education Secretary Michael Gove today set out plans to boost the teaching of computer science by training up the first generation of outstanding new teachers in this vital subject.

This comes as the government announces the end of funding for the current outdated information and communications technology (ICT) teacher training courses, to make way for new computer science courses from September 2013.

Top graduates will be enticed into a career in teaching with a new prestigious £20,000 scholarship programme set up with BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT and supported by industry experts such as Microsoft, Facebook, BT and IBM.

Industry experts, working with education professionals, have also for the first time ever set out the requirements for the subject knowledge and attributes all new computer science teachers should have before they start their training. This includes being able to demonstrate an understanding of key computer science concepts and approaches such as algorithms, data representation and logic.

This is all part of the government’s drive to recruit and train a new cadre of teachers with the expertise and enthusiasm to drive improvement in the quality of computer science teaching in schools.

A recent Royal Society report looking at computing education in UK schools found teaching was ‘highly unsatisfactory’. It said that many pupils were not inspired by what they were being taught and gained nothing beyond basic digital literacy skills such as how to use a word-processor or a database.

Education Secretary Michael Gove said:

Computer science is not just a rigorous, fascinating and intellectually challenging subject. It is also vital to our success in the global race.

If we want our country to produce the next Sir Tim Berners-Lee – creator of the World Wide Web – we need the very best computer science teachers in our classrooms. They need to have the right skills and deep subject knowledge to help their pupils.

Around 50 scholarships worth £20,000 each will be available in the first year. Any graduate with a 2.1 or first class degree will be eligible to apply for the scholarship to do a computer science Initial Teacher Training (ITT) course.

Working with experts in the industry and in teaching practice, BCS will award scholarships to candidates with exceptional subject knowledge, enthusiasm for the study of computer science as well as an outstanding potential to teach. BCS’s relationship with the scholars will continue into their teaching careers to develop a cadre of outstanding computer science teachers who are part of a community across schools, universities and industry.

Bill Mitchell, Director of BCS Academy of Computing, said:

The UK needs far more technology creators and entrepreneurs if we are to stay competitive in the global economy. That means students need to be taught not just how software and hardware works, but also how to create new digital technology for themselves.

The best way to do that is to have outstanding computer science teachers in as many schools as possible, which is why these new initiatives are so important.

Ian Livingstone, Life President of Eidos and Chair of Next Gen Skills, said:

Having dedicated, high-calibre computer science teachers in schools will have a powerful effect. They will inspire and enable children to be creators of technology rather than being simply passive users of it. Whether it’s making games, fighting cyber-crime or designing the next jet propulsion engine, computer science is at the heart of everything in the digital world in which we live. It is essential knowledge for the 21st century.

The BCS scholarship comes as part of the government’s teacher training strategy, Training our next generation of outstanding teachers. It follows on from the success of the physics scholarship with the Institute of Physics, a recent announcement of a new scholarship with the Royal Society of Chemistry.

The plans announced today also include:

Allowing top universities and schools to provide new computer science teacher training courses from September 2013, whilst ending government funding for the current Information and Communications Technology (ICT) courses. This follow on from the government’s announcement earlier this year freeing up the ICT curriculum to allow schools to focus more strongly on computer science.
New, tough requirements for the subject knowledge and attributes all new computer science teachers should have. This includes being able to demonstrate an understanding of key computer science concepts and approaches such as algorithms, data representation and logic. This has been designed by a panel of experts including representatives from the grassroots Computing at School Working Group along with professional associations such as the British Computer Society (BCS), Naace and the Association for Information Technology in Teacher Education (ITTE).
Training up around 500 teachers in computer science through a new ‘Network of Computer Science Teaching Excellence’. Part funded through a £150,000 government grant, over the next year existing teachers with an ICT background will be trained to better teach computer science. Around half of these will be expert teachers who will share their skills and knowledge with other teachers across the country and help support professional development for their colleagues.
The network will help forge long-term links between schools, top universities involved in computer science and employers. Around 540 schools have already registered interest in the network and top university computer science departments including those at Cambridge, Imperial and Manchester and employers such as Microsoft, BT and IBM have also signed up.

Professor Chris Bishop, Distinguished Scientist at Microsoft Research, said:

Microsoft is passionate about improving the way that we teach technology in schools, but also how we use technology to teach. As founding members of the Computing at School working group, we’ve been working to inspire both teachers and young people about the importance of computer science for a number of years.

Scholarships such as those announced today will be vital in ensuring that the UK maintains a healthy pipeline of computer science talent, which can only be a positive thing for this country’s future prosperity.

Simon Milner, Facebook’s Director of Public Policy for UK & Ireland, said:

Facebook welcomes the scholarship programme for teachers announced by the government today. It is a positive step to help get high quality computer science teachers in schools, and therefore ensure more young people gain the right skills to join and lead our digital industries.

We get excited by how the work of Facebook engineers and outside developers is transforming the way millions of people communicate, so we can’t wait to share our passion and expertise in this area to inspire the next generation.

Simon Peyton-Jones, Chair of the Computing at School Working Group (CAS) and Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research, said:

We need to attract outstanding new computer science teachers, and we must support our existing ICT teachers as they start to teach the subject. CAS fully supports today’s announcements, which give unmistakeable government support to both these challenges. We look forward to playing our part, and working with government to make a substantial and lasting improvement to our children’s education in the vital subject.

Notes for editors
This press notice relates to England only.

Further details of the BCS scholarship in computer science, including details of how to apply, can be found on the BCS website.
For more information on becoming a teacher visit the ‘Get into Teaching’ website.

The new, tough requirements for the subject knowledge and attributes all new computer science teachers need to demonstrate is available in the Subject knowledge requirements for entry into computer science teacher training.

In January 2012, a Royal Society report looking at computing education in UK schools found teaching was highly unsatisfactory. It said that many pupils are not inspired by what they are taught and gain nothing beyond basic digital literacy skills such as how to use a word-processor or a database. The full report Shut down or restart? The way forward for computing in UK schools can be found on the Royal Society’s website.

The government’s announcement on changes to the ICT curriculum can be found on the news section.

A new revised, less prescriptive programme of study for the subject will be announced in due course. It will come into effect from September 2014.

Further details on the Network of Computer Science Teaching Excellence can be found on the BCS website.

The government’s Initial Teacher Training Strategy – Training our next generation of outstanding teachers – and implementation plan is available.

In January 2012, Education Secretary Michael Gove spoke about ICT teaching in schools. The full speech is available.

 

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 11 October 2012.

The Ofsted report, published today, explores the impact virtual schools have on tackling the educational progress of these children.

Virtual schools are established by many local authorities and work with children looked after across their catchment as if they were in one school, liaising with the schools they attend, tracking the progress they make and supporting them to achieve as well as possible.

‘The impact of virtual schools on the educational progress of looked after children’ report explores the impact of virtual schools in 9 local authorities, examining cases and looking at the effectiveness of education support for children in care.

In the local authorities visited, virtual schools have raised the profile of educational attainment for children in care, promoted much better communication between professionals, increased the involvement of carers in children’s education, and helped to improve attendance and reduce exclusions.

However, there was little evidence that they were yet able to reduce the attainment gap between children looked after and their peers. Progress between key stages 3 and 4 was generally slower than during earlier key stages, and improving the percentage of those attaining 5 or more GCSEs at grades A* to C, including English and maths, remained a challenge for most authorities.

Budget constraints have also led to a significant reduction in the capacity of virtual schools in some local authorities. Although most of the local authorities were able to protect existing resources, nearly all expressed concerns about the future.

Deputy Chief Inspector for Ofsted, John Goldup said:

There is much that is hugely positive in this report, and some of the examples of the difference that the virtual school has made to the lives of individual children are truly inspiring. These successes need to be celebrated and built on. However, the life chances of too many children in care are still blighted by poor educational outcomes. While some planning and target setting is very good, expectations are too often too low, particularly for children who have the capacity for high attainment.

The role of councillors is crucial. Local authorities are parents to these children. Virtual schools are at their most effective where corporate parenting is strong and challenges and supports the virtual school effectively.

In every local authority visited, the virtual school took the lead in ensuring that education was central to planning and reviewing children’s care. For example, in Hampshire a literacy scheme for children in care was set up which increased the average reading age by 11 months through a 16-week programme, while in Cornwall the systematic use of data to track and action educational progress had reduced the attainment gap between children in care and their peers, particularly at GCSE level.

The impact of virtual schools was mostly positive. They were often very effective in influencing schools to take more account of the needs and circumstances of looked after children, supporting designated teachers, supporting and training foster carers and residential care staff, and in working with social workers who often felt a lack of confidence and expertise in relation to children’s education – to quote one, ‘I am hopeless with school stuff’.

However, the report found that several virtual schools had not established clear eligibility criteria, which meant that services were not always effectively targeted for those children who most needed additional support. And while there were good examples of personal education plans (PEP), too many were not sufficiently focused on academic achievements. PEPs were more likely to effectively address the needs of children who were performing below expectations. They were generally less effective for children who were meeting expectations but could do even better.

There was also a lack of clarity and knowledge among professionals about the appropriate use of the Pupil Premium. This sometimes hindered the ability of authorities to question and challenge schools about how a particular child was benefiting from the funding and whether the school was meeting the child’s needs.

The report makes a number of recommendations to local authorities to assist them in ensuring that a virtual school has maximum impact on improving educational outcomes for children in care. It also recommends that government should consider whether there should be a statutory duty on authorities to establish and maintain robust virtual school arrangements.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 11 October 2012.

Apprenticeship starts rose from 457,200 in 2010/11, at all levels, with particularly strong growth at advanced and higher levels.

Skills Minister Matthew Hancock said:

“Hitting the half-million mark is a momentous achievement for this Government’s apprenticeship programme.

“It shows our passion for skills, and is a ringing endorsement from employers and apprentices alike, who are reaping the benefits of a more highly-skilled workforce.

“This rise comes despite tougher rules to make apprenticeships more rigorous.

“I am particularly pleased to see such a big increase in the number of people signing up for advanced level and higher level apprenticeships, which open the road for people wanting to become engineers, lawyers and accountants.

“More must be done to ensure apprenticeships are more rigorous, higher quality, and more employer focused. We are introducing tougher standards, including a stipulation that all apprenticeships must last a minimum of 12 months.

“There is much more to do to ensure everyone in our country fulfils their potential, but the apprenticeship programme shows the Government’s passion for delivering the skills Britain needs.

“And my message to employers is simple: apprenticeships make good business sense. I urge all employers to get involved.”

The data also showed higher levels of learners on Skills for Life courses to improve their basic skills, with 1,545,500 participating during the 2011/12 academic year.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 9 October 2012.

One in ten secondary schools – around 300 schools – from across England will be part of the trial in which headteachers will be responsible for ensuring that the pupils they exclude continue to receive a decent education. It will also help pupils who are at risk of being excluded by encouraging schools to intervene earlier.

Headteachers who permanently exclude a pupil from their school will now be able to choose the alternative provision, rather than the local authority. The school will also receive the funding instead of the local authority.

Schools in the trials will then be better able to monitor both attainment and attendance of the pupils. The trial will also help encourage schools to intervene early with children who are at risk of being excluded.

In 2009/10, 5020 pupils were permanently excluded from their secondary school. Most were sent to alternative provision such as Pupil Referral Units. Latest statistics show that only 1.4 per cent of pupils in alternative provision achieved five good GCSEs including maths and English. The Government believes this is not good enough.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said:

Improving behaviour in our schools is a key priority of the Government, which is why we support headteachers who permanently exclude those children who persistently disrupt the education of others or who bully other children.

We need to ensure, however, that exclusion does not lead those children to abandon education. The quality of education for permanently excluded children is so poor that scarcely any achieve the minimum level of qualifications they need to succeed. Many of these children are the most vulnerable in society and we need to ensure that, despite being expelled from school, they continue to receive a good quality education, albeit in an alternative setting.

This trial is just one of a range of education reforms designed to drive up the quality and academic standards of alternative education for excluded children. We are determined that no child’s education should be abandoned, regardless of the behaviour or problems facing that child.

Eight local authorities have joined the trial to date:

• Leeds City Council
• Lancashire County Council
• East Sussex County Council
• Wiltshire Council
• Sefton Council
• Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council
• Hampshire
• Middlesbrough

Areas in Hampshire, Hertfordshire and Leeds will be implementing the new approach between September 2012 and April 2013.

A headteacher has the power to permanently exclude a pupil if they have seriously or persistently breached the school’s behaviour policy, and where allowing the pupil to remain in school would seriously harm the education or welfare of the pupil or others in the school.

Currently when a decision to permanently exclude has been taken, for the first five days of the exclusion parents are required to supervise their child. On the sixth day the local authority assumes responsibility for providing full-time education for the pupil. They decide what provision would best meet the needs of the excluded pupil. This may be in a local authority-managed Pupil Referral Unit or with an alternative provider, such as a third sector organisation which, for example, focuses on vocational subjects or intensive personal and behavioural improvement.

Schools in the trial will take over most of this responsibility from their local authority. Cambridgeshire County Council is already running a similar approach with some of its schools. Historically, the schools in the county tended to trust alternative providers and assume that pupils were getting the quality of support they needed.

Now five school partnerships have freedom to allocate funding of about £5 million, previously controlled by the council, as they choose. Schools have used the funding to bring about a significant shift in attitude and approach. Schools are much more concerned about making sure the alternative provision meet the individual needs of the pupil. Results for excluded pupils or those at risk of exclusion have improved and expenditure, which in the past was increasing in huge steps year on year, is stable.

Mark Patterson, headteacher at Chesterton Community College which has been part of the new approach, said:

By having more control over alternative provision and the funding, we can have better provision in our own schools for those students who would previously have been permanently excluded or who would have simply ‘dropped out’ and then been hard or impossible to re-engage.

The system has worked well with referrals to the Pupil Referral Units falling by 60 per cent over the past three years, which means far fewer students out of school – and that has to be a good thing.

The trial will take place over three school years, being reviewed at the end of each year. It is due to finish in July 2014.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 28 September 2022.

Prestigious £20,000 scholarships to be led by Royal Society of Chemistry.

Government confirms teacher training bursaries for 2013/14.

New recruitment targets to focus on quality of graduates.

New teacher training scholarships in chemistry led by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) have been announced today.

Around 130 scholarships worth £20,000 each will be available. Any graduate with a 2:1 or first class degree will be eligible to apply for a scholarship on a chemistry Initial Teacher Training (ITT) course.

Working with experts in teaching practice, the RSC will award scholarships to candidates with exceptional subject knowledge, enthusiasm for the study of chemistry, and outstanding potential to teach. The RSC’s relationship with the scholars will continue into their teaching careers to develop a cadre of outstanding chemistry teachers who are part of a community of chemists across schools, universities and industry.

The scholarship comes as part of the government’s teacher training strategy, ‘Training our next generation of outstanding teachers’, and follows on from the success of the physics scholarship with the Institute of Physics.

Education Secretary Michael Gove said:

If we want to have an education system that ranks with the best in the world, then we need to attract the best people into the profession, and we need to give them outstanding training.

By joining up with the prestigious Royal Society of Chemistry, the scholarship will help make sure we have excellent chemistry teachers in this country with deep subject knowledge. They will help raise the status of the teaching profession and also make a huge difference in the lives of children.

Dr Robert Parker, RSC chief executive, said:

The RSC is delighted to be leading this exciting initiative. We believe passionately in the need for inspirational teaching, and our fervent hope is that this scholarship will increase the number of inspirational chemistry teachers.

It is also crucial to drive an increase in the number of chemistry-qualified teachers who teach the subject. The RSC always seeks to support teachers advancing the chemical sciences in education, not just because it is good for the students – it is also good for the country to have scientifically literate young people in all walks of life to raise Britain’s industrial and commercial competitiveness in an increasingly competitive world.

Professor Sir Harry Kroto, British joint winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, who now lectures at Florida State University, said:

In an age in which almost every day we see the development of new technical breakthroughs which impinge on our everyday lives in significant ways, it is vital that we nurture an overall population which understands technology and is aware of scientific ways of thinking.

This scheme is most welcome and should help enormously to ensure more young people are inspired by this new cohort of outstanding chemistry teachers.

It is vital that they will be able to pass on their enthusiasm for chemistry, the subject on which essentially all survival and sustainability issues depend. Important decisions involving chemistry-related issues will confront the next generation.

Top bursaries for top graduates in priority subjects
Ministers have also confirmed the continuation of top training bursaries of up to £20,000 for the brightest graduates in core subjects. They have been re-focused on priorities for the government – EBacc subjects, computer science, music and PE, as well as more specialist maths primary teachers.

This follows on the success of last year’s bursary scheme. Figures show that around 65% of teacher trainee entrants to university-based teacher training courses had a 2:1 or better – the highest proportion on record.

Charlie Taylor, chief executive at the Teaching Agency, the body responsible for teacher recruitment and training, said:

Teaching is now a top career choice for the best graduates.

By offering enticing tax-free bursaries together with outstanding training and development, we can continue to attract the very best into our classrooms.

A new bursary for computer science has been introduced as top universities and schools will be invited to run new computer science teacher training courses from the academic year 2013 to 2014. Funding for the current information and communications technology (ICT) courses will end at the same time to reflect the disapplication of ICT programmes of study.

The government is also changing the way teacher training recruitment targets are set. The Teaching Agency is now to be given targets focussing on recruiting high-quality graduates in priority subjects.

Previously targets were set purely to recruit enough teachers to meet future school demand – an emphasis on meeting quantity targets. However, from the 2013 to 2014 academic year onwards, targets will be set to recruit teachers with a 2:1 or above to teach secondary EBacc subjects plus music, computer science, PE and in primary education.

The government is also looking to introduce a five-year target for recruitment of high-quality teachers, which it wants to benchmark against high-performing school systems. The government’s aspiration is that in five years time it will recruit the same quality of teachers as the best performing schools systems in the world. This will help in the drive to make teaching an ever higher status profession for the best graduates, whilst making sure the education system has enough teachers.

New School Direct programme opens
From today, schools can apply for School Direct teacher training places for September 2013.

School Direct gives schools the opportunity to recruit and train their own staff, who will go on to teach in their school, or another school in their partnership.

Under the new scheme, schools will train the best graduates as teachers in the subjects and phases they need, and work with accredited providers – such as top universities and other schools – to lead the way they are trained. This will help drive up the quality of teacher training by giving schools a greater role in recruiting and training new teachers; involving the best serving teachers in training the next generation; and encouraging more school-led partnerships for teacher training.

Candidates benefit from attractive bursaries for priority subjects like mathematics, physics, and modern languages, as well a job at the end of their training. They will also benefit from an additional 25% premium on top of the bursaries if their training is based in a challenging school with a high proportion of disadvantaged children – where 35% or more of pupils are eligible for free school meals.

Harris City Academy Crystal Palace has been part of the pilot School Direct programme. The school has this month started training eight graduates as teachers in key subjects such as chemistry, mathematics and French.

Sir Dan Moynihan, chief executive at Harris Federation, said:

As a highly successful academy chain, Harris Federation has much to offer trainee teachers and the School Direct programme allows us to take much more control over the training of the next generation of teachers.

Outstanding teachers will work alongside trainee teachers with schools in the driving seat, commissioning the support they want from higher education.

The application window for schools to apply for places on the School Direct programme is open now until 12 October 2012.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 24 September 2012.

England’s most disadvantaged pupils are to benefit from extra cash next year when the Pupil Premium rises to £900 per pupil – around 50% higher than last year.

Schools receive extra cash through the premium for every child registered as eligible for free school meals (FSM) at any point in the past six years and children in care who have been looked after for six months.

Schools Minister David Laws said:

It’s unacceptable that children from disadvantaged backgrounds are less likely to do well in school than their peers. The coalition government has introduced the pupil premium to tackle this problem.

After just one year, many schools are already telling us that the Pupil Premium is making a difference.

This extra funding will help schools provide the extra support children and young people need to reach their full potential.

Statistics show that, in 2011, the latest available:

• 35% of pupils on free school meals achieved five good GCSE grades compared with 62% of other pupils.
• 58% of pupils on free school meals achieved the expected level in both English and maths by the end of primary school compared with 78% of other pupils.
• The pupil premium was introduced in April 2011 and over 1.8 million disadvantaged children are benefiting from the extra cash that goes to schools. The total available through the premium has risen from £625 million in 2011-12 to £1.875 billion next year, and will rise further to £2.5 billion by the financial year 2014 to 2015.

Evidence shows that children from low income families generally do not achieve as well as other pupils. Schools therefore receive additional pupil premium funding on top of the school budget to enable them to support these pupils in reaching their potential and to help schools reduce educational inequality.

Just 13.2 % of children looked after by local authorities achieve 5 good GCSE grades, including English and maths, and the government wants them to benefit from the extra funding through the premium.

Whilst schools have the freedom to use the pupil premium funding in innovative ways, it is vital they use it to boost results for the most disadvantaged pupils. They will be held to account by Ofsted through its inspections which include a closer focus on premium use and the performance of pupils who attract it, as well as a focus on the achievement of disadvantaged pupils in the school performance tables. Schools are also required to publish online details of their premium spend for parents.

Summer schools

Following the popularity of the summer schools for Pupil Premium pupils, the Government will be making £50 million available for the scheme to run again next year.

Nearly 2000 schools received government funding to run a summer school this year, providing up to two weeks of support for around 65,000 disadvantaged children. Schools offered a range of activities aimed at helping children settle in to the new school, ranging from catch-up lessons for those children needing extra help, to extra-curricular activities such as theatre trips, and Olympics-related sporting events.

Pupils can struggle to make the jump to secondary education. Moving to a larger school and having to tackle a more challenging curriculum can be daunting for some pupils. This results in a dip in their performance, which can persist throughout their time at school.