GENERAL: Chancellor’s scene-setter. The Chancellor laid the ground for a difficult Budget in a few weeks’ time with a set piece speech pointing to a range of challenges the country now faces, many global, some historic, but claiming that she will ‘continue to deliver on the priorities of the British people’ including cutting NHS waiting lists, the cost of living and the national debt.
More Budget speculation. The Resolution Foundation reckoned that the Chancellor may well need to raise taxes in the forthcoming Budget by £21bn-£26bn, with up to £10bn as headroom, indicating that raising income tax by 2p while cutting NI by 2p would be the best way of achieving this.
Budget submission. The CBI published its submission to the Treasury ahead of the forthcoming Budget, outlining ‘four key, growth-busting areas that can be done right now,’ including focusing on skills delivery, fast tracking critical infrastructure, harnessing innovation and technology, and focusing on improving competitiveness.
Keep Britain Working. The government welcomed the Final Report from the Review looking into the issue of economic inactivity driven by ill-health, acknowledging the importance of government, employers and employees taking shared responsibility about health at work and supporting a new Vanguard Taskforce to help lead the changes required.
Economic Confidence. The Institute of Directors (IoD) reported that business confidence remained at ‘historic low levels’ with business leaders worried about the Budget and ‘worn out from the past year’s roller coaster of uncertainty and tax increases,’ as it published the results of its latest survey among members. SCHOOLS: Curriculum and Assessment Review. The Review Panel published the final and hefty report of its Review of the curriculum and assessment system in England, finding a system with ‘many qualities’ but in need of updating and coming up with 17 pages of recommendations from KS1 assessments to 16-19 reform.
Government response. The government published its response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review acknowledging a number of the recommendations and promising ‘to breathe new life into the curriculum’ with the introduction of media and financial literacy, a new core enrichment entitlement, the scrapping of the EBacc and various subject changes among other things.
Teacher’s pay. Leading unions called on the government to reconsider its recent pay proposals arguing that they would damage morale and recruitment and lead to cuts and redundancies.
School Report. The Institute for Government examined some of the pressures facing the government over the school system in England including SEND, teacher and pupil numbers and school performance, suggesting that managing these within the current budget will be difficult.
Phonics screening. FFT Education Datalab looked into the government’s ambition for 90% of Yr 1 pupils reaching the expected standard in phonics, reckoning that for this to be achieved a further 10% of pupils would be needed for this to happen.
SEND. The Times reported that the government was looking at ways of ‘cutting the spiralling costs’ of SEND provision by, among others things, looking at reducing the range of support available for those with ‘lower-level needs’ and enabling schools to determine where support would best be targeted. FE/SKILLS: Curriculum and Assessment Review. The government published its response to the Final Report from the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, adopting many of the proposals from the previous Skills White Paper around post-16 English and maths as well as the use of V levels to help streamline the post-16 qualification landscape.
Review implications. City and Guilds reported on some of the implications from the Curriculum and Assessment Review for post-16 provision, pointing among other things to the endorsement of new L1 and L2 qualifications and proposals for V levels along with the importance of balanced and modernised curricula.
Adult learning. The Learning and Work Institute published the results of its latest major national survey of adult learning, showing a fall in adult participation with those in work showing the biggest drop and the report further highlighting wider concerns about inequalities in access to learning.
Investing in Skills. The Learning and Work Institute with partners reported on its work looking into how employers make decisions about training and how employees respond to the need to upskill, using a mix of field work and international case studies to highlight the importance of modular provision, easy access and partnership working.
Learning campaign. The Skills Federation highlighted the importance of this week’s ‘Get the Nation Learning Week,’ pointing to a range of benefits that lifelong learning can bring including enhanced employee retention and increased productivity. HE:
Providing the skills. The Russell Group pointed in a new briefing to the key role that universities play in delivering the skills needed for the government’s Industrial Strategy with both STEM and non-STEM degrees providing ‘a wide range of the skills needed across the listed skill sectors.’
Degree authenticity. The OfS reported on its work looking into the role of algorithms used to determine classifications of degrees, highlighting the importance of ensuring that they accurately reflect the knowledge and skills of each student and listing two new requirements providers need to observe when using such algorithms.
Securing excellence. Wonkhe reported on its work, commissioned by Advance HE, looking into how best to secure educational excellence in HE at a time of great change, using roundtable evidence to stress the importance of understanding the core roles of HE and how these can best be delivered at times of uncertainty.
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