Follow this link to view the full version of Steve Besley's popular policy round-up - including an overview of all the important stories, his top headlines of the week, tweets and posts of note, the most memorable quotes, not-to-be-missed statistics and what to look out for next week. As your starter for ten, we've chosen three items from each phase below ...
GENERAL Start for Life. The government launched its ‘Little Moments Together’ campaign providing one stop support and help for parents as part of its Start for Life family hubs scheme, now spread to all local authorities. Children’s health. Labour set out a Child Health Action Plan built around seven objectives including tackling children’s mental health services, cutting waiting lists for children, banning junk food advertising to children and the much publicised ‘national supervised toothbrushing programme’ for 3-5-year-olds. Video gaming. The children’s commissioner published children’s views on gaming in a new report, with children broadly supportive of playing video games and not seeing them as a significant cause of harm in terms of health and wellbeing although with boys appearing more positive than girls.
SCHOOLS Missing school. The Centre for Social Justice published new survey evidence showing how far lockdown had destroyed the contract between schools and parents in some cases including expecting regular attendance, recommending as a result a seven-point action plan for helping remedy the situation. Shadow speech. Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary outlined Labour plans for tackling pupil absenteeism including ‘empowering’ Ofsted to review absences and using AI to spot absence trends along with other likely Labour education reforms such as the use of inspection report cards, providing more teachers and focusing on standards as she addressed the Centre for Social Justice. School attendance. The government announced an increase in attendance monitors, more attendance hubs and a new communications campaign as it sought to spearhead a new drive on tackling pupil absenteeism in schools.
FE/SKILLS Election issues. Former Federation of Awarding Bodies (FAB) chief Tom Bewick considered what might be in party manifestos for FE and skills come the election, suggesting both major parties are likely to focus on schools and standards but with the Conservatives promoting the Advanced British Standard, Lifelong Learning, skills planning and qualification reform, and Labour looking at quango reform such as around apprenticeships, and potentially a new skills dept. Manufacturing. Make UK and PwC reported UK manufacturers feeling more positive about the future in their latest survey of senior manufacturing executives, with more than four-fifths believing conditions will improve and ‘increasing numbers’ that the UK will become more competitive. Governance. The Education and Training Foundation published a series of competency frameworks for FE Chairs and governors covering such areas as leadership, behaviours and specialist technical skills, to help with future development of governance professionals.
HE Student loans. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IfS) highlighted the growing cost to government of financing student loans in a new briefing, suggesting that this could reach £10bn a year or more and that worryingly this doesn’t appear to be reflected in official government measures. Short courses. The Office for Students (OfS) published a commissioned evaluation report into its 2022 short course trial programme pointing to low levels of take-up, uncertainties about the model, tightened time frames and funding concerns, calling accordingly for more time, support and clarity of purpose for any future such programme. Embedding Employability. Advance HE set out a new framework for embedding employability in UK HE, developed as part of its Student Success series and viewed through the perspectives of institutions, educators and students.
World Economic Forum Annual Meeting at Davos (Monday 15 January – Friday 19 January). Launch of ‘A New Deal for Parents’ from the think tank Onward (Monday 15 January). Launch of UCAS’s End of Cycle Data Resources (Thursday 18 January).
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MONDAY 15 JANUARY On this day in 1559 Elizabeth I was crowned Queen of England in Westminster Abbey. On this day in 1759 the British Museum opened in Montague House, London On this day in 2001 Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger launched Wikipedia which has gone on to become the largest reference work on the internet.
TUESDAY 16 JANUARY On this day in 1412 the Medici family was appointed official banker of the Papacy. On this day in 1920 the first assembly of the League of Nations was held in Paris. On this day in 2006 Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was sworn in as Liberia's new president, Africa's first female elected head of state.
WEDNESDAY 17 JANUARY On this day in 1820 English author Anne Brontë, the youngest of the six Brontë children, was born in Yorkshire. On this day in 1912 Captain Robert Scott's expedition arrived at the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen. On this day in 2007 the Doomsday Clock was set to five minutes to midnight in response to North Korea's first nuclear test.
THURSDAY 18 JANUARY On this day in 1788 the First Fleet carrying 736 convicts from England to Australia arrived at Botany Bay to set up a penal colony. On this day in 1980 Pink Floyd's album 'The Wall' hit #1 on the US charts. On this day in 2002 the 11-year-long civil war in Sierra Leone ended leaving over 50,000 dead.
FRIDAY 19 JANUARY On this day in 1853 Giuseppe Verdi's opera 'Il Trovatore' premiered at the Teatro Apollo in Rome. On this day in 1983 Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie known as the 'Butcher of Lyon' was arrested in Bolivia. On this day in 2013 Lance Armstrong admitted to doping in all seven of his Tour de France victories.
Awareness days from around the world
JANUARY IS UK: Love Your Liver Month, Veganuary, Dry January, Big Schools Birdwatch. WORLDWIDE: Walk Your Dog Month, National Mentoring Month, National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, World Health Esteem Month, National CBD Month, National Soup Month, National Slow Cooking Month, National Braille Literacy Month, Veganuary, Dry January, National Hobby Month, Hot Tea Month, National Oatmeal Month, National Blood Donor Month, National Menudo Month, National Bath Safety Month, National Black Diamond Month, National Sunday Supper Month, Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, Red January (Beat The Winter Blues), Ginuary.
THIS WEEK IS UK: Big Energy Saving Week. WORLDWIDE: National Obesity Awareness Week, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
MONDAY 15 JANUARY UK: Brew Monday. WORLDWIDE: Blue Monday, Martin Luther King Day, Cuckoo Dancing Week, International Snowmobile Safety Week, No Name Calling Week, National Health Weight Week, National Bagel Day, National Booch Day, National Strawberry Ice Cream Day, National Hat Day, National Fresh Squeezed Juice Day, Idaho Human Rights Day, Indian Army Day, Elementary School Teacher Day, National Pothole Day, Wikipedia Day.
TUESDAY 16 JANUARY WORLDWIDE: National Religious Freedom Day, National Without A Scalpel Day, National Fig Newton Day, National Nothing Day, International Rooibos Day, National Quinoa Day, International Hot and Spicy Food Day, National Appreciate A Dragon Day, National Good Teen Day.
WEDNESDAY 17 JANUARY WORLDWIDE: National Classy Day, National Bootlegger's Day, National Hot Buttered Rum Day, Get To Know Your Customers Day, Cable Car Day, Guru Gobind Singh Jayanti Day, National Kid Inventors’ Day, Ditch New Year’s Resolutions Day, Popeye Day, Benjamin Franklin Day, Museum Selfie Day.
THURSDAY 18 JANUARY UK: Winnie The Pooh Day, Spring school census day. WORLDWIDE: National Michigan Day, National Thesaurus Day, National Peking Duck Day, National Gourmet Coffee Day, Women’s Healthy Weight Day.
FRIDAY 19 JANUARY WORLDWIDE: National Popcorn Day, World Quark Day, National Tin Can Day, Artist as Outlaw Day, Brew a Potion Day, Good Memory Day.
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