Quality Childcare highlights how people living in the most deprived areas of the country are receiving poorer quality childcare, when it is children in these areas who will gain the most from accessing high quality care. This report calls for the government to put fresh impetus in improving the quality of early years teaching and makes recommendations for how to do so.
Technical Matters calls for a distinct technical and vocational route through the education system to help reduce dropout and disengagement. Employers should work more closely with technical and vocational education providers to ensure the curriculum is relevant to future jobs and incorporates high quality instruction to industrial-level standards.
Competition meets Collaboration presents evidence showing that not only do Academies work when it comes to raising standards, but that Academy chains can be even more effective at improving results than single Academies. The report makes recommendations for encouraging the growth of more and bigger academy chains.
Andrew Laird, Justin Wilson
Edited by James Groves
This report says that the government should consider allowing private companies to set up and run schools under a social enterprise model. Allowing private providers to take over the running of publicly run schools will create new places at a time when there is a severe shortage in many parts of the country.
There are many challenges facing the government and all providers of higher education and higher skills. This report looks at three problems, and argues that Further Education Colleges can play a strong role in responding to all three.
Best Behaviour proposes policies on discipline and exclusion which will protect those pupils whose education is harmed by the misbehaviour of others, whilst ensuring that the needs of all children are effectively addressed.
Universities could reduce potential student debt or protect teaching and research by being more imaginative about how they are run. The study calls for the HE sector to outsource functions like maintenance and accommodation that have little to do with education.
This report considers potential reforms to the approach to SEN in England in the context of broader educational issues and policy changes. It also considers specific problems such as what SEN is, and how the government should approach inclusion before making further recommendations to improve assessment, funding and provision.
Designing Student Loans To Protect Low Earners outlines a new way to run student loans that will save taxpayers’ money while making sure that everyone equipped with enough talent and ambition can go to university. The proposals would see interest repayments on loans match the actual cost of borrowing by the Government.
