Education Minister Leighton Andrews has visited Alway Primary school in Newport to launch the One Wales laptop pilot. The pilot will comprise a network of local projects across Wales providing laptops for up to 1,200 children aged ten to eleven, from selected schools in Communities First and Flying Start areas. Each project will have a strong focus on learning as well as supporting digital inclusion.
Estyn, the education and training inspectorate for Wales, in conjunction with the Welsh Assembly Government’s Department for Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills and the National Training Federation for Wales publishes What makes a good training provider?, a best practice handbook for the work-based learning sector. Press release and handbook
The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups (SVG) Act 2006 laid the foundation for a new Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS) which would strengthen arrangements for those wishing to work with children or vulnerable adults.
This document outlines the responses received to a consultation on the Welsh Assembly Government’s proposals for a fees policy for post-16 education and training (excluding Higher Education) and Sector Priorities Funding as set out in the Skills That Work for Wales strategy of July 2008.
A new fund has been established for universities to realise the goals of For our Future, the Welsh Assembly Government’s twenty-first century strategy for higher education. Press release and the Recurrent grant 2010/11 circular
The Welsh Assembly Government commissioned the People & Work Unit (PWU) to undertake a survey of school bullying in Wales. The survey aimed to provide baseline evidence of the "incidence and prevalence of bullying" among compulsory school aged pupils in Wales and allow the Assembly Government to "measure future changes to the level of bullying in Wales".
This is a good practice guide for sector and standard setting bodies to assist in determining the demand for Welsh language skills, Welsh translations of national occupational standards and vocational qualifications through the medium of Welsh.
Teachers’ assessment of pupils’ work at key stage 2 are not consistent or accurate enough between different schools, according to Estyn, the education and training inspectorate for Wales. Press release and guidance
In 2008/09 there were 20,095 staff at Welsh HEIs, 780 more than in 2007/08; Cardiff University employed most staff (5,925), more than double the next largest - the University of Glamorgan (2,860), Swansea University (2,445) Aberystwyth University (2,275 – 16 per cent higher than the previous year) and Bangor University (1,860).
This circular provides information on the outcomes of the recent consultation on future changes to funding arrangements and outlines those changes that will be implemented and the timescale for each. Circular
This circular provides information to the sector of proposed discussions for establishing a ceiling on full-time undergraduate student numbers for 2011/12. Circular
This circular provides information on widening access to higher education for refugees and asylum seekers, including some of the barriers faced in accessing higher-level study and examples of effective practice in providing refugee and asylum seeker support.
This good practice report considers what makes continuing professional development work so well in successful schools. It identifies four key questions that effective school leaders regularly ask themselves about the quality of their arrangements for professional development.
This research report explores the data collected in the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England and matched data from the National Pupil Database, to investigate what contributes to gaps in Key Stage 4 attainment between pupils with different characteristics.
This report focuses on the importance of providing high quality information, advice and guidance to enable young people, as well as their parents and carers, to make thoughtful and well-informed choices about their next steps in education, training or employment, particularly at age 16 and beyond.
The overall purpose of this national evaluation is to provide policy makers and practitioners with systematic and robust evidence which will enable them to make informed judgements about the outcomes of the Diplomas for different stakeholders and to make improvements to design and delivery, if appropriate.
This report assesses the strength of the UK's research base, and at a high level examines how that strength is distributed between institutions. It concludes that a very small number of institutions and individuals within them produce the truly exceptional research that puts the UK among the world's leaders in research, and that below those peaks of excellence performance is more evenly spread between institutions.
The four UK higher education funding bodies recently consulted on proposals for the future arrangements for the assessment and funding of research – the Research Excellence Framework (REF). This Circular provides information about the high-level outcomes of the consultation and the next steps in implementing the REF.
