Most schools, colleges and other education and training providers are performing well, according to the Annual Report of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales 2008-2009. Over the last twelve months there has been improvement across all sectors and inspectors have seen more ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ work than ‘poor’ or ‘unsatisfactory’. However, the report also highlights that in some cases there is an urgent need to improve the provision of education and training, as too many learners in Wales are being allowed to underachieve – especially the ‘more able and talented’ learners and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Further information on the annual report
Press release
Apprenticeship Week Wales is a week dedicated to celebrating the skills and enthusiasm apprentices bring to employers across Wales. It features demonstration events by training providers and good news stories about real apprentices. Apprenticeship Week Wales celebrates the skills and enthusiasm of people who learn from their employers, but bring a lot to the job themselves.
This article summarises the available statistics on young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) in Wales.
In 2008/09, 6.8 per cent of half-day sessions were missed through authorised and unauthorised absence, an increase from 6.7 per cent in 2007/08. Boys and girls had the same rate of both overall and unauthorised absenteeism. A little under 5,500 pupils (2.8 per cent) had no absence from school in 2008/09. Just over one fifth of pupils account for around half the total number of absent sessions.
The nomination deadline for these awards is just one week away – Friday 29TH January 2010. These awards are a great way to recognise the work of valued tutors and mentors. There will be an awards ceremony on 25th March 2010 at Parc y Scarlets, in Llanelli for the winners (and their nominators), and as always, every nominee will receive a certificate.
RSC Wales is offering one-day to look at some of the new tools which teachers can use in order to reach wider groups of learners, and to make the process of learning more fun. These will include social networking services, multimedia tools and virtual learning environments as well as an update from NGfL Cymru.
An update to the Handbook for Governors of Schools in Wales has been published. It includes an updated glossary of many of the abbreviations and acronyms used in the education and training sector. New sections and the handbook
The bulletin includes latest information from a range of sources and covers a variety of time periods. This bulletin updates the statistics previously released on 18 December 2009. The Labour Force Survey estimates for the 3 months to November 2009 show: The employment rate of people of working age in Wales was 69.1 per cent, down from 70.7 per cent in the same period a year earlier. The UK average was 72.4 per cent. The ILO unemployment rate in Wales was 8.5 per cent of the economically active, up from 6.9 per cent in the same period a year earlier. For the UK as a whole it was 7.8 per cent.
The final figures for student numbers accepted into university or college last year (2009 entry) have now been released by UCAS. In 1999 there were 334,594 accepted applicants. Ten years later in 2009 there were 481,854 - an increase of 44%. This represents an increase of 25,227 (5.5%) on entry for 2008. There was an overall increase in the number of applicants of 8.7%. Applicants aged 20 and under showed a 6.9% increase.
On 8 January 2010, the think tank Policy Exchange published a report (Simply learning: improving the skills system in England) which argues that implementation of the 2006 Leitch review of skills has resulted in a skills system which is substantially flawed and focused on the delivery of outputs designed to meet arbitrary government targets rather than the needs of employers and individuals.
TdaNews features the latest news, upcoming events, online resources and publications from the Training and Development Agency for Schools.
This report summarises findings from the Going into HE research project. From the outset, the aim has been to develop a clear understanding of: the role and importance of finance in the decision-making process of English-domiciled people from different groups who are considering entering full-time Higher Education
(HE) in the UK; and the impact of the support arrangements on their decisions.
international student mobility, especially diploma mobility (students taking their entire degree outside the UK), has received little attention from researchers. This report summarises the findings of research funded by the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills aimed at improving understanding of the motivations behind the international diploma mobility of UK students. It also seeks to evaluate the scale and significance of UK international diploma mobility.
