The Minister for Education and Skills, Leighton Andrews, has published proposals for changes to the professional registration of the wider education workforce across Wales to raise professional standards. Currently only qualified teachers are required to register with and be regulated by the General Teaching Council for Wales. But as part of his 20 point action plan to raise education standards, Mr Andrews is now proposing to widen the requirement to further education, work based learning, teaching assistants and possibly youth workers and other support staff.
Following reports released by the Daily Telegraph newspaper regarding examination seminars held by examination boards, the Education Minister has announced a Review into the structure of the general qualifications market in Wales. The Review will look at the impact of the market structure on standards in GCSEs and A Levels and will also assess the effectiveness of the structure – identifying options for change and recommendations.
At their recent meetings, the Boards of both Coleg Llandrillo Cymru and Coleg Menai formally agreed to a formal merger between the two Colleges to form the new Grŵp Llandrillo-Menai. The Welsh Government notes the developments regarding merger. Any decision will be made by the Minister in due course.
Recent report sends a very positive message to young people about the long-term value of vocational qualifications such as NVQs, BTEC and City & Guilds, as well as the benefit of apprenticeships. The report demonstrates the positive impact the majority of vocational qualifications have on employment and wages, echoing the findings of previous research.
This document summarises the responses received to a consultation on the Welsh Government's proposals to revise the School Teacher Appraisal (Wales) Regulations 2002 (as amended) in order to strengthen performance management arrangements for teachers and headteachers. Response document and further information on the consultation document
The new edition of Teaching Wales is now available. Articles include: Learning through the eyes of pupils and a report from the Wales Education Lecture 2011 by the Children's Commissioner for Wales, Keith Towler.
Funding is available for teachers and headteachers to undertake visits to a partner school in any country classed as long haul destination (i.e. outside Europe). The purpose of the visit should be to set up a curriculum based partnership or develop an existing link. Travel, board and lodging costs can be funded. The maximum grant per person for a visit is £1000.
JISC Advance brings you a short series of online events in early 2012 addressing the key theme of Cost Efficiency. These events will be of interest to Management, Senior Staff and Policy Makers from all Post 16 education sectors throughout the UK. For further information please email RSC Wales
The Welsh Government is committed to preventing poor health and reducing health inequalities. As part of this, we plan to put forward a Bill which will introduce a statutory Food Hygiene Rating Scheme. Press release and Consultation
Courses in Wales is a web enabled search facility that provides information on post 16 learning opportunities.
The survey was carried out during 2010 and assessed overall literacy and numeracy skills of adults (aged 16-65) in Wales (through the medium of English), and Welsh medium literacy skills of Welsh-speaking adults (aged 16-65) in Wales.
UK Employer Skills Survey 2011 (ESS 2011) provides for the first time UK-wide data on employer demand for labour, skill deficiencies and investment in skills. This First Findings report provides early sight of results across the UK in 2011 at a UK-wide level only. Wales-level information will be available in the more detailed Main Report, to be published in Spring 2012, alongside separate National Reports focussing on key findings for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Working Futures 2010-2020 is the fourth in a series of reports providing a detailed assessment and projections of the labour market for the UK, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the English regions. It considers patterns of employment and productivity in terms of the historical trend and future projections for the growth and decline of industries and occupations, and the implications for skills.
A report published today by Ofsted has found that achievement in information, communication and technology (ICT) was inadequate in almost a fifth of the secondary schools visited.
