Publications on Education
Jul
2010
Friday 30th July, 2010
Teacher Expertise for Special Educational Needs
Special schools are suffering from a desperate shortage of teachers trained to deal with pupils with special needs. A Policy Exchange survey revealed that just 5 per cent of special schools found it easy to recruit teachers with the right training.
The research note recommends that all teachers should receive at least some SEN training as part of their initial training and that teachers in specialist roles should have or be working towards specialist qualifications specifically relevant to the needs of the children they are teaching.
Press coverage • TES • Press Association • teacher.tv
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £4 + £1p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Mar
2010
Wednesday 17th March, 2010
Blocking the Best: Obstacles to new, independent state schools
By Anna Fazackerley, Rachel Wolf and Alex Massey
This report examines the changes required to make an expanded programme of genuinely independent state schools a reality. The first part examines the barriers which prevent new providers entering the system, including a ponderous approval process and overly restrictive planning and building procedures. The second part looks at restrictions on academy independence which curb innovation, including bureaucratic and poorly-focused accountability mechanisms and interference by central and local government. The third part looks at interventions in cases of school failure.
Press Coverage • TES Connect • ConservativeHome
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Feb
2010
Thursday 11th February, 2010
More Fees Please?
By Anna Fazackerley and Julian Chant
The Government must raise the cap on top-up fees to avoid a serious deterioration of quality in our universities. More Fees Please? warns that with the Government’s student loan debt expected to rocket to £55 billion by 2018, the Treasury will not be able to afford a rise in fees without a radical change to the system of student support. The report recommends that students from the wealthiest households are removed from the public student loans scheme, and offered a loan from a regulated private loan scheme at a lower than commercial rate of interest instead.
Coverage • Times Higher Education • BBC News • Guardian BBC Radio 5 Live • BBC Today Programme • The Telegraph • The Sunday Express • Belfast Telegraph • Metro • Politics.co.uk • ConservativeHome
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Jan
2010
Friday 8th January, 2010
Simply Learning: Improving the skills system in England
Ralph Hartley and Tom Richmond
Edited by Anna Fazackerley
This report looks at the skills system in England in order to understand the problems which beset it and to offer recommendations for reform. It offers a critique of the 2006 Leitch review, which is seen as the major driving force behind recent Government policy on skills. Leitch promised us a simplified and demand led system, but what we have now is in fact the exact opposite.
Press Coverage • TES • Public Finance • New Statesman
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Nov
2009
Monday 23rd November, 2009
Innovation and Industry: The Role of Universities
By Anna Fazackerley, Martin Smith and Alex Massey
It is clear that the role of universities in innovation is more subtle than government policies have acknowledged. Universities that are active at the heart of successful technology clusters do not just spin out companies. They develop highly-skilled people who move between industry and academia; they incubate businesses and provide expertise; they produce knowledge that is used by technology businesses; they provide public space in which people from various overlapping branches of research meet. Some universities in the UK perform these functions successfully. But Government policy does not recognise their importance.
Innovation and Industry: The Role of Universities looks at how universities could form a key part of Britain’s economic recovery by acting as incubators of business and providers of expertise.
If you would like a hard copy of this research note for £4 + £1p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Sep
2009
Monday 28th September, 2009
Science Fiction? Uncovering the real level of science skills at school and university
Written by Anna Fazackerley and Tom Richmond
Britain will need more science skills if it is to prosper. According to the CBI a staggering 92% of firms across all sectors require people with science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) skills, but more than 59% are experiencing problems finding them.
The Government has repeatedly claimed that the numbers of pupils studying STEM subjects is going up. However, this is misleading as the school population has also increased considerably since 1997, meaning that we cannot derive any accurate measure of how popular STEM subjects are from raw numbers.
Our report debunks the Government's claims about the performance and take-up of science subjects at every level – GCSE, A Level and degree. Instead, misleading figures and lowered standards were found to behind many of the apparent ‘improvements’, with the result that British businesses now face a critical skills shortage.
If you would like a hard copy of this research note for £4 + £1p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Aug
2009
Tuesday 18th August, 2009
Educating Rita? A model to address inadequate state support for part-time students
Written by Anna Fazakerley, Professor Claire Callender, Julian Chant and David Wilkinson
One of the greatest and most glossed-over injustices in the English higher education system is the fact that part-time undergraduate students, who are older and from less traditional academic backgrounds, have a much worse deal than their full-time counterparts.
Despite making up nearly a third of undergraduates, part-time students get a fraction of the financial support received by full-time students. They have to pay their fees up front, they can’t take out a Government-supported loan, and their chances of securing any financial support are slim.
Educating Rita recommends that the Government must invest £33 million to begin tackling the chronic underfunding of part-time students who currently receive a fraction of the support given to their younger full-time counterparts.
The report also proposes a partial solution to the crisis erupting this week over student places. With a boom in full-time university applications, but a drastic shortage of places, tens of thousands of eligible students will be unable to find a place when A-level results are published on Thursday.
If you would like a hard copy of this research note for £4 + £1p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Jul
2009
Monday 13th July, 2009
Building Blocks - an investigation into Building Schools for the Future
Written by Katherine Quarmby and Anna Fazackerley
Our latest report Building Blocks critically examines the Government's Building Schools for the Future programme. The report recommends that Labour's flagship programme should be radically simplified and the quango who currently delivers this project - Partnerships for Schools should have its remit curtailed.
Its findings also show how the £55 billion BFS programme, which started to rebuild the entire secondary school estate, has failed in its mission to 'transform education'.
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Apr
2009
Thursday 30th April, 2009
Rising Marks, Falling Standards
By Tom Richmond & Sam Freedman.
One of the most enduring debates in education concerns ‘standards’ in primary and secondary schools. Literacy, numeracy and science form the backbone of the school curriculum with the intention of equipping pupils with these core skills by the time they leave school. The purpose of this report is to investigate the extent to which literacy, numeracy and science have improved since 1997 with a particular focus on SATs at age 7, 11 and 14.
Through a detailed analysis of national school performance data, a number of serious concerns are raised with regard to the current state of pupils’ core skills. In addition, the curriculum from the ages of 14 to 16 - which includes GCSEs, Diplomas and Apprenticeships - is assessed in terms of its rigour, complexity and credibility. We also put forward our recommendations for the future direction of primary and secondary education, including a new model for SATs, more freedom for schools in how they teach core skills and creating a better set of academic and vocational options for pupils at age 14.
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Friday 24th April, 2009
Sink or Swim? Facing up to failing universities
By Anna Fazackerley & Julian Chant.
The government must confront the ‘no-fail’ culture in higher education and accept the possibility that a university could go under. Private providers could be allowed to step in to take over all or part of a failing institution.
Sink or swim? analyses the history of troubled mergers in British universities and takes a closer look at the accountability framework keeping universities in check. It considers the case for failure in the overcrowded London market and outlines some of the major financial threats for universities on the horizon.
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p or a research note for £4 + £1p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
