Widening Access

Widening Access - Alice Davies Alice Davies gave an interesting lecture regarding diverse range of people benefiting from further education. “We want to see a country where every individual is given equal opportunity to fulfil their potential, maximise their earning potential and contribute to society.” Jane Davidson. The average British person represents a huge proportion of students in this country and a great deal of effort is going into closing that gap and allowing a number of ‘under-represented’ groups to enter higher education. ‘Under represented’ groups cover a variety of different types of people including: * People from specific black and ethnic minority communities. * People with disabilities. * People from low income families. * People from community First wards. * Children in care and care leavers. Reaching Wider is an organization which Alice Davies is a part of and it increases opportunities for people with diverse backgrounds to benefit from higher education. It is a progressive programme which raises aspiration and attainment as well as managing funds. Reaching Wider aims to encourage progression, assist with enhancing achievement, work with socially disadvantaged people and focus on under represented communities. The programme can start from primary and followed through until leaving school where they can offer work experience and paid work. The success of the organisation can be measured by the achievement of the individuals in regards to GCSE results and progression to higher education. I feel it is a very useful organisation where numerous people have benefited and the closer we get to bridging the gap of the more diverse achieving in education the better.

Further Education in Wales

Further Education in Wales Nick Bennett Nick Bennett is the current principle at Gower College and he paid a visit to give us an overview of further education. Bennett stated that we were going to examine the current state of further education in Wales and go on to predict change. The 1998 Reform Act was when colleges were introduced to Wales. Before this all further education colleges were run by the council. As a result there was a difference in the way colleges were run and funded. Bennett went on to bear the question, what is further education for? Two main reasons were stated, to underpin social justice and to support the economy. It is vitally important to widen the access to further education to individuals other than the typical youngsters just leaving school. It is important that people do know that there is an option for them to have a second chance at getting the qualifications needed to reach their maximum potential. Further education can also raise cultural awareness which can go a long way in creating a more socially aware country. In regards to supporting the economy a number of points were raised including employer engagement, work based learning, vocational qualifications, knowledge exploitation and business generation. Our country is continuing to try and improve the quality of our further education establishments. The Welsh Government continues to encourage further merges of colleges which allows collaboration between one and another allowing improvement. Financial support is still given to students and ensuring borrowing costs for tuition fees for student stay the same is top of the agenda. An important point addressed was the fact that there is now a lot of emphasis on giving work based training for specific job types. There was talk of too many people doing ‘pointless’ qualifications and entering the working world unable to get a job. Therefore there has been an increase in apprenticeship opportunities and skill build programmes are fundamental is sustaining a thriving workplace. All in all I fell that my knowledge on why we have further education has broadened and have realised the education establishments are a lot more money driven than first thought. The lecture was very useful and gave me good insight in the background of education.

Education For Sustainable Development

Education For Sustainable Development Professor D Warner Another interesting lecture we had was by Professor Warner who talked about education for sustainable development. Warner started off the lecture by giving us a direct quote from Brundtlant 1987, “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Warner gave us three main points which are important is sustaining development, there were: * Clarify and extend the ability of students to think for themselves. * To encourage students to reflect and debate issues to enable them to form their own opinions. * To foster learning that emerges from discovery and is relevant to the learners life experience. Warner explained that it is believed that there is now a more effective way of teaching children rather than the traditional way of being told information in the form of facts throughout lessons. It was suggested it is more important to centre the lesson around the learners and allow children to form their own ideas through observation. Dr Warner went on to talk about the important necessities that all education establishments should have to reach the full potential. A few examples of these are; leadership and commitment at the highest level, policies to ensure responsible behaviour, objectives and targets, effective communication and willingness to disclose information and share best practice. There was a number of other important things Dr Warner talked about most notable was the benefits our country gain from growth and also the alternative, when we move in the opposite direction. When a country is thriving there are many benefits seen such as greater employment with higher incomes while poverty decreases and the overall standard of living improves. All of these factors create a more stable economy. While some economies are growing others are on a decline which can be known as de-growth. As a result we have to reduce consumption and contract economically. Towards the end of our lecture we were told of various ways in which our government deals with keeping our country sustainable. The National Assembly for Wales has a duty under section 121 of the government of Wales Act 1988 to promote Sustainable Development in the exercise of its functions, that is, in everything it does. This suggests that it is widely felt that all members of our country are considered important in achieving sustainability and to educate individuals on the best way to go about this is vital in helping our country prosper.

Education Policy

Education Policy Mike Day - Cabinet Minister One of the first guest lecturers to visit us was Cabinet Minister Mike Day and he arrived to talk about education policy. The three main points he talked about was what it is, why is it needed and where is it developed. We can define education policy as a collection of laws and rules that govern the operation of education systems. The way our schools and education systems work reflects political opinion across the country and because education occurs in many forms throughout many institutions it can affect a lot of people. Early childhood, foundation phase, school up until the age of 16, college and universities are just a number of examples that would be affected by education policy. Mr Day went on to bare the question, do we structure our policy to create a workforce for socio-economic reasons? I think structuring our education system to give individuals the best chance in working life is very important for our country but it is not the only thing we need to instil in individuals. You also have to look at creating well rounded individuals that can live in a healthy society. Individuals who are educated to live healthy lifestyles, have control over ones emotions and have a reasonable moral foundation. We went on to look at school age, should education be free and should it be selective. In 2007 the department for education and skills confirmed that they had plans to raise the school leaving age to 18. This meant students had to stay in school, training or workplace training of some sort until they reached the age of 18. This is a huge movement in education policy and the government state that their intension is to tackle the problem of young people leaving education without qualifications or specific workplace skills. Mr Day went on t ask a very important question- Who should decide on which policies our country follows? The two names that kept cropping up were politicians and practitioners. Both candidates had credible arguments but for entirely different reasons. Politicians are often well respected individuals which are where they are because they have been elected to represent the people. They also “hold the purse string” as Mr Day described it. They have the necessary funds to take the ideas that many have and then put it to action. However, practitioners have a strong claim because they know exactly how education establishments are run. They know how it works in the practice unlike politicians and can see things from the schools perspective. But a negative would be they only see it from their point of view and may be unable to look at the bigger picture and repercussions that could occur from drastic change. What Mr Day suggested was that maybe a meeting of minds would be perfect where all theories and points can be listened to and examined before making informed decisions. Finally Mr Day went on to explain where education policy is developed. There is the UK level followed by the Welsh Government then the local authority and finally the school and governing body level. We went on to look at each individual level and the rules which are compulsory for that level. For example on a UK level there is currently a compulsory school age of 16 shortly moving up to 18 and another example would be that teachers pay is currently level across the country but again that could change. On the Welsh Government level we currently have welsh medium, the foundation phase, no SATS and no academies which are common throughout England. Wales also helps fund tuition fees for Welsh students living in Wales. Local authorities are responsible for a number of things such as distribution and monitoring of funding for the schools and are the direct employers of all staff in community schools. All in all I find this particular lecture the most interesting could go even further writing about this specific topic. Mike Day has definitely broadened my knowledge on education policy and probably more important, fuelled an interest in the subject.

Top Blogging: a sense of place

Top Blogging: a sense of place: Upon recieving the title of out assignment ‘a sense of place’I was fairly unsure of what sort of direction to go as I usually prefer more ri...

Work Exp

Ive been up to a lot of things since I last blogged, most notibly work experience at St Thomas school. I was put into a year 3 class two weeks before Christmas to watch and study a typical class and how they learn at that particular age. The experience was both interesting and enjoyable from Monday throughout till Friday and I left with a lot more knowledge on how schools are run and children are taught. I studied the way the children were taught in both the traditional academic way and the more recent 'fun' way. I was mainly put in with year 3s but most afternoons I was put in with foundation phase which generally consisted of me getting them changed and ready for their Christams concert. Overall it was a pleasant and knowledgable experience and I look forward to similar jobs in the future.

Trying to make the most of this time off for the reading week and getting a bit of reading done so I can make a bit of sense out of all these assingments we're getting recently. Have a fair idea of what we are doing for Theories of Thinking and learning but need a bit more info for the rest..... not looking forward to any assignments that requires me to make ANYTHING !!