Background/purpose: Teacher recruitment and retention is a major issue for sustaining and growing an educational system. Nurturing and supporting teachers through all stages of their career in the form of mentoring is recognized as an important factor in retaining teachers in the profession. The current English Government's "golden…

This study focused on people in Dorset and Somerset with low qualifications, meaning those with at most a lower secondary qualification who experience a high risk of poverty and social exclusion, and explored green job opportunities that exist for them, including those that would require reskilling (training to obtain different skills) or…

Purpose: Apprenticeships in England, while defined by level and typical duration, are not quantified regarding the number of learning hours required to achieve the outcomes specified, as with other regulated qualifications and accredited programmes. This paper proposes an approach to ascribe credit to apprenticeships recognising both…

The UK entered the deepest recession in history in 2020, following a decade of sluggish growth. Coronavirus restrictions led to a sharp rise in unemployment, vacancies plummeted, and millions were furloughed. The pandemic has also accelerated technological change, with increased digitalisation and firms discovering new ways to harness emerging…

Conversation clubs provide spaces for participants to practise their English language speaking skills in a friendly, supportive and informal environment. Informal volunteer-led provision takes a number of forms and there is no standard approach or model of training, resources or materials to which volunteers adhere. There is huge value in…

This report explores the links between trade unions and workplace training, and the potential benefits of social partnership in the skills system. The UK is relatively unusual in having no formal role for trade unions in the training system. In most advanced economies, trade unions and employers work alongside government in shaping the skills…

This study, jointly conducted by the University of Warwick Institute for Employment Research (IER) and SQW Ltd., discusses the UK Government's intention to accelerate the process of ceding more responsibility for delivering a range of services to the local level. The logic is that local actors are better placed to identify local priorities. This…

The recruitment of overseas trained teachers (OTTs) in England is a matter that has received as much attention inside the United Kingdom as outside. Education systems in small island and developing states, especially, were believed to have been placed 'at risk' following the departure of experienced and qualified teachers. Correspondingly, the…

England and Wales lag behind competitor nations in the proportion of people with higher technical skills. In this pamphlet, Scott Kelly proposes three overarching reforms to ensure employers have access to the skills they need: (1) There should be a well-defined set of institutions where the core mission is to deliver technical and professional…

The overall aim of the study is to understand effective practice and lessons that can be learned from the approaches currently being adopted, particularly in relation to curriculum design and employer engagement, as well as the broader challenges facing University Technical Colleges (UTCs). More specifically the objectives of the research are to:…

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a worldwide research project involving schools and students in over 70 countries. It is run by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), takes place every three years, and is designed to examine how 15-year-olds can apply what they have learned in school to real…

This book deals with the relevance of recognition, validation and accreditation (RVA) of non-formal and informal learning in education and training, the workplace and society. It examines RVA's strategic policy objectives and best practice features as well as the challenges faced and ways forward as reported by Member States. Special attention is…

The development of the European Qualification Framework (EQF) as a means of assessing the relative status of qualifications across the EU is described, together with its fundamental design characteristics, particularly the adoption of a "learning outcomes" approach. Ways in which it may be implemented, and possible difficulties in this,…