Establishing a Culture of College Research

Dr R G Evans, of Stockport College, outlines the range of research being carried out in colleges today College Research quite rightly advocates a strong and effective culture of research in FE colleges and the sector. There needs to be a central focus for  research and development in a college to share and use findings and developments across the institution and, in some cases, to disseminate findings throughout the sector. The publication College Research is an ideal vehicle for such  dissemination. To create such a culture, a college needs a comprehensive research policy and money from the college’s budget. Colleges

FE: Further Thoughts.

Colleges’ priorities are not what they used to be. Richard Evans finds his unhappy predictions for the sector have come true. I have previously written about some of my views and concerns about the future of the FE sector. It gives me little satisfaction that many of the potential problems and concerns identified are now all too evident. One issue that merits investigation is the analysis of the cost of all the increased marketing, publicity and incentives that have been introduced since incorporation and the number of new students from previously nonparticipating groups that have been recruited into the sector.

Financial Literacy –a Personal View

Dick Evans asks questions about financial literacy as a separate subject. Concerns about financial literacy, capability and awareness continue to be very prominent. Numeracy Briefing has carried a series of highly informative articles on the topic. In spite of all the existing initiatives and key organisations involved in addressing this important topic the government has appointed yet another person who has come up with set of proposals to tackle this problem. Obviously there are concerns about the credit crunch and a personal debt level in the UK of £1.2 trillion (50% on mortgages and 50% on pension funds, corporate, credit

Forensic Science – A Case Study

An increasingly popular course amonst students, but one that leaves employers wanting more of graduates. Dr Dick Evans considers the situation, and highlights a number of suggestions for improvement. There has been a great deal of media cover age recently on the crisis in science particularly at Higher Education (HE) level following a number of high profile closures of chemistry and physics departments. This in spite of numerous warnings including those published in ‘t’magazine over many years. I have argued that long-term solutions are necessary to rebuild a strong mathematical and scientific base in this country at all stages of

Foundation Degrees Revisited

In this article Dick Evans considers the progress of the Foundation Degree (FD) prototypes particularly in subjects that traditionally have experienced difficulties in recruiting and have serious skill shortages in the work place e.g. science, engineering and construction. Analysis of the existing prototypes of the FDs provides an interesting insight into how providers are developing FDs. Many of the prototypes are in business; commerce, media and IT related subjects. The first tranche of prototypes technically finish this year and presumably after an evaluation will be introduced across universities and colleges this autumn. The government has set a target that 50%

FOUNDATIONS FOR THE FUTURE

Richard Evans is the Chairman of the CIPHE’s Education and Training Group. In this issue of ETM he considers the implications of the Wolf Review in relation to work experience programmes for 14-16 year olds. The importance of work experience programmes It is irrefutable that work related learning (WRL) is an essential part of any vocational curriculum irrespective of level. WRL can take a number of forms e.g. work shadowing, work sampling, work experience/placement or sandwich programmes. The urgent need to improve the quality and status of technical and vocational qualifications depends critically on a curriculum that is balanced and

Functional Mathematics – A Context?

Richard Evans is concerned that functional maths is being distorted by a plethora of other developments Any discussion of functional mathematics must now be informed by the recent White Paper “Raising Skills, Improving Life Chances”, The Leitch Report and the reforms associated with the development of specialised diplomas and the Framework for Achievement (FfA). Specialised Diplomas. The development of the specialised diplomas highlights the current chaotic state in government thinking with a ridiculously early deadline being set for the introduction of the first five pilot programmes next year. Critical elements of the proposed framework are still unclear and/or are still

Functional Mathematics – a Possible Solution?

Dick Evans is concerned that functional maths will go the way of so many other initiatives in mathematics A new term has appeared on the educational landscape namely functional mathematics. But has it been used before? Will it require a set of unique and radical solutions? I ask these important questions having witnessed a series of worthy reforms in the past which have inevitably regressed into narrow incremental tinkering with existing approaches and subjected to political dogma and interference. One immediate problem is how functional mathematics is defined. For example, is it the mathematics that all people need to participate

Further and Vocational Education

In Further and Higher Education there are major concerns about recruitment, retention, achievement and ultimate destination of students studying engineering and technology. Colleges and universities continue to experience difficulties in realising their student target numbers and there are concerns about the quality of the students being accepted onto the programmes of study at all levels within the two sectors. Skills/competence/knowledge/understanding gaps are now manifest across the spectrum of employment, whether it be at craft, technician or professional level. One major difficulty the FE colleges experience is obtaining valid, reliable and up-to-date statistical information about the students studying engineering across the

Further Vision

About this time last year 1 wrote an article for this journal entitled ‘Thoughts on the new Further Education (FE) sector’. A year after incorporation, has the Cinderella educational sector arrived at the ball? Its first year has been full of both challenges and opportunities, but it has been exposed to a political, financial and economic climate which has, to say the least, been contradictory and paradoxical. Many colleges had excellent relationships with their LEAs, while others did not. These variations inevitably caused problems with transitional funding arrangements. However, many colleges now realize how cost-effective and economical some LEA services