Dick Evans looks at the Select Committee report and George Low assesses its impact. Announcing her committee’s sixth report, Mrs Margaret Hodge MP said she hoped it would give the Cinderella service of FE the status it deserved. After the shambles of the mythical White Paper on lifelong learning, which then turned green at the edges before dropping off the tree, a good long look at fe was overdue. With the arrival of the Select Committee’s sixth report we were not disappointed. This is a balanced, realistic and seminal report with an evidence base which engenders confidence. With its working detail and
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REBALANCING THE ECONOMY
Richard Evans is the Chairman of the CIPHE’s Education and Training Group. In this issue of ETM, he looks at some of the problems affecting colleges. What are the issues? What impact has the government’s strategy to rebalance the economy and re-establish the manufacturing base of the country had on colleges? The current picture is very mixed. It’s mainly negative in spite of the apparent commitment to apprenticeships with statements about improving technical and vocational education and training in FE colleges and training providers, both of which significantly contribute to strategies for rebalancing the economy. However the current commentaries in
Reading Skills and ICT
Richard Evans returns to his soap box on the issue of computers and their possibly negative impact on education A recent BBC World Service programme presented by Michael Rosen raised a number of interesting issues regarding the impact of the declining use of narration in popular films on reading skills. An American film critic on the programme voiced his concerns about Hollywood productions which were increasingly superficial and undemanding on the audience. Too often, the films were formulaic in character e.g. car chases, explosions, sex and special effects with predictable and superficial story lines and plots. The audience were primarily
Qualifying Britain
With the Dearing review complete, Dick Evans takes a fresh look at Britain’s post-16 education provision. The pervading culture of the free market has a range of consequences to society, some of which are beneficial, while others are destructive and confusing. The effects of the global economy, greatly assisted by the information revolution and the growing influence of multinational companies, now raise fundamental questions about the validity of the traditional paradigms of the nation’s political systems. These transformations are, quite rightly, influencing the way education and training are delivered. Life-long learning must now be for all with the ever-accelerating need
Public Awareness of Science and Technology
A contribution from Dr R.G. Evans, Principal, Stockport College of Further & Higher Education. Introduction Following a recent lecture at the ASE’s Annual Meeting, on the public understanding of science, I reflected on some of the issues raised and would like to share some of my thoughts in this article. I accept that a lot of the issues have already been aired before, but hope the article will trigger further discussion and debate on this important topic. The need to raise awareness and greater understanding of science is now irrefutable, as we all live in an increasingly scientific and technological
Productivity and the Public Sector
In this article, Dick Evans explores how poorly thought through targets, linked to productivity are ironically proving to be the cause of continued decline rather than its salvation. The debate on this country’s productivity continues at a pace. However, one has to be cautious about stating how productivity is measured. It is now widely acknowledged that this country’s productivity in a whole range of employment areas is well down the international league tables. Many factors impinge on this complex factor. Clearly one major element of interest here is the need to create a highly qualified workforce and at the heart
Post-16 Science in Further Education
Dick Evans, Cornwall College and chair of the post 16 ASE Committee.. The teaching of science figures significantly in the further education sector (FE), both as a single discipline and a subject servicing vocational or pre-vocational courses. For convenience, the courses in a typical FE college can be mapped into three basic course pathways namely: academic/general vocational. pre-vocational. This approach is somewhat simplistic, as increasingly students will pursue mixed-economy courses, that is courses, modules or parts of courses from more than one of these pathways. Provision covers a wide spectrum with courses possessing various levels and unfortunately at present having
POST-16 SCIENCE — A FURTHER EDUCATION PERSPECTIVE
by Dr R G Evans, Principal Stockport College BACKGROUND An effective way of beginning this overview of post-16 science education is to look at the curriculum and the associated qualifications at this stage of education and training. Figure 1 attempts to show in a relatively simplistic fashion the curriculum pathways post-16 which operated during most of the 1990s. The curriculum pathways and the qualifications were highlighted in the Review of Qualifications for 16-19 year olds^ chaired by Ron Dearing. Following this review a large number of the recommendations were accepted by the Government, including the merging of the Schools Curriculum
POST-16 EDUCATION –SATISFYING THE NEEDS OF ENGINEERING IN BRITAIN
The Foundation held a Lecture and Dinner Discussion on the subject “Post-16 Education: Supplying the Needs of Engineering in Britain” at the Royal Society on 9 October 1991. Lord Butterworth CBE chaired the evening and the speakers were Professor Ian Nussey OBE FEng, IBM United Kingdom Limited; Dr Dick Evans, Principal, Stockport College of Further Education; and Dr Derek Roberts CBE FEng FRS, Provost, University College, London. Summary: Both speakers examined the present state of engineering education, its good and bad features, and made proposals which, they believed, would enhance Britain’s ability to meet the challenges that faced the country.
Participation in Science – Could This be a Problem? – VIEWPOINT
Following a recent seminar on post-16 science, I reflected on the age-old issue of why science and technology do not attract more students into the post-16 phase. It has been evident since the Great Exhibition of 1851 that the culture in this country is hostile to science, engineering and technology. Could it be that some of the problems can be placed at the door of the science teaching community? I ask this question to provoke debate! Increasingly students choose a mixed economy of A levels and whereas 20-30 years ago students would take combinations of the separate sciences with applied