Raising Student Achievement Levels Through Target-setting and Academic Monitoring: A Case Study of Developments at Key Stage 3 in a Secondary School

Evidence for the conclusions and recommendations are based on interviews with tutors and students from Year 8 conducted by the Head of Year, who then provides an overview from her perspective. The findings are contrasted against the examples of effective target-setting provided by the DfEE Standards and Effectiveness Unit (DfEE, 1998b) and the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted, 1996). The new scheme is also reviewed in the light of the call for equal opportunities by, amongst others, the Department for Education and Employment (DfEE, 1998c) and against the body of evidence provided by the research on school improvement (e.g. Stoll and Mortimore, 1995; Creemers, 1997

Long-term Care in Turmoil

The reformulation of the regulation of long-term care seen in the recent White Paper and Royal Commission in the UK has led to topical debates on long-term care for older people. Given that there are over 500,000 people in residential nursing and dual registered homes across the country, there has, until now, been remarkably little research on the role of managers in the long-term care sector, the various tasks they undertake in the day-to-day operation of a care home, and the qualities and qualifications they bring to their work. This study investigates the range of tasks which managers of long-term care homes perform, and the skills they should possess to do their work. The opening chapter reproduced here provides a critical analysis of the current confusion which besets UK policy on long term care.long-term care; aging

The Myth of Parity of Esteem: Earnings and Qualifications

There is no parity of esteem between academic and vocational qualifications in the labour market. Data from the Labour Force Survey show that on average men and women working full-time with academic qualifications at one level in the national qualifications framework earn about the same as men and women with vocational qualifications set notionally one level higher. So those with A levels have earnings similar to those with higher or level 4 vocational qualifications, those with 5 or more O levels or higher grade GCSEs have earnings similar to those with level 3 vocational qualifications, and those with 1-4 O levels or higher grade GCSEs have earnings similar to those with level 2 vocational qualifications. These higher earnings occur firstly because academic qualifications at a given level are more successful in buying access to more highly paid occupations. Secondly, within the most highly paid managerial, professional and technical occupations, academic qualifications are associated with higher earnings. These findings raise significant issues for public policy, calling into question the way in which the UK's National Targets for Education and Training have been formulated and much work on international comparisons of educational attainment.

Current changes in adult education.

The subjects of this thesis are the current changes in adult education and their effects, focusing on the provision of local education authority (LEA) adult education. I have discussed the past century of adult education and related more recent policies to a case study of an adult education centre. LEA management structures of five counties were analysed and linked to their adult education provision. Within these counties I have investigated LEA adult education providers' partnerships, particularly those with secondary schools and further education (FE) colleges. Structured interviews were conducted with students, county administrators and a Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) adult education policy team leader. Lifelong learning is high on the political agenda throughout Europe, both for its alleged ability to improve national competitiveness and for the promotion of social cohesion. Yet at the same time LEA adult education has been marginalised as a direct result of government policy. Legislation weakened local authorities and divided the curriculum which left only the, so called, 'leisure' classes for adults to be organised by LEAs. Moreover, marketplace competition between providers has inhibited collaborative partnership. In the 2000 Learning and Skills Act, LEAs have the opportunity to make a 'key contribution' to the provision of adult education. The results of my research suggest that some LEAs must restructure and then cultivate harmonious partnerships in order to play a major part in developing a learning society

Basic Competence in Mathematics: Swedish and English 16 Year Olds

The transition to mass participation in post-16 education, which had occurred considerably earlier in other European countries, has finally taken place in England. However, high drop-out and failure rates persist, particularly on vocational qualification routes. Our hypothesis is that an important factor is the lack of basic competence of lower-achieving English students in the key skills English language and Mathematics required for success in further study. Our research addresses the validity of the argument by investigating whether any significant difference can be detected between the skills of English students entering post-compulsory education and those of students in countries where drop-out and failure rates are low. The country investigated in this study is Sweden where participation of 16-year-olds in post-compulsory education is currently over 90 per cent; and where some 90 per cent of those enrolling normally obtain an academic or vocational qualification. Some GCSE Maths questions were incorporated into the national test taken by Swedish 16-year-olds at the end of compulsory schooling; and significant differences were found in the scores of the lower 40 per cent of the cohort in the two countries. The results are consistent with the hypothesis; and also go beyond previous Swedish-English comparisons, which reflect the general emphasis in international studies on younger age groups (typically 9 and 13-year-olds).