Vocational

Why are functional skills important?

Aug 17, 2020 | Life Skills | 0 |

Reading time: 3 minutes

Functional skills are important because they provide the skills, knowledge and understanding for young people and adults to progress in work, education and life.

It relates to transferring to learner’s ability to solve problems to real-life contexts. Functional skills are the fundamental English, Maths and ICT skills to aid their working and personal lives. People can study for these qualifications in practical ways.

This blog post explains what functional skills are and why they are important.

V Certs – will they bridge the skills gap for employers?

Nov 15, 2018 | Alternative Curriculum, Employment | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

V Certs are the most recent vocational qualification open to students who are 14 – 16 years old but could they really provide a solution for the skills gap in the UK?

What can teachers do to increase the number of school leavers taking up apprenticeships?

Nov 2, 2018 | Employment, Pupils | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

Despite the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy in April 2017, there have been four successive quarters of decline in the number of reported apprenticeship starts.

If all parties have a role to play in increasing the uptake of apprenticeships, what can teachers do to help facilitate this?

How to encourage apprenticeships in your school

Jul 19, 2018 | Employment, BTEC | 0 |

Reading time: 3 minutes

Apprentices earn, on average, £100,000 more than other employees over the course of their life, and today can take their pick from over 200 differing professions – from plumbing and music, to social media and marketing. And, as it turns out, apprentices are good for business, too…

Offering relevant career guidance in schools

Jun 6, 2018 | Employment, Teaching | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

The requirement of schools to offer career guidance has become more important since the Education Act 2011 enshrined this in law. As a consequence, many schools have increased the impact of their in-house career guidance tools.

5 potential career paths for…geography students

May 23, 2018 | Employment | 0 |

Reading time: 3 minutes

Geography is far from just studying countries and maps. Indeed, careers utilising geography skills involve research, data analysis, and exceptional communication. As you can imagine, these translate to a wider range of careers for geography students.

5 potential career paths for…economics students

Jan 15, 2018 | Employment | 0 |

Reading time: 3 minutes

Economics influences every aspect of the modern world. As such, students who have an interest in, and choose to study, economics have a variety of career paths to choose from.

The skills learned through economics are also highly transferable, allowing students to move into fields they wouldn’t initially have contemplated.

Alternative provision for school refusers

Aug 17, 2017 | Alternative Curriculum, Attendance | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

Whilst the dangers of ‘off-rolling’ or ignoring/marginalising pupils by moving them to poorly managed alternative provision are real, when it is properly managed, alternative provision can be a very useful tool in encouraging school refusers to re-engage with their education.

Vocational qualifications for disengaged students

May 11, 2017 | Curriculum, NEET | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

The negative connotations that come along with a student who is disengaged do little to help the pupil or school in tackling underlying issues, and in fact there has long since been a link between low teacher expectations and a self-fulfilling prophecy of a student who underperforms.

Allowing students to struggle in the traditional classroom setting has now been recognised as counterproductive for all – for teacher, for pupil and for fellow pupils.

Alternative Provisions

May 16, 2015 | Alternative Curriculum, Life Skills, Participation | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

With the changes to funding over the last few years, it is increasingly likely that schools will want to handle alternative provisions in-house to avoid the cost of supporting pupils being taught elsewhere.

There are various ways to address the issues within school and we will cover some of those today.

Preventing Pupils Becoming NEET

Nov 6, 2014 | NEET, Alternative Curriculum, Life Skills | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

One fifth of all young people aged 16-24 don’t make the leap from school to work, a situation which can quickly become a cycle of failure and despondency.

The long term outlook for this group is one which will affect their wellbeing in a number of ways; their mental and physical health and their poor economic forecast. Typically, these pupils will come from a background of low-income and long standing issues and so there is a need for the best support possible to help this disadvantaged group to achieve as much as possible academically.

Careers guidance in schools

Apr 10, 2014 | Employment, Life Skills, News | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

The Department for Education has today published the revised ‘Careers guidance and inspiration in schools’ statutory and non-statutory guidelines. The documents are for governing bodies, school leaders, school staff in maintained schools, local authorities that maintain PRUs, academies and free schools.

Progress 8

Mar 31, 2014 | GCSE, News | 0 |

Reading time: < 1 minute

In 2016, Progress 8 will be introduced into all schools. Schools will also be able to opt-in one year early to the new accountability system.

Progress 8 captures the progress a pupil makes from the end of primary school to the end of key stage 4 (KS4). Progress 8 is a type of value added measure, which means that pupils’ results at the end of KS4 are compared to the actual achievements of other pupils with the same prior attainment. Progress 8 will be used as the floor standard measure. (DfE Progress 8 measure in 2016)

National Apprenticeship Week

Mar 3, 2014 | Employment, Life Skills, News | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

National Apprenticeship Week (3-7 March) “is the time when all eyes are on Apprenticeships and it’s all about raising the profile amongst employers, individuals, teachers, parents and the media.” We therefore thought we would take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of apprenticeships, so that we can give the best advice to our pupils when they are considering their options once they have left school.

Preparing Your Pupils For The Next Generation BTECs

Dec 8, 2013 | Alternative Curriculum, BTEC | 0 |

Reading time: 3 minutes

That old saying, ‘if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck then it is a duck’, is also true of the Next Generation BTECs. They remain similar to the ‘old’ BTECs in that much of the content is still the same and the learner outcomes are similar.

These revamped Level 2 BTECs are therefore very much still BTECs with all the flexibility and opportunities they offer learners. Particularly when it comes to offering a much needed alternative to the traditional GCSE route. As before, this route provides a progression pathway which can take pupils onto National Diplomas, Further Education and employment.

Setting Up An Ideal Alternative Curriculum

Nov 29, 2013 | Alternative Curriculum | 0 |

Reading time: 3 minutes

In 2003, the lack of vocational education had been an “historic weakness” of the English education system, said the then School Standards Minister, David Miliband.

Indeed, teachers of disengaged or disinterested pupils have long argued the need for a suitable Alternative Curriculum that serves to educate and prepare young people for life in the real world.

5 Simple Strategies…to raise A*-C grades for your pupils on the Alternative Curriculum

Nov 29, 2013 | Exams, GCSE, School Improvement | 0 |

Reading time: 3 minutes

Over the past 4 years we have worked with over 300 schools that have incorporated numerous strategies into their alternative curriculum environments. The primary focus in all of these establishments is to raise overall standards by delivering a suitable and well-rounded provision to help raise the students’ A*-Cs attainment. Some of these strategies have been successful whilst the majority have failed due to lack of support, funding or expertise.

5 Simple Strategies….to prepare your teaching staff for the next generation BTECs

Sep 28, 2013 | BTEC, Alternative Curriculum, Exams | 0 |

Reading time: 4 minutes

The next generation BTEC brings new challenges for all our schools: externally assessed units and new rules regarding coursework feedback. It is no longer BTEC ‘as we know it’. It’s a completely different regime. The bar has been raised to add more rigour and credibility to the subject.

No longer can BTEC be thought of as a ‘sink’ option for those learners who don’t want to do certain subjects or who don’t seem to fit well anywhere else or for your alternative curriculum students.

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