Adult education

Essential skills are the missing test of the skills white paper

Reforms to help more adults read, write and get online are welcome, but reversing a 60% drop in participation...

Jessica Hill
Alex Stevenson
The Staffroom - opinion

A top football coach gives us lessons to learn – and avoid

Like Premier League leaders Arsenal, good teachers rely on great set pieces, but the real magic happens in the...

Jessica Hill
Clare Dignum
V Levels

V Levels ambition will outrun reality unless we slow down

The proposed post-16 landscape looks more coherent than ever after years of false starts, but providers need more clarity,...

Jessica Hill
Michael Lemin
Apprenticeships

Poorer students miss out on a golden ticket. We can fix that

The middle classes are dominating degree apprenticeships. There’s so much more we can all do to level the playing...

Jessica Hill
Ned Browne
Apprenticeships

My son made me think differently on apprenticeship assessment

Seeing my son’s daunting experience of assessment made me think differently about reform. Rigour matters, but so does common...

Jessica Hill
Mike Blakeley
Apprenticeships

There’s an easy way to stop some small firms shunning apprentices

The government’s apprenticeship growth ambitions sound bold. But without serious engagement from the small and medium-sized employers who create...

Jessica Hill
Alice Gardner
Skills reform

Britain’s clean energy plans are racing ahead, its skills system is miles behind

Billions are being invested in offshore wind, hydrogen and nuclear, but without a national clean energy skills ecosystem the...

Jessica Hill
Members of the National Energy Skills Consortium (NESC)
Apprenticeships

Apprenticeships are heading for a cliff edge, and ministers should know where it leads

Tilting levy funding towards younger learners may sound simple, but blunt cuts and cliff-edge defunding would choke off progression,...

Jessica Hill
Ben Rowland
Prison education

It’s madness to cut jail education as signs of improvement emerge

Literacy programmes in prisons were just beginning to bear fruit, so how can reductions imposed by new teaching contracts...

Jessica Hill
Jon Collins