Is there an optimum age to be an apprentice? For most people, their image of an apprentice would be a teenage school leaver. Yet, in England, the majority of apprentices are over the age of 19 when they start their apprenticeship, and 40 per cent are 25 or over. This would be very unusual in other European countries. In this article, the authors…

Michael Gove has correctly lambasted the current curriculum for information and communication technology (ICT): his proposed solution is as wrong as the current curriculum, as findings from the Penceil Research Project on how to engage non-users of ICTs demonstrate. Learning how to use a word processor and a spreadsheet is a useful low-level…

Communities are at the heart of the government's vision for the Big Society. And it's the author's strongly held view that skills should be at the heart of each and every one of those communities. If one grows the skills of an individual then the community will flourish. There is a job to be done in building skills to build communities--skilled…

Anyone coming to the skills sector for the first time will swiftly find a baffling array of government "initiatives" and quangos. These latter bodies invariably claim to represent employer need, increase the status of vocational education or deliver best practice (delete as appropriate). The result is that the skills system as it…

The "Daily Telegraph" recently carried an attack on the Union Learning Fund (ULF) as part of its ongoing criticism of unions following the industrial action by cabin crew at British Airways. This included a quote from Conservative MP Francis Maude suggesting that the fund was a form of "money laundering." The article, which was…

The learning and skills sector plays a critical part in working with young people disengaged from education, or at risk of becoming so, and supporting adults with low skills levels to achieve their ambitions in life, work and learning. In particular, the sector has a key role in enabling people to become engaged in education, training and work and…

In 2007, the Workers' Educational Association's (WEA) Yorkshire and Humber region was funded by the Academy for Community Leadership to deliver a programme of active citizenship learning in South Yorkshire. The programme was expected to: equip potential and existing community leaders with the skills, knowledge and experience necessary to address…

Co-investment between the state, employer, and employee is an intrinsic feature of most vocational and education training systems. The government's strategy is to "profoundly" shift responsibility for funding learning and skills from the state to individuals and businesses. At a time of stringent cuts in publicly-funded further education…

When some people think of post-18 education, they only perceive real merit in the traditional university route. The central role that further education (FE) plays in the economy and society is often overlooked and undervalued. In truth, FE for adults, whether in a college, at work, or an informal evening class, not only has the power to improve…

The further education (FE) and skills sector has known for months that far less tax-payer money will be available for skills in the future. This means that more training will have to be paid for by those who directly benefit. The government's skills strategy is intended to mark a new era for FE and skills, based upon increased contributions from…

There are things in the skills White Paper that those who care passionately about lifelong learning and the empowerment of adult learners will welcome. But as well as admiring the angels in the architecture, the author contends, they need to look for the devils in the detail. The White Paper cannot be considered apart from the spending review…

The Cambridge Primary Review is a monumental achievement, a comprehensive and far-sighted review of the primary school system in England. What possible relevance could a major report on primary education hold for the post-compulsory sector? In this article, the author shares his four answers to this question. Furthermore, he describes briefly the…

Everyone is living through a period of considerable demographic change, which is predicted to continue and escalate. People are living longer and, generally, healthier lives, and the lifelong learning system in the UK needs to catch-up with this new reality. There is a need for a much more flexible approach that offers choice and opportunities to…

The Campaign for Learning supported the lead-up to the "Learning Revolution" White Paper and is delighted to be part of the Learning Revolution Festival of Learning, which runs throughout October. It has been heartening to identify, alongside organisations from outside the learning sector and the departments that sponsor them, the value…

The government is consulting the sector on a new skills strategy and a simplified funding system for further education (FE). Some of the leading players were asked what they made of the government's vision and what they would like to see in the strategy. Brendan Barber warns that spending cuts will undermine many of the positive proposals in the…