This assignment will look at certain aspects of the Wolf report. At a time when youth unemployment is at a record low and discipline in the classroom is seemingly beyond control is the Government right to cut funding for education for most and yet offer

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Adrian Clarida - Certificate in Education (PCET)

Year 2 - Assignment 2E

University of Southampton 2010

Part 1

Who dare’s, teaches…. Troops or Teachers?

This assignment will look at certain aspects of the Wolf report and suggestions made not only by Professor Alison Wolf, but also by Michael Gove MP the Minister for Education. At a time when youth unemployment is at a record low and discipline in the classroom is seemingly beyond control is the Government right to cut funding for education for most and yet offer funding to ex-servicemen and women to re-train as teachers?

On the 3rd of March 2011, Professor Alison Wolf presented her report on Pre-19 vocational education in England. Originally instigated by the Secretary of State for Education Mr. Michael Gove MP in 2010, the report was designed to critically analyse the state of vocational education and make constructive suggestion on how to improve the whole process from the students and funding, through to how we teach and more importantly ‘Who’ should teach.

It would seem that Professor Wolfs report could not have been published at a more politically advantageous time, not only are the general unemployment levels reaching a seventeen year high, but also youth unemployment in the 16-24 age sector has reached the highest since records began in 1992. The 974,000 young people that are unable to find meaningful employment (NOS, 2011) only adds an undeniable weight to Professor Wolfs comment that young people are being deceived about their education and that this is not just unacceptable but morally wrong.

In an attempt to redress the situation, the Wolf report (2011) recommends that ‘at a local level’ employers should become directly involved in quality assurance and assessment of the ‘courses and their content’ to guarantee the level of the vocational subjects. It has also been suggested that the Department for Education and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills work closer together to better structure and organize funding for apprenticeships. It goes further to suggest that subsidies need to be offered to employers  to incentivize them in to offering high-quality apprenticeships with off-the-job training, and an education with broad transferable elements. Notwithstanding the importance the report has placed on vocational subjects, it also proposes many changes be made to how the core academic subjects are taught. It also recommends that students who fail to achieve at least a ‘C’ in GCSE English and Math’s to continue to study these as a compulsory subject in post-16 education; with a Government Act set to raise the education leaving age to 18 by 2015, this will give students a further 2 years to attain this required level (Directgov, 2008).

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As well as changes to ‘what’ our students learn and the ‘method’ of its delivery, the report also suggests some fundamental changes in ‘how’ and by ‘whom’ they are taught.

Mr. Gove remarking that the report was “brilliant” and “ground breaking”, immediately accepted four recommendations in the report (DoE, 2011). Two of which were to allow QTLS teachers to teach in school classrooms on the same basis as QTS teachers and to clarify the rules on allowing industry professionals to teach in schools.  In regards to the latter, on the 28th of February (three days before Professor Wolfs report was ...

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