Welfare Reform on the Web (July 2002): Education - UK - Training

BUDGET INITIATIVE TO DEVELOP WORKFORCE SKILLS

D. Boyer

Working Brief, no. 134, 2002, p. 12-13

Describes a pilot scheme aimed at helping people with low skills gain qualifications. It offers:

• free learning provision and accreditation for employees without basic skills or level 2 qualifications;
• entitlement to paid time off for training;
• financial support for employers;
• extended information, guidance and support for employers and individuals taking part in the new system.

FURTHER EDUCATION: GOVERNMENT'S DISCOURSE, POLICY AND PRACTICE: KILLING A PARADIGM SOFTLY

S. Cripps

Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2002

Looking at the impact of government policy implementation at the institutional level, this book investigates the development of the UK further education sector from 1944 -1999 and identifies the processes that helped shape its identity.

GATEWAY TO THE FUTURE

T. Burke

Young People Now, issue 157, 2002, p. 22-23

The Learning Gateway is designed to offer tailored packages of support to young people aged 16-18 who are disengaged from education, training or employment. Young people on the scheme are allocated a personal adviser who assesses their needs and produces an individual development plan. Article describes the role of a Nottinghamshire project run by youth workers in delivering Life skills training as part of the Gateway.

INDIVIDUAL LEARNING ACCOUNTS

Education and Skills Committee

London: TSO, 2002 (House of Commons papers. Session 2001/02; HC 561)

Finds that the government's abandoned Individual Learning Accounts (ILA) scheme was a debacle, wide open to fraud by bogus training providers. Anyone could set up as a training provider, trawl the ILA database, and submit claims for having trained any individual whose account had not already been spent. As many as a quarter of those entered on the database as having completed their training are thought to have had their accounts stolen before any training had taken place. Fraudsters also created accounts for non-existent people and offered the details for sale.

NO PAYOUT FOR ADULT LEARNING PROGRAMME COMPANIES

J. Kelly

Financial Times, May 10^th 2002, p. 3

The government has ruled out paying compensation to training providers ruined by the collapse of the Individual Learning Accounts scheme.

PROTEST BY LECTURERS ON LESS PAY THAN TEACHERS

W. Woodward

Guardian, Apr. 24^th 2002, p. 11

Further education colleges are losing teaching staff to schools where the pay is better. Average lecturer salaries are £22,769 compared with £25,000 for classroom teachers.