This page contains links to schools related resources and policy documents which are useful for keeping up to date with current schools policy. These links will be regularly updated to reflect the latest schools policies.

The Evaluation of the Functional Skills Pilot Summative Report 

Commissioned by the QCDA and released 11^th March 2011, the purpose of the report was to inform about the performance of the functional skills (FS) pilot across the three years it was in existence. This summary covers the executive summary of the report including its aims, key findings and conclusions. 

Wolf review summary

Published in March 2011, The Wolf Report, commissioned by Education Secretary Michael Gove and carried out by Professor Alison Wolf, is an independent review of vocational education. Professor Wolf was asked to consider how vocational education for 14- to 19-year-olds can be improved in order to promote successful progression into the labour market and into higher level education and training routes. She was also asked to provide practical recommendations to help inform future policy direction in vocational education, taking into account current financial constraints. 

The Education Bill 2011

Following the publication of the schools White Paper, The Importance of Teaching, the education bill is the resulting policy changes. This is a brief summary of the key points of the education bill and its implications on schools and education.  

The importance of teaching: Schools White Paper

Published in December 2010, the schools White Paper covers the key changes planned for schools and education in the UK. This is a summary of the main points covered. 

Reading by six

A summary of the report published by Ofsted in November 2010 

Educating the next generation of scientists

A report from the National Audit office evaluating progress by the Department for Education in increasing take-up and achievement in maths and science up to age 18. 

Primary Curriculum Review: Curriculum reform consultation report to the DCSF

This report, written in September 2009, was written on the basis of an independent review of the national curriculum with the support of the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA) and sets out a national entitlement for what all children should be taught in the primary years.

McKinsey report 2007: How the world’s best performing school systems came out on top

Links quantitative results with a qualitative approach to investigate what high performing and rapidly improving school systems have in common.  

How the world's most improved school systems keep getting better

As a follow up to to 2007 McKinsey report, this webinar and report compiles comprehensive analysis of school systems around the world and attempts to identify replicable reform elements. 

OECD: Programme for International Student Assessment 2009 (PISA) results

This report represents the findings of the most recent PISA survey which has a focus on reading as well as assessing maths and science performance. The report comprises of six volumes, the 6^th of which will be completed by June 2011.

Education Committee: Behaviour and Discipline in Schools

Education select committee report on behaviour and discipline in schools, published February, 2011. The report indicates that it is hard to obtain an accurate picture of behaviour in schools as there is a lack of data relating to low-level disruption. It suggests that the Department for Education gather data from a representative sample of schools on the number of serious incidents.

The report indicates that children with basic skills in literacy and comprehension are less likely to misbehave, and call on the government to the speaking and listening ability of six-year-olds as well as their reading ability. It also suggests that a future curriculum needs to engage children and provide a mixture of academic and vocational education. 

The Bew Review: Independent review of KS2 testing, assessment and accountability

Independent review published in June 2011. The report supports external school-level accountability and the publication of school performance data. It calls for a greater emphasis on teacher assessment within statutory assessment. Other recommendations are for a greater focus on progress in published data, developments in the moderation process at KS1, the introduction of three year rolling averages, writing to be assessed through both testing and summative teacher assessment and a consideration of on screen marking for KS2 tests. 

 

Shift Learning offer education market research services to help you evaluate the impact of these policy changes on your organisation, your customers, your products and your services.  

Follow Shift Learning on Twitter to stay up to date with the most current policies in schools and education.