One A year of transition in post-compulsory education and training
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Alastair Thomson
Abstract
This chapter provides a necessary selective account of development in the field of post-compulsory education and training. It focuses on England, reflecting on the decentralized nature of policy in this area within the UK. The central theme of the chapter is to assess the impact of the so-called ‘Year of the Leitch’ and the major review into the long-term skills needs of the UK. It outlines the main elements of this key report and provides a critique and analysis of its impact. The chapter first focuses on the written and spoken words of legislators and their officials rather than the voices of the learners and their teachers. Second, it focuses on the majority of the UK’s population, who are adults rather than children. Third, it gives attention not only on the education and training of the elites but also on the changes that have implications on the lives of people who had gained the least from their initial education. The chapter ends by suggesting that despite the hope for a workforce with world-class skills, over the past year seven hundred learners have been lost to publicly funded adult education.
Abstract
This chapter provides a necessary selective account of development in the field of post-compulsory education and training. It focuses on England, reflecting on the decentralized nature of policy in this area within the UK. The central theme of the chapter is to assess the impact of the so-called ‘Year of the Leitch’ and the major review into the long-term skills needs of the UK. It outlines the main elements of this key report and provides a critique and analysis of its impact. The chapter first focuses on the written and spoken words of legislators and their officials rather than the voices of the learners and their teachers. Second, it focuses on the majority of the UK’s population, who are adults rather than children. Third, it gives attention not only on the education and training of the elites but also on the changes that have implications on the lives of people who had gained the least from their initial education. The chapter ends by suggesting that despite the hope for a workforce with world-class skills, over the past year seven hundred learners have been lost to publicly funded adult education.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of tables and boxes v
- List of abbreviations vi
- Notes on contributors viii
- Introduction 1
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Current developments
- A year of transition in post-compulsory education and training 11
- Planning for infrastructure and housing – is sustainable development a dream? 35
- Towards a new pension settlement? Recent pension reform in the UK 51
- Climate change and climate change policy in the UK 2006–07 69
- Policy for older people in Wales 93
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Current debates
- Flexibility or flexploitation? Problems with work–life balance in a low-income neighbourhood 113
- The role of confidence and identity in civic participation: exploring ethnic group differences 133
- The problem of riches: is philanthropy a solution or part of the problem? 151
- Policy from the pitch? Soccer and young refugee women in a shifting policy climate 173
- Social citizenship in post-liberal Britain and post-corporatist Germany: curtailed, fragmented, streamlined, but still on the agenda 191
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Engendering policy and politics
- Gender and New Labour: after the male breadwinner model? 215
- A review of engendering policy in the EU 241
- Forming Australian families: gender ideologies and policy settings 263
- Working fathers as providers and carers: towards a new conceptualisation of fatherhood 279
- Index 297
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of tables and boxes v
- List of abbreviations vi
- Notes on contributors viii
- Introduction 1
-
Current developments
- A year of transition in post-compulsory education and training 11
- Planning for infrastructure and housing – is sustainable development a dream? 35
- Towards a new pension settlement? Recent pension reform in the UK 51
- Climate change and climate change policy in the UK 2006–07 69
- Policy for older people in Wales 93
-
Current debates
- Flexibility or flexploitation? Problems with work–life balance in a low-income neighbourhood 113
- The role of confidence and identity in civic participation: exploring ethnic group differences 133
- The problem of riches: is philanthropy a solution or part of the problem? 151
- Policy from the pitch? Soccer and young refugee women in a shifting policy climate 173
- Social citizenship in post-liberal Britain and post-corporatist Germany: curtailed, fragmented, streamlined, but still on the agenda 191
-
Engendering policy and politics
- Gender and New Labour: after the male breadwinner model? 215
- A review of engendering policy in the EU 241
- Forming Australian families: gender ideologies and policy settings 263
- Working fathers as providers and carers: towards a new conceptualisation of fatherhood 279
- Index 297
