Highlights of the week ending 21 October
Policy Watch returns after a summer break, and against a continuing backdrop of political upheaval. Despite the rapid unravelling of Liz Truss’ premiership, it was a busy week in the education policy world with various data releases, funding announcements, and the Government’s response to the review of post-16 level 2 qualifications (which included an implementation delay of a year). With a new Prime Minister announced next week, we expect further changes in the DfE ministerial team – and so next Monday’s Education questions in Parliament could be the first and last for the current set of ministers.
On Monday, the Public Accounts Committee heard evidence from Government officials on developing workforce skills for a strong economy. The session covered the replacement of BTECs with T Levels, with witnesses pointing to the success of T Levels and need to avoid qualification overlap; adult skills; local skills improvement plans; employer engagement with T Levels and the apprenticeship levy. The full transcript is available here.