June 1, 2010

Employability: Incentivising Improvement

June 1, 2010

A report by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) This report examines shortages in employability skills as a problem for those entering work and employers and details recent policy changes in three areas: training, assessment and funding, as well as seeking levers in the existing system that could be adapted to improve shortcomings.In […]

Read more

May 22, 2010

Volunteering – The Business Case: The Benefits of Corporate Volunteering Programmes in Education

May 22, 2010

A Report by Research Agency Corporate Citizenship (Andrew Wilson and Francesca Hicks), Commissioned by the City of London Sixteen large, private-sector companies took part in this study, which was designed to assess the impact of education volunteering on the employees themselves. The study drew on the accounts of 546 corporate volunteers and some of their […]

Read more

March 22, 2010

National Evaluation of Diplomas: The First Year of Delivery

March 22, 2010

A report by the National Foundation for Educational Research (Sarah Lynch, Tami McCrone, Pauline Wade, Gill Featherstone, Kelly Evans and Sarah Golden) and the University of Exeter (Gill Haynes), commissioned by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (now  the Department for Education) The 14-19 Diplomas were introduced in September 2008 as part of government […]

Read more

February 21, 2010

The Impact of Formal Work Experience and Part-Time Work

February 21, 2010

This paper marks an introductory exploration of a pre-existing longitudinal dataset on the impact of two types of activity: formal work experience placements and part-time paid employment during term-time. It exploits the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE), a government-funded survey tracking the opinions, activities and outcomes of initially around 15,500 of the […]

Read more

January 22, 2010

Not Choosing Nursing: Work Experience and Career Choice of High Academic Achieving School Leavers

January 22, 2010

An article by Neilson, G.R., and McNally, J. G, Nurse Education Today, 30(1), pp.9-14 This article draws upon interviews with twenty paradigmatic high academic achieving students to elucidate their perceptions of nursing as a career choice, all having once considered but later discarding it. A literature review and comparisons with other countries experiencing declines in […]

Read more

January 21, 2010

Guidance for Commissioners of Evaluation of Education

January 21, 2010

This document draws upon the advice and guidance of members of the Taskforce Expert Group on Research who have actively participated in commissioning, and undertaking, evaluations of programmes and activities.  It is a guide that is especially relevant to organisations that fund projects designed to improve the educational experience of young people, aged 5 to 19, through initiatives […]

Read more

December 21, 2009

Defining Effective Employer Engagement

December 21, 2009

The 2008 report of the National Council for Educational Excellence recommended that every school and college should have an effective partnership with employers. Without a clear understanding of what is meant by ‘effective’ employer engagement, it will not be possible for the Taskforce, working with partners, to benchmark current practice and assess if new initiatives, […]

Read more

June 22, 2009

Implementation of the 14-19 Reforms, Including the Introduction of Diplomas: An Evaluation of Progress in the First Year of the Introduction of 14-19 Diplomas, 2008/09 in the Context of Wider 14-19 Reforms

June 22, 2009

A report by the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) This report is based on visits to 66 schools and colleges and interviews with young people, teachers and employers involved in the first year of teaching of the 14-19 Diplomas. The Diploma curriculum includes a significant proportion of work-related learning. Employers […]

Read more

June 19, 2009

Time to Read – A Ten Year Review

June 19, 2009

A report by Michael Arlow, commissioned by Business in the Community The Time to Read programme recruits volunteers from business to give children from deprived backgrounds one-to-one help with literacy skills. This review uses several evaluations and surveys to assess whether the programme has made a contribution to the development of children. The report brings […]

Read more

June 19, 2009

The Employability Challenge

June 19, 2009

A report by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills UKCES assesses the current state of research on employability skills, identifies existing good practice, advises on how to develop these skills in schools and makes detailed recommendations for the involvement of employers. The conclusions of this report rest upon a combination of site visits, telephone […]

Read more