GCSE Prospects 2023: Restoring the Value? CEER, August 2023.

The A-level results strongly indicate that GCSE grades in England (Wales and Northern Ireland are waiting till next year) will be restored to pre-pandemic standards. Although the drop in grades will be a shock to the recipients, it is good news because it means the results will be much more accurate and precise, and a much better basis for taking decisions about the future.

Click here to download the PDF.

A-Levels 2023: Return to Normal? CEER, August 2023.

With the return to exams, the government is seeking to restore standards to pre-pandemic levels in two steps, with 2022 as a halfway house. This would mean nearly 100,000 fewer A* grades than were awarded in 2021. It did not quite get half-way last year. Will it make up the ground and complete the task in 2023? It will be a brutal reduction which students, parents and schools may find too hard to bear.

Click here to download the PDF.

The Good Teacher Training Guide 2017, CEER, April 2017.

Cambridge University once again emerges as pre-eminent. The top ten is otherwise dominated by school-based training providers. Shortages are a continuing concern, but the higher take-up of teaching posts by the school-trained is some comfort.

Click here to download the PDF.

Where Next for Apprenticeships 2016, CIPD, August 2016.

In a policy report of the Chartered Institute for Personnel Development edited by Tess Lanning, Alan Smithers argues that the introduction of national apprenticeship qualifications would turn the government’s hopes for the new apprenticeships into reality.

Click here to download the PDF.

Social Disadvantage and Widening Access to Universities, Buckingham: CEER, November 2015.

It has become a political imperative to get more students from disadvantaged backgrounds into university. The challenge is that this goes against the grain of the evidence on student performance. Females, those from higher income backgrounds, those who are white, and those from more affluent neighbourhoods gain proportionally more good degrees. Minority ethnic pupils are both more likely to be admitted to university and do less well there. Universities face a dilemma. If they stick to offering places on merit the Government’s aims are unlikely to be realised, but if they comply then they will struggle to keep up their degree standards.

Click here to download the PDF.

HEFCE’s Blunder, Buckingham: CEER, November 2015.

HEFCE made a crucial error in its latest report on degree outcomes. In Issues Paper 2015/21 it said that 82 per cent of graduates getting firsts or upper-seconds in 2013-14 came from state schools compared with 73 per cent from independent schools. HEFCE’s Blunder reveals that, in fact, the reverse was the case. Although HEFCE has changed some of the figures in the report itself, it has not publicly corrected the misinformation. It also still claims that students from state school were four percentage points ahead rather than nine points behind.

Click here to download the PDF.

The Coalition Effect, 2010-15 edited by Anthony Seldon and Mike Finn, Cambridge University Press, pages 257-289, March 2015.

The government rushed to unsettling reforms of education, but was given an ‘easy ride’ by Labour. Michael Gove’s departure left a lot of unfinished business on academies, qualifications, apprenticeships and fair funding. A new Conservative-led government is very likely to see these through. But what Labour would do is far from clear since so far it has offered only bits and pieces.

Click here to download the PDF.

The Ins and Outs of Selective Secondary Schools, London: Civitas, pages 194-205, March 2015.

There has to be selection in education since people differ greatly in their talents, interests and aspirations. Fifteen would be a good age allowing for an array of interconnected three-year pathways across the academic and occupational.

Click here to download the PDF.

The Science and Mathematics Teaching Workforce, London: The Royal Society, June 2014.

Teacher provision in the physical sciences and mathematics has been a long-standing and deep-seated problem in many countries. As part of its Vision for Science and Mathematics Education project, The Royal Society commissioned CEER to review provision in England, the UK, and worldwide.

Click here to download the PDF.

Confusion in the Ranks, London: The Sutton Trust, February 2013.

Countries are increasingly comparing themselves in education league tables. But how is it that England can be 27th and sixth at the same time? Confusion in the Ranks explains.

Click here to download the PDF.

14-18 A New Vision for Secondary Education, London: Bloomsbury, January 2013.

Education in England lacks a clear shape. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the final years of secondary schooling. Raising the participation age to 18 creates the opportunity to design an array of academic, practical, creative and occupational pathways to take people forward to university, training, employment and future lives.

Choice And Selection In School Admissions: The Experience of Other Countries, London: The Sutton Trust, November 2010.

Proposes a radical solution to bring England into line with best international practice: undertake national examinations at age 14, instead of age 16, and offer pupils an array of distinct and credible educational routes thereafter.

Click here to download the PDF.

Educating the Highly Able, London: The Sutton Trust, July 2012.

England lags far behind other countries in educating the brightest. A first step would be to hold schools to account for the progress of the highly able. Current measures are pitched at the lowest and middling performers. Other countries bring together the brightest. The raising of the participation age provides an opportunity to create an array of pathways post 14 on the model of the university technical colleges.

Click here to download the PDF.

Worlds Apart: Social Variation Among Schools, London: The Sutton Trust, April 2010.

Comprehensive schools in England are highly socially segregated and the main reason for this is their admissions and selection processes rather than their location. The country’s leading comprehensive schools are more socially exclusive than the remaining grammar schools.

Click here to download the PDF.

GCSE Prospects 2023: Restoring the Value? CEER, August 2023.

The A-level results strongly indicate that GCSE grades in England (Wales and Northern Ireland are waiting till next year) will be restored to pre-pandemic standards. Although the drop in grades will be a shock to the recipients, it is good news because it means the results will be much more accurate and precise, and a much better basis for taking decisions about the future.

Click here to download the PDF.

Prospects for A-Levels 2023: Return to Normal? CEER, August 2023.

With the return to exams, the government is seeking to restore standards to pre-pandemic levels in two steps, with 2022 as a halfway house. This would mean nearly 100,000 fewer A* grades being awarded. It did not quite get half-way last year. Will it make up the ground and complete the task in 2023? It will be a brutal reduction which students, parents and schools may find too hard to bear.

Click here to download the PDF.

The Good Teacher Training Guide 2017, CEER, April 2017.

Cambridge University once again emerges as pre-eminent. The top ten is otherwise dominated by school-based training providers. Shortages are a continuing concern, but the higher take-up of teaching posts by the school-trained is some comfort.

Click here to download the PDF.

Where Next for Apprenticeships 2016, CIPD, August 2016.

In a policy report of the Chartered Institute for Personnel Development edited by Tess Lanning, Alan Smithers argues that the introduction of national apprenticeship qualifications would turn the government’s hopes for the new apprenticeships into reality.

Click here to download the PDF.

Social Disadvantage and Widening Access to Universities, Buckingham: CEER, November 2015.

It has become a political imperative to get more students from disadvantaged backgrounds into university. The challenge is that this goes against the grain of the evidence on student performance. Females, those from higher income backgrounds, those who are white, and those from more affluent neighbourhoods gain proportionally more good degrees. Minority ethnic pupils are both more likely to be admitted to university and do less well there. Universities face a dilemma. If they stick to offering places on merit the Government’s aims are unlikely to be realised, but if they comply then they will struggle to keep up their degree standards.

Click here to download the PDF.

HEFCE’s Blunder, Buckingham: CEER, November 2015.

HEFCE made a crucial error in its latest report on degree outcomes. In Issues Paper 2015/21 it said that 82 per cent of graduates getting firsts or upper-seconds in 2013-14 came from state schools compared with 73 per cent from independent schools. HEFCE’s Blunder reveals that, in fact, the reverse was the case. Although HEFCE has changed some of the figures in the report itself, it has not publicly corrected the misinformation. It also still claims that students from state school were four percentage points ahead rather than nine points behind.

Click here to download the PDF.

The Coalition Effect, 2010-15 edited by Anthony Seldon and Mike Finn, Cambridge University Press, pages 257-289, March 2015.

The government rushed to unsettling reforms of education, but was given an ‘easy ride’ by Labour. Michael Gove’s departure left a lot of unfinished business on academies, qualifications, apprenticeships and fair funding. A new Conservative-led government is very likely to see these through. But what Labour would do is far from clear since so far it has offered only bits and pieces.

Click here to download the PDF.

The Ins and Outs of Selective Secondary Schools, London: Civitas, pages 194-205, March 2015.

There has to be selection in education since people differ greatly in their talents, interests and aspirations. Fifteen would be a good age allowing for an array of interconnected three-year pathways across the academic and occupational.

Click here to download the PDF.

The Science and Mathematics Teaching Workforce, London: The Royal Society, June 2014.

Teacher provision in the physical sciences and mathematics has been a long-standing and deep-seated problem in many countries. As part of its Vision for Science and Mathematics Education project, The Royal Society commissioned CEER to review provision in England, the UK, and worldwide.

Click here to download the PDF.

Confusion in the Ranks, London: The Sutton Trust, February 2013.

Countries are increasingly comparing themselves in education league tables. But how is it that England can be 27th and sixth at the same time? Confusion in the Ranks explains.

Click here to download the PDF.

14-18 A New Vision for Secondary Education, London: Bloomsbury, January 2013.

Education in England lacks a clear shape. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the final years of secondary schooling. Raising the participation age to 18 creates the opportunity to design an array of academic, practical, creative and occupational pathways to take people forward to university, training, employment and future lives.

Choice And Selection In School Admissions: The Experience of Other Countries, London: The Sutton Trust, November 2010.

Proposes a radical solution to bring England into line with best international practice: undertake national examinations at age 14, instead of age 16, and offer pupils an array of distinct and credible educational routes thereafter.

Click here to download the PDF.

Educating the Highly Able, London: The Sutton Trust, July 2012.

England lags far behind other countries in educating the brightest. A first step would be to hold schools to account for the progress of the highly able. Current measures are pitched at the lowest and middling performers. Other countries bring together the brightest. The raising of the participation age provides an opportunity to create an array of pathways post 14 on the model of the university technical colleges.

Click here to download the PDF.

Worlds Apart: Social Variation Among Schools, London: The Sutton Trust, April 2010.

Comprehensive schools in England are highly socially segregated and the main reason for this is their admissions and selection processes rather than their location. The country’s leading comprehensive schools are more socially exclusive than the remaining grammar schools.

Click here to download the PDF.