Education and skills

In the last decade, there have been significant cuts to spending on adult education and large falls in the numbers of adult learners, particularly amongst those taking low-level qualifications.

"There is much to do to get childcare policy right, but let’s not mix it up with sorting out the present cost-of-living crisis." Paul Johnson writes for The Times.

We discuss how the cost of childcare has changed over time, and how it varies across the country and between different types of families.

We consider who would be affected by each of the proposed MERs, and then assess whether the introduction of a minimum eligibility requirement is likely to achieve the government’s stated aim of ensuring that ‘students undertaking degree study have attained the baseline skills required to engage with and benefit from the course’.

We investigate variation in early-career earnings by degree class outcome using the Depart­ment for Education’s Longitudinal Education Outcomes dataset.

At the end of February, the government announced the most significant reform to the student loans system in England since at least 2012.

Christine Farquharson gave a talk on the landscape for early years spending and the challenges facing the sector going forward.

Last week’s proposals on university funding are a rational response to the student loans system but 'they are also highly regressive, hitting low earners and benefiting high earners.'

Using inflation as a cover, the government is cutting maintenance loans, increasing student loan repayments and lowering maximum tuition fees.