Private-state partnership project fails to collect necessary data
The government spent over £175,000 on partnership projects between state primaries and independent schools, but cannot measure how effective they were because officials did not collect the appropriate data.
A research report called ‘Independent State School Partnerships’ was released by the Department for Education, looking at how effective 18 different schemes were between the two school types.
The scheme’s aim was to increase collaboration, share expertise and good practice, widen educational opportunities and raise standards in key subjects such as modern languages, science and maths.
The department awarded £175,118 to run the projects, and although there were signs of positive results, no official measurement of effectiveness could be drawn because the relevant quantitative data was not gathered.
“Due to the predominantly qualitative data obtained, it is not possible to quantify how effective the partnerships are in contributing to the raising of standards, however, signs are encouraging,” the report concluded.
http://schoolsweek.co.uk/private-state-partnership-project-fails-to-collect-necessary-data/
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Proportion of 18-year-olds applying to university reaches record level
The proportion of the 18-year-old population in England who have applied to university has reached the highest level recorded, new figures reveal.
Statistics from Ucas, the universities admissions body, show that the application rate for 18-year-olds in England has increased from 37.2 per cent in 2016 to 37.9 per cent – the highest level since 2006, when Ucas first published the figure.
Approximately 321,950 18-year-olds applied to higher education this year, compared with 320,440 last year, the figures show.
But, overall, the number of UK applicants has fallen by 4 per cent and the number of EU applicants has dropped by 5 per cent, compared with this time last year.
See also: University Advice