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The Work Talk Framework in action
I’ve been analysing the data from the first live application of my Work Talk Framework. It’s part of an evaluation I’m carrying out for SAND College, a post-16 setting for young people with SEND down the road from me in Worthing. SAND College has an enterprise focus, and trainees engage in a wide range of…
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FE and employment cold spots
When it comes to providing decent post-16 pathways for young people who don’t want to take a purely academic route, there are lots of important policy questions to consider and solve. How do we improve attainment at 16? How should we fund apprenticeships? How can we build better strategic partnerships between employers and educational institutions?…
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Work talk
What do we like (and loathe) about our jobs? Why are some industries struggling to recruit and retain? How can we reshape work to increase job satisfaction and productivity? And how can we have more rounded conversations about jobs, beyond their pay and responsibilities? I’ve developed a Work Talk Framework (WTF) to inject more structure…
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We should all retire at 81
There’s unrest in France this week over the government’s plans to raise the retirement age to 64. Every time this debate comes up, it reminds me of all the engrained flaws in the ‘standard model’ working lifecycle. The retirement age is totemic because we spend 45 years of our lives with things out of balance:…
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Career conversations that aren’t about jobs
It might seem like a paradox, but career conversations focus far too much on the jobs young people want to do when they’re older. This year, as part of my exciting new freelance portfolio, I’m working with 16-18 year old trainees at the SAND Project to see what happens when we approach conversations about future…
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Where next for place-based research?
I have this picture on my fridge: Ida drew it a few weeks ago when she was briefly fascinated by filament bulbs. It’s an image that’s greeted me every morning throughout December, and it’s encouraged me to identify the flashes of inspiration I’ve had this year, working alongside the CfEY team, and consolidate them into…
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White underachievement and the culture wars
Since I gave evidence to the Education Select Committee’s enquiry on ‘left behind’ white pupils in 2020, and in the wake of the report of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, I’ve given a number of radio and TV interviews on ‘white underachievement’. I’ve tried to use each appearance to move the debate on…
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The youth context in Bucks
We’ve just released the first phase of the place-based work we’re doing with The Rothschild Foundation to support youth transitions in Buckinghamshire. As part of the project, I’ve mapped the indicators available at small-area geographies, to help provide a granular picture of how characteristics, needs, and assets are distributed at a neighbourhood level. It’s been…
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Young people on the margins
Today Routledge published Young People on the Margins, my edited collection with Loic Menzies. It’s been four years in the making, and represents The CfEY’s manifesto for action in youth and education. The book features chapters from the whole CfEY team, setting out how key groups of young people are marginalised by the system and…
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Education Select Committee – left behind white pupils
Today I gave evidence to the Education Select Committee as part of its inquiry into working class white pupils, on behalf of the Centre for Education and Youth. You can watch the full session here, or jump straight into the second half with me, Becky Francis and Mary Curnock-Cook: During the session, I addressed some…