A shake up of the Probation Service has been launched to make sure it plays a full part in reducing re-offending, which is a key plank in the new criminal justice strategy. The Service is viewed as giving poor value for the 500 million pounds spent on it annually. Latest figures show that about half of prisoners re-offend within two years of release. There is a marked variation in performance between areas and last year more than one third of inspections revealed below standard performance. 

In a move to attract and retain the best teachers, a new continuing professional development strategy has been launched. Seventy thousand teachers will benefit from ‘Learning and teaching’, a comprehensive package of development and training opportunities.A Professional Bursaries’ pilot programme will give teachers up to 700 pounds to support their own professional development. They will be able to spend the money in a variety of ways including conferences and workshop fees. 

Drejer AThe Learning Organization, (UK), 2000 Vol 7 No 4
Start page: 206. No of pages: 15
Argues that the literature on core competences and competence-based strategy considers competences and core competences only in terms of their impact on the organization and its services. Contends that this means that the literature has not considered the structural characteristics of competences and, consequently, has not considered how these competences can be developed.