STUDY SHOWS EDUCATION ALLOWANCE IS EASING PRESSURE ON PARENTS

New figures show the Education Maintenance Allowance is making young people less financially dependent on their parents. The research from the Learning and Skills Council shows that since the introduction of the Allowance across England in 2004, financial pressure on parents has reduced.

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SHARED SERVICES FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT SET TO SAVE SCOTLAND MILLIONS

Local authority leaders in Scotland have welcomed the Scottish Executive’s approval for five projects implementing shared services for local government, which will release 2.1 million pounds from the Efficiency and Reform Fund. COSLA, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities said the schemes would lead to millions of pounds in savings for councils.

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Playing for Success is a national initiative established in 1997 by the Department for Education and Skills in partnership with the Football Association Premier League and their clubs, and local authorities. The scheme focuses on underachieving young people, mainly in Years 6 to 9, and places a strong emphasis on improving pupils’ attitudes and motivation to learn. Centres are managed by experienced teachers.This report from the National Foundation for Education Research details progress in 2006/07. The results have shown clear evidence of significant improvements, especially in numeracy and information and communications technology. In Key Stage 4, pupils who had attended PfS made greater progress in maths when compared to similar pupils that did not attend. The difference was equivalent to one in seven PfS pupils attaining one higher grade in maths GCSE than expected. PfS pupils also made greater progress overall at GCSE, in terms of the average GCSE score. One in ten PfS pupils attained one grade higher than expected in all subjects they took.

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