[Tubby Isaacs]

I might be naive, but I don't think there's a "make this man Prime Minister" proportion of the public for that view once you put him under pressure, as will happen increasingly. I think Reform supporters probably know very little about Farage neglecting his constituency and coining in like he has been. Very many people think MPs shouldn't have outside earnings at all.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Crisis engulfs Labour as Angela Rayner is forced to step down as deputy PM
Starmer brings forward cabinet reshuffle to restore order but fallout likely to further damage party’s reputation

Thanks, Guardian.

"Restore order"? What does this even mean? Were Lucy Powell and Ian Murray kicking off and had to be sacked pour encourager les autres?

[Oboogie]

It'll be further evidence of two-tier Keir, especially if there are tax increases in the budget, "We have to pay more, whilst Labour ministers dodge paying tax".

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Thatcher tried putting 'skills' into Business (Alan Clark, I believe) which led to a fundamental clash/disagreement on basic philosophy (Business worked on 'competencies' - very transactional, not popular at education,* especially when Education was expected to administer and deliver NVQ and GNVQ).
It ended badly, and unless there is a propr alignment of values and aims there may be again.


*But popular with Thatcher who thought she was breaking the power of 'lefty' teachers.

I'm not sure I've understood you. Sounds like you're saying Skills don't particularly fit with Education because the philosophy is different.

I think a lot depends on the minister. I'd rather have Alan Clark doing skills at the DTI than, say, Michael Gove doing them at Education (in that period skills were under Business). Philipson is the sort of Education Secretary who cares about skills and industry, so maybe she'll be unhappy to lose responsibility, but I think she'll do a good job in aligning Education and Skills as best as she can.

I do like the potential of the McFadden role joining up the DWP with Skills. As thing stands the "job centre" sending people "on a course" is often seen as punitive, going through the motions. If Skills are right in there with the DWP, I think that's a much better dynamic. You'd have to work closely with Business as well though.

The National Vocational Qualifications were based on a series of competencies, and once they were mastered (or performed just once) a 'level' was achieved. This is not only at odds with the most widely accepted theories of learning (see Vygotsky or Bruner) but also with the usual educational practice of schools, where a concept (rather than a 'skill') is taught or modelled, acquired and then used in a range of circumstances of increasing difficulty - think of how you were taught to write an essay, or understand the development of the franchise in 19th century Britain.
Gove brought that philosophy to all of education...

[Tubby Isaacs]

I can't actually remember being taught how to write an essay. Might be why I so often suffered bad nerves about them.

[Oboogie]

I can't actually remember being taught how to write an essay. Might be why I so often suffered bad nerves about them.

I wasn't taught how to write an essay until Uni, none of my tutor group had been taught it at school.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Had the opposite experience, it was assumed that everyone could write essays already, and I suppose we could seeing we'd all studied what were then called "essay subjects" at A Level.

Until just now I'd never really thought about being taught to write essays better. The only bit of advice I had was that if I was stuck with the opening paragraph, as often I was, to just get on with the main part of the essay and add something later if you could. That was very useful advice. Otherwise, about all I knew was that you did the reading, did a plan, and then wrote it. I'm sure some sort of training in technique would have benefited us all.