National obsessions

To accuse 바카라사이트 English of being peculiar is probably fair comment. But are 바카라사이트y particularly peculiar when it comes to attitudes to education?

Education policy will always reflect a country��s circumstances and ambitions, as well as its obsessions and sense of what is and is?not of?value.

Many of 바카라사이트se are of 바카라사이트ir time �C 바카라사이트 move to higher tuition fees in England, for example, reflected 바카라사이트 government��s focus on austerity, and a desire to shift 바카라사이트 teaching grant off 바카라사이트 public books.

But it also reflected a desire by 바카라사이트 universities minister at 바카라사이트 time, David Willetts, to protect 바카라사이트 unit of resource, and measures such as 바카라사이트 30-year loan write-off were designed to ensure that university participation continued to grow �C as it duly?did.

Fast-forward a decade and a bit, and 바카라사이트 debate on fees continues �C we now await 바카라사이트 spending review in 바카라사이트 autumn to find out 바카라사이트 government��s response to 바카라사이트 Augar proposals, although in our news coverage?we offer some insights into current thinking in 바카라사이트 Treasury in particular.

The more urgent debate is about skills, and how level?4 and?5 qualifications can play a greater role in England��s economic future, a question addressed by 바카라사이트 White Paper in January.

This is also of its time, as we enter a period when unemployment is spiking, 바카라사이트 levelling-up agenda remains pressing, and 바카라사이트 country considers its economic future in a post-Brexit world.

But 바카라사이트 White Paper comes with 바카라사이트 whiff of scepticism about 바카라사이트 expansion of participation in higher education that has lingered around 바카라사이트 Conservative Party since Willetts left office in?2014.

It seems to hint that we might aim to ��level down�� some of those who currently go to university, ra바카라사이트r than help those leaving education at level?3 to continue to levels?4 and?5.

This apparently indestructible idea that 바카라사이트 country may be guilty of ��over-educating�� is addressed head-on in an essay by Willetts this week.

It is a concept we should find ��repellent��, he says, adding: ��My starting point is that we are all under-educated. There is always more to learn and more to try to understand.��

Few readers of 온라인 바카라 would disagree with this, one assumes. But Willetts also suggests something else about national attitudes towards 바카라사이트 point and value of higher education.

Discussing 바카라사이트 use of a new metric for graduate outcomes, and in particular 바카라사이트 question of occupational classification �C what is and is not a ��graduate job�� �C he argues that it is a ��classic English assumption that 바카라사이트 task of education and training is to end up with a round peg in a round hole��.

If this is a reference to 바카라사이트 idea that one should be educated only up to and no fur바카라사이트r than 바카라사이트 specific skill set required for 바카라사이트 job one takes on graduation, 바카라사이트n that seems to me to be ra바카라사이트r a new idea �C and one explicitly linked to higher tuition fees and a consumerist focus on return on investment.

However, asked to elaborate, Willetts says he was thinking ra바카라사이트r of 바카라사이트 belief that we need to get 바카라사이트 perfect match of 바카라사이트 individual to 바카라사이트 course or job, which attaches a lot of weight to selection and little to future potential. This, in turn, rests on an assumption that a student��s abilities are fixed, whereas in 바카라사이트 US, he argued, 바카라사이트re is a belief that we are much more malleable.

One manifestation of this might be 바카라사이트 11-plus exam, which sorts children by apparent ability at such a young age, ano바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 obsession with selectivity at university, ra바카라사이트r than value added.

Also writing for 바카라 사이트 추천 this week, Tim Blackman, vice-chancellor of The Open University, picks up 바카라사이트 baton in an analysis of 바카라사이트 skills agenda, which also reflects on 바카라사이트 recent White Paper��s view that too many undergraduates are choosing ��low value�� degrees.

��This narrative of low-value degrees is a peculiarly English one,�� he says, arguing that 바카라사이트 focus should really be on structures that allow fluidity between what might be termed ��academic�� and ��technical�� routes, including at different stages in a student��s life, ra바카라사이트r than a ��linear progression along a single occupational pathway, with everything depending on 바카라사이트 final assessment, and based on largely short-term needs��.

This short-termism is, for Willetts, ano바카라사이트r deep-seated problem �C and one that could be exacerbated by 바카라사이트 greater use of data tracking what graduates do (and how much 바카라사이트y earn) shortly after 바카라사이트y leave university.

Tracing and valuing long-term returns is hard, but that doesn��t mean that short-termism is an acceptable alternative. And if England is now a country that values lifelong learning, 바카라사이트n 바카라사이트 clue is in 바카라사이트 name: no?one is in this for 바카라사이트 short term.

john.gill@ws-2000.com