Education and Employers
Research Digest - May 2021

Notices

6th International Conference on Employer Engagement: Preparing Young People for the Future

This virtual conference is hosted by Education and Employers in partnership with the Edge Foundation. It will focus on employer engagement in general education, technical and vocational education and training, and the extent to which such interventions adequately prepare young people for the rapidly changing world of work. In particular, attention will focus on the need to develop and capture the skill requirements within the changing labour market and how such interventions can support young people as part of the response to Covid-19. The conference also seeks to reflect on reforms and policy shifts about education and training and employer engagement internationally. High-quality papers from across the globe, engaging networking, expert speakers, and topical panel debates inspire and engage a community of fellow researchers in the education sphere.

 Register and Book your Early Bird ticket  (£25) before the 18th of July 2021.

Publications

Measuring The Impact Of Covid-19 On Learning In Rural Kenya   

Whizz Education 

​From a sample of 965 students in rural Kenya, who participated in Project iMlango and had a reliable Maths Age in March 2020, this study extends findings observed in the UK and US, with a greater proportion of students experiencing learning loss, and to a greater extent on average by showing that by limited learning provision for rural communities during COVID-19, students in rural Kenya who were already lagging several years behind their affluent peers in Kenya and worldwide are now at a further disadvantage, with knowledge gaps exacerbated across the maths curriculum.

Leave no girl with disabilities behind: ensuring efforts to advance gender equality in education are disability-inclusive Literacy 

Pauline Castres & Gloria Diamond  

This advocacy brief provides insight into concerns of the exclusion of children, especial girls with disabilities from education in developing countries. The brief draws attention to the main barriers to education for girls with disabilities, in the context of major opportunities for advocacy and tangible change in 2021. This is a pivotal year for girls’ education in the global agenda, and we must commit to making safe, quality education a reality for all girls. The recommendations outlined below are targeted at world leaders, governments, ministries, UN agencies and NGOs. They offer a framework for rights-based action and principles towards gender-responsive and inclusive education, to ensure that no girls with disabilities are left behind. Especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, we cannot achieve gender equality and disability justice without putting girls with disabilities at the heart of education policy and financing efforts, which will require strong political will and commitment through significant targeted measures.

What do schools want from engagement with business? 

Sheldon Rothman   

Although there have been policy discussions of the potential value of businesses engaging in the school education sector, the voice of educators and teachers’ perspective which are vital to understanding what would ensure positive outcomes from such engagement is rarely heard. Therefore, this research engages directly with school leaders and teachers around what they want from engagement with business, including reflections on experiences to date. Some of the main findings are that schools with limited engagement with business are more likely to focus on ‘hard’ skills; those with a deeper engagement also focus on ‘soft’ skills vital for the constantly changing world of work. Also, engagement with schools generally builds a positive perception of business in the community. Schools are positive about how willing businesses are to support young people and about the impact such support has on their students.

The Open door: how to be a Research-Sensitive School

Nick Abercrombie & Jonathan Haslam ​ 

This report is based on a set of interviews with teachers whose schools had taken part in a project about the way in which evidence of the effectiveness of teaching methods could be more widely disseminated. The aim of the report is to describe how research-sensitive schools operate, to develop a hypothesis as to what is needed to be a “research-sensitive school” and to consider the implications that this has for the system as a whole.

Consequences of school closure on access to education: lessons from the 2013–2016 Ebola pandemic

William C. Smith  

Results from this study show a post-pandemic surge in school dropouts concentrated in secondary-aged youth from the poorest households in Guinea and Sierra Leone. This effect resulted in an additional 17,410 more youth dropping out of school across the two countries than would have been expected in pre-outbreak times. These findings have implications for education planners as they prepare for recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.

What VET can offer to COVID-19 youth unemployment recovery 

Joanne Waugh & Michelle Circelli  

This paper discusses the role of vocational education and training (VET) in mitigating the effects of economic downturns on young people and assisting them to move into employment by examining responses to past economic downturns and recessions, both in Australia and internationally, Vocational pathways in school, quality career guidance and work-based training are found to be critical to youth employability, especially for disadvantaged young people. VET qualifications with a work-based training component have been shown to protect youth from the scarring effects of unemployment but can be more effective when their training is linked to lasting employment, with the opportunity to progress.

International onshore VET qualification completer outcomes 2020 

National Centre for Vocational Education Research NCVER ​

This publication provides a summary of the outcomes of international students who completed a nationally recognised vocational education and training (VET) qualification in Australia during 2019 using data collected in mid-2020. These students were surveyed as an additional component to the 2020 National Student Outcomes Survey. Information is presented on international onshore VET qualification completers' reasons for training and their employment outcomes, their satisfaction with training and further study outcomes. Note this group was called 'international onshore VET graduates' in previous years' publications.

Comments

OECD “I am the future of work” survey

We are conducting a global survey with young people to explore perceptions about their future: jobs, skills and learning. We’re also collecting youth perspectives on what they think their governments can do for them. 

This is a unique opportunity for young people to shape the public debate. Take part here 

Where’s the data? Does the UK really know why apprenticeships matter to the economy and people?

MWS Technology ​​

 Have disadvantaged pupils fallen further behind during the pandemic?

Becky Allen, Dave Bibby, Rob Coe, Laura James, Natasha Plaister, Dave Thomson & Ben Weidmann  

Disability and Learning in Ethiopia: What Has Changed as a Result of the COVID-19 Pandemic? 

Dawit Tibebu Tiruneh, Nidhi Singal, Ricardo Sabates, Tirussew Teferra  

During the pandemic, ‘lost’ education jobs aren’t what they seem

Chad Aldeman 

The Skills for Jobs white paper: A chance to provide ‘flexibility’ 

Brendan Coulson 

Want to increase the take-up of STEM studies? Use carrots and flexibility, and target female students!

 Erik Mellander

Little fish, big streams: Early in-class maths ‘ability’ groups, early teacher judgements & primary schoolchildren’s later maths self-concept

Tammy Campbell 

The problems with resilience thinking

Lydia Lewis

Events