The case against devolution? Wales’ declining education system Opinion Devolution is great when it works. But where are the sanctions for poor outcomes like Wales' appalling education results, asks Paul Ormerod.
Financial literacy teaches young people to have aspiration, says Barings boss Partner Financial literacy is crucial to teach young people to have aspiration about their future prospects, a senior leader at one of the world’s biggest investment firms has told City AM. Martin Horne, Co-Head of Global Investments at alternative asset manager Barings, said young people are able to have a much better understanding of how to [...]
The NEET crisis is a failure of the state, not the individual Opinion The first step in solving the NEET crisis is honesty about why so many young people are now trapped in the benefits system.
White working class boys need jobs, not ‘schemes’ September 10, 2026 White working class boys have the worst educational outcomes in England, but distorting the labour market in their favour is not the answer.
Will Westminster learn the right lessons from Scotland’s education disaster? September 9, 2026 When experiments are run in public policy, evidence can be collected and the policies can be reviewed, scored and either rolled out, tweaked or abandoned. Not every area of policy lends itself to evidence-based analysis, but sometimes it’s clear-cut. We can see, for example, whether tax revenues rise or fall in response to fiscal reforms. [...]
The Debate: Is university now a waste of money? September 3, 2026 As graduates struggle to find jobs, let alone those that are well paid, is university still worth the cost? We hear the case for and against.
It’s not just Jason Arday, most of sociology is a scam August 12, 2026 Jason Arday is not the only second rate academic working in sociology. His Cambridge colleagues have also published papers that are impossible to read and contain no evidence, says Paul Ormerod The Jason Arday story has been covered intensively from many different angles. But relatively little has been written on the academic discipline in which [...]
Improve technical education for women to plug engineer shortage August 10, 2026 Technical education, in particular for women and ethnic minorities, has a big role to play in addressing the skills shortage in engineering.
Andy Burnham’s technical education reforms are doomed to fail July 29, 2026 Reforming technical education is a laudable ambition but we have been here before. There are three questions Andy Burnham must answer before anyone takes him seriously, says Lord Agnew There is laudable ambition in the Prime Minister’s announcement of technical routes in education from 14, parity with the academic path and employers brought properly into [...]
Students urged to rethink idea of a ‘safe job’ as Labour pledges major education reform July 28, 2026 A Cabinet minister has warned young people against depending on “safe and secure jobs” as Andy Burnham announced that children as young as 14 will get access to technical education. Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, has said that changes to the education system were “more urgent” given disruption to the jobs market from [...]