Latest thinking

Long-term Unemployment and the Recession

Blog

24 Aug 2012

The number of people unemployed in the three months to June fell by 46,000 to 2.56m – how do we square this fact with the continuing recession? In the second quarter of 2012 the revised GDP Growth Rate was -0.5%.

Teachers as curriculum designers; we want to know your thoughts

Blog

20 Jul 2012

Another day, another divisive education headline. Whilst there is much to question within current education policy, there are also potentially new areas of opportunity opening up. The policy context of greater school autonomy, and emerging clarity about the future of the National Curriculum from 2014 (and the space to develop a ‘whole curriculum’ outside the National Curriculum), could be a key moment of opportunity for teachers and localities to reclaim the curriculum agenda.

What happened to the Work Programme?

Blog

17 Jul 2012

Benedict Dellot

Is the Work Programme in a mess? Apparently so. This week the Government announced that the original estimate of the number of unemployed people who are expected to use the scheme is to be halved, indicating that some welfare-to-work staff may shortly end up out of a job themselves due to a lack of clients to support. In response, the shadow work and pensions secretary Liam Byrne commented that the £3-5bn back-to-work scheme was now in an “almighty mess” with a government department unable to cope.

Are we addicted to grand policy solutions?

Blog

12 Jul 2012

Benedict Dellot

Most public policy innovations will fail. Take a moment to think about this. It’s not something you’d hear many politicians admit (nor indeed many think-tankers). Yet according to the likes of Paul Ormerod, Nassim Nicholas Taleb and others, this is the reality that we live with. Multi-million pound interventions are hailed in the media upon their launch as the big solution to whatever crisis they are attempting to solve, and then suddenly dissolve without a trace as they struggle to live up to their hype. Many of these initiatives are rarely talked about again.

Central heating for kids, community learning for everyone

Blog

03 Jul 2012

A popular brand of cereal was once accompanied by the slogan “central heating for kids”. In the television advertisements (which have become something of a classic) children leave the house with an uncanny red glow, the visual token of the benefits of a good breakfast.

If we want to address poverty, let's begin by making work pay

Blog

18 Jun 2012

Benedict Dellot

Last week was abuzz with commentary over the latest poverty figures from 2010/11, Labour's last year in government. According to DWP’s own figures, relative child poverty had been halved from 3.4 million in 1998-99 to 1.4 million in 2010-11. Likewise, the number of pensioners in relative poverty is reported to have fallen by some 700,000 over the same period. Notwithstanding these notable improvements, everybody knew long in advance that Labour was never going to reach its ambitious target of halving child poverty by 2010. Thus, as soon as the figures were announced and this failure finally confirmed, commentators from all sides were ready to throw in their thoughts about why success never materialised.

RSA Fellows help learners plan their next steps

Blog

15 Jun 2012

Students leaving school today face a daunting set of challenges, not least a competitive job market and a crowded university admissions process. These circumstances put students under great pressure to make the right decisions, and a project funded by our Catalyst seed fund has tested a new approach to helping students think clearly and realistically about their options.

The New Enterprise Allowance: can employment services begin to accomodate a more enterprising nation?

Blog

06 Jun 2012

Benedict Dellot

The New Enterprise Allowance scheme deserves some praise. For those who haven’t heard of it, the NEA helps unemployed people who have been claiming benefits for 26 weeks or more to start up their own business. Anyone with a robust enough proposition is provided with mentorship support, a weekly allowance of around £65 and access to a start-up loan of some £1,000. The employment minister Chris Grayling revealed last week that in just over a year, this NEA support package has already been used by around 4,500 unemployed people to kick-start their own business. According to DWP, this includes film makers, child-minders, hairdressers, web designers, language tutors, plasterers and gardeners, to name but a few.

Brands and behaviour change: beyond the usual suspects

Blog

30 May 2012

Benedict Dellot