Friday, June 10, 2011
The Wolf Report on vocational education in England was published in March 2011
Professor Alison Wolf, an expert in public policy at King's College, London was commissioned by the government to review the provision and delivery of vocational education in 2010.
The Wolf Report concluded that 400,000 teenagers were attending courses at colleges which did not lead to jobs or further training. Education Secretary, Michael Gove has accepted the findings of the review and announced that a host of vocational educational qualifications would no longer count in school league tables. He also announced a consultation on new vocational qualifications in summer 2011. The government published its official response to the Wolf review in May 2011.
Michael Gove said, "For too long, the vocational education system has been devalued by attempts to pretend that all qualifications are intrinsically the same," he said. "Young people have taken courses that have led nowhere.”We will reform league tables, the funding system and regulation so children are given honest information and take the right courses. We will make sure that employers are more involved in the system. We will encourage them to offer more high-quality apprenticeships."
Wolf, A. (2011). Review of Vocational Education (The Wolf Review). London: DfE [online]. Available: [March, 2011].
Website: Department for Education (DfE)