Reaching for the moon – Aspiration in Education

JRF and Bevan Foundation seminar on ‘the role of aspirations, attitudes and behaviour in closing the educational attainment gap’ was on 2nd May 2012. this is a summary of the presentations and discussion.

The impact of poverty on educational…

An uneven distribution: NEETs in Wales

There is growing public concern with the number of young people who are not in some kind of education, employment or training (NEET) in Wales today.  Latest figures from the Annual Population Survey showed that 23.6% of…

Let’s not forget rural communities…

The current piece of research I am leading at the Bevan Foundation is looking into the impact of changes and reductions to the benefits system on people in Wales. Central to this is ensuring that the research…

Feeding yourself on £5 per week?

Could you feed yourself for £5 a week?  This is about 70p a day – just about covering the cost of a loaf of bread.  Emerging findings from a Bevan Foundation study into the Social…

How much does a baby cost?

Some time ago the UK Government made the decision to change the Maternity Grant, which means you now only receive the £500 one-off grant for your first child, and not for any children you may later have. …

Cutting crisis loans

Cuts Watch Cymru is a coalition of third sector organisations in Wales who are concerned with the impact of the spending cuts on people in Wales.  There are almost 700,000 people in Wales already living beneath the…

An alternative route

I highlighted back in November that the fall in Welsh domiciled university applicants can be seen as unexpected, given that the changes in tuition fees for English students does not affect young people living in Wales.  Welsh domiciled university…

Inequalities in Higher Education Still Exist

I attended the Social Research in Higher Education conference inNewportyesterday.  After reflecting on the conference this reinforced to me significance of inequalities in higher education, and in particular, those slightly more ‘hidden’ inequalities in access to the universities considered…

All’s fair… or is it?

A sense of fairness underlies issues of social justice – what is deemed to be ‘fair’ within society reflects the allocation of education, jobs, money between different social groups. When we examine any issues within society it is clear…

Equality Impact Assessments

In gathering the data for the first Cuts Watch Cymru report (due out in January) we have been looking at the Equality Impact Assessments for the planned and already implemented welfare reforms. These reports are published for policy changes initiated by…