Tag: Pat Moores

What makes a great foundation course?

“Courses that recognise the importance of developing learning skills, as well as subject knowledge, may well have the edge”

Foundation courses have been one of the success stories of recent times, with numbers quadrupling over the last five years and more than 55,000 students choosing to study foundation year courses in 2019/20.

“A foundation course should prepare students for university, not just with English language level but also with a mix of academic literacies, study skills, critical thinking and confidence. The aim is to make them feel prepared and ready for the next big step in their academic life,” says Keith Ibsen, deputy academic director, at St Clare’s, Oxford.

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The changing role of the education agent

“We will be increasing, not decreasing, our webinar and online training for agents post pandemic”

 Prior to Covid-19 Agents prided themselves on the face to face relationships they built with both families and boarding schools but the pandemic has forced a rethink and required both agents and schools to pivot significant marketing and recruitment activity online. Pat Moores of UK Education Guide explains.

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What could and should replace the IGCSE and GCSE?

“Students don’t currently have the soft skills needed to prepare them for the workplace”

It looks increasingly likely that a new system of post qualification offers from universities will replace the current system of offers being made before IB/BTEC and A Level results are announced.

This change inevitably raises the question about the value and current content of GCSEs and IGCSEs. If they are no longer needed to inform a university offer, are they still fit for purpose? Pat Moores of UK Education Guide looks at the options.

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How can foundation courses be better presented and explained to international families?

“The onus is on agents to make sure they clearly understand what type of program will suit a student”

The number of students entering foundation programs in the UK tripled between 2012/13 and 2017/18 from 10,430 to 30,030, writes Pat Moores of UK Education Guide. They offer a great bridge between high school and university for many pupils.

However, as the range of the providers grows and the number of course options increase, clarifying where these courses sit within the UK education system would certainly help prospective students and their families.

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Boarding schools: the value of the arts in a Covid-19 world

“Creativity, critical reasoning and team building are all vital soft skills for the 21st century”

It certainly seems true that while academic skills and qualifications continue to be vital stepping stones to a top university and a fulfilling career, the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the value of the arts in not only helping to deal with the impact of the pandemic, but also in developing skills that are really suited to success in a post pandemic world. UK Education Guide director and co-founder Pat Moores explains.

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Addressing online safety for boarding school pupils in a Covid-19 world

“How can schools and parents keep up to date with what sites and apps provide the greatest risks?” 

Patrolling the online habits of boarding school pupils has always been a challenge, but as pupils have needed to spend even more time online to study during Covid-19, the challenge has become even greater. UK Education Guide director and co-founder Pat Moores explains.

The scale of the problem cannot be underestimated, Europol has reported an increase in some countries in offenders attempting to contact young people via social media since the outbreak of the virus.

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Can the recruitment of pupils for UK boarding schools ever be 100% online?

“Marketing budgets, once heavily weighted to foreign travel for recruitment purposes, are now shifting to google ads, Instagram and Facebook”

Covid-19 has heralded a shift to an online world which has implications for every aspect of boarding school operations, writes Pat Moores, director and co-founder of UK Education Guide. Clearly, the most obvious impact has been on teaching, shifting almost overnight to Microsoft teams and other online learning platforms.

However, the impact is also being felt in pupil recruitment. The days when agents and schools met in large conference spaces to talk to each other and make agent agreements has also shifted online.

So how far can algorithms and automated online applications processes ever replace traditional Agents, school admissions teams and a school tour?

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Boarding school and state school collaboration in the UK

“Private and state schools cater to different markets…so, if it is handled sensitively, long term relationships can be successful”

 

The UK boarding school sector, home to approximately 29,000 international pupils requiring a Tier 4 Visa to study in the UK  is criticised in some quarters for the perceived lack of ‘sharing’ of resources & expertise with pupils attending state-run schools in the UK.

This builds domestic political pressure on the sector as only 7% of children in the UK attend private/boarding schools. But what is the reality?

One scheme worthy of note is the Boarding School Partnerships (BSP) programme that advises local authorities on how, when and where to place vulnerable young people in boarding schools. Some pupils are already in the care system, having been removed from their families, whilst others may be close to the edge of care.

According to Colin Morrison, founding Chair of the Department for Education’s three-year-old boarding School Partnerships (BSP), there are approximately 750 young people currently being supported in state and independent boarding schools by specialist charities and an additional 1,500 by local authorities.

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‘Honesty’ the key component for successful boarding school placements

“Trying to shoehorn a child into an unsuitable environment can be disastrous for both the child, family and the school itself”

When considering an overseas boarding school education, there are so many factors for parents to consider, writes Pat Moores of UK Education Guide. Meanwhile, schools and agents bombard families with information that may or may not be relevant to them.

We asked guardians and schools if they were only allowed to provide just one piece of advice to parents to help them make the best decision for their children, what would it be?

Interestingly, the answers received almost all followed a similar theme and we highlight three responses below:

Julia Evans, Director at Cambridge Guardian Angels, argues that the most important thing is to ask parents and agents to be honest about the information they provide schools & guardians.

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Coronavirus: separated families need greater focus

“Families are bearing the brunt of this disruption on both a psychological and practical level, and more must be done to meet their needs”

As the Coronavirus crisis widens geographically, the immediate focus for the boarding school sector is to provide up to date health advice to help keep schools virus-free. However, as Pat Moores of UK Education Guide writes, alongside this issue there is a massive human story. 

As a result of the Coronavirus outbreak, young people are being separated from their families unexpectedly, uncertain when the situation will improve and concerned about their own welfare and the welfare of their families.

We have heard of one Chinese pupil who has donated £750 of her own money to help Wuhan residents, as many of her friends live in the Hubei region and she is very worried about them.

So what about enhanced pastoral care provision during this crisis?

As Caroline Nixon, General Secretary of the British Association of Independent Schools with International Students (BAISIS) says, “anything a school can do to reassure the child and to put into place arrangements that support them emotionally as well as physically is welcome; the most obvious being keeping the school open so that children without good guardians have somewhere familiar to stay.”

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