Tag: UK Education Guide

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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How to better support international boarding school pupils to make well informed higher education decisions

“There is a growing awareness that UKI students have unique needs that are not necessarily being met by support that is focused on either purely ‘international’ or ‘domestic’ students”

Every year the UK welcomes over 29,000 international students to come and study in UK Boarding schools (UKI students).

Many will then want to stay in the UK for their higher education and indeed this is the goal for many international parents-pay for a great Boarding school education to secure a place at a world renowned UK University.

However, the higher education path for ‘UKI students’ is sometimes not straightforward, says Pat Moores of UK Education Guide.

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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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Catching up with lost study time this summer

“Some of the new initiatives that have emerged during the pandemic may be here to stay”

According to recent reports, children in England are three months behind in their studies after lockdown measures, and while schools have worked hard to help their pupils keep up to date with their studying, many parents will view the summer holidays as a good time to help their children catch up.

For many international students, the summer months are traditionally an opportunity to come to the UK for an academic or cultural education experience. Pat Moores of UK Education Guide explains what schools are planning.

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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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