Well it’s been a couple of months since Labour were booted out of Downing Street and the Cameron/Clegg coalition took over not so Great Britain. So I thought it was about time to assess the progress they have made.
Two Year Degrees
Having recently completed my first of three years at the University of Central Lancashire, I like to think I know enough about degree courses to say that scrapping three year degrees and replacing them with two year courses would leave graduates at a disadvantage.
Adapting to university life is a difficult enough task as it is. Although in most cases the first year in a three year degree course only counts towards the end product if the student’s mark is a few percent away from the next grade boundary, it is essential that students have this year as an adaptation period between higher and further education.
Building School’s for the Future
The environment in which Britain’s children are educated is a huge topic in the news at the minute. While in power, Labour promised to re-build many of Britain’s schools. It is not just the schools who would benefit from the Building Schools for the Future scheme would have created work and jobs in the private building sector as contractors would have been called in to carry out the work. The coalition government has however scrapped this scheme saying it is a waste of time and money that Britain does not have.
Education Secretary Michael Grove has caused a lot of controversy and the government now face action from trade unions in the form of possible law suits – not a great start to the coalition government.
Big Society, Small Scheme
David Cameron’s power to the people idea was one that didn’t win many votes during the election, but in what has been seen as his most important speech since the general election, the PM said that four areas of Britain (Liverpool, Eden Valley in Cumbria, Windsor and Maidenhead) will receive help to set up projects to improve things like transport and the broadband provision of the areas.
At the moment, the big society scheme will give power to every man and woman across our nation (as long as they live in one of the four areas listed above) to create a change within their communities. I would like to see this scheme work but at the end of the day, it is the government who ultimately make the decisions within our society.
