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Edge Learner Forum
Fill in the Youth Commission survey
Edge Learner Forum
Status: Live
In Brief: Investigating how businesses can best develop the talents and skills of young people.

Win a brand new most wanted Apple IPad, an IPod Shuffle or ITunes vouchers in just 3 minutes thanks to the Edge Learner Forum and Shine's ‘Youth Commission’ survey.

You could win any one of these great prizes in just a few minutes, and let us know how you think talent is recognised and what you think businesses should be doing for you, with our quick Youth Commission survey.

We will take your views directly to businesses, politicians and people involved in your education so please let us know what you think. If you are aged 13-25 and want get your voice heard, take our survey, you could win a great prize too!

What is the Youth Commission?

The Youth Commission is a nationwide investigation into young people’s views about the future of education. It is a tool through which young people as leaders can have their say on some of the most important issues facing them relating to employment, education and skills. These views will then be taken directly to Government, business and others, working together to make the changes that young people are calling for. It was started by the Edge Learner Forum in 2009, with the support of Edge, and in association with the Parliamentary Select Committee for Children, Schools and Families.

The Youth Commission came about because of the Government’s decision to raise the education participation age to 18. We believe that there is an urgent need to ensure that this change is a real success for all young people in the future –including those who are not inspired by what is on offer for them at the moment.

What are the aims of the commission?

The Youth Commission is currently undertaking its third investigation, focusing on ‘how businesses can best develop the talents and skills of young people’. An online survey gives young people the chance to get involved, and the Commission will take the views collected directly to businesses, politicians and people involved in education. Young people also have the change to win some briliant prizes at
www.youthcommissionsurvey.co.uk

The Youth Commission is being driven by Edge Learner Forum members around the country, who are playing a lead role in designing and carrying out the research with young people in every region. The second Youth Commission investigation engaged over 7,000 young people.

Why should you give your views?

The Youth Commission is set to have a real impact on the people who make the decisions about education. Edge Learner Forum will take the results of the Youth Commission directly to the people in power. This includes the members of the Select Committee for Children Schools and Families. It also includes the Government’s schools ministers, Jim Knight and Sarah McCarthy-Fry. We are determined to ensure that the results of the investigation get heard by these decision-makers. But that’s not all; we are also dedicated to making sure that things change as a result. On top of this we will be staying in touch with the young people who have given their views towards the Youth Commission – so we can get them involved in creating the recommendations and tell them about what has happened as a result. We hope the Youth Commission will be more than just a research project but the beginnings of a much larger movement for change in education, driven by young people.

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anonymous
It seems that no matter how talented (or otherwise) you are at Fine Art, you still seem to come out with a A/A* grade. This is very unfair against people who work hard compared to those who do not try becuase they know they are guarenteed a good grade. Art is a talent, it surely cannot be graded? By comparison Maths is a skill, it can be graded. There needs to be a distinction between different types of subject.

It would also be nice for some central body to force schools to offer the full range of subjects. Currently, I find that intresting and exciting subjects are not on any school's teaching syllabus, examples being 'Animation' or 'Archeology'. Have you ever seen a school offer GCSE 'Animation?' And the more exciting languages, such as Hindi, Hebrew or Mandarin Chinese are only offered to native speakers, not taught. That is a total cop-out! You are guarenteed an 100% pass rate if all those taking the exams are native speakers. Why force studnets to take a MFL and then restrict them to two or three European Languages? Teenagers today are fascinated by the East and it makes economic sense to have bilingual buisness people in the future, who can strike deals with the rising econmic superpowers. So why are these languages not offered to new learners?

There are good things about the current education system. There is a good balence between Unit Exams, Terminal Exams and Coursework (when an appropriatly wide range of subjects is chosen) and the syllabi are, largely, intresting and varied. Schools are cottoning on to the idea of presenting idea in a range of ideas, so as to keep lessons varied and engaging. I also find that (I accept that this may be different in other schools) the teachers are largely enthusiastic and maintain an appropriate balence between friendliness and discipline, although there is always the occational dragon who makes you weep with fear at their very name! :)
The issue of improving education is a complex one. Ther are usually two major problems, either incompetance at the top or unwillingness to conform at the bottom. The first is easy to solve, incompetants should be replaced. The other issue is more difficult. Some students do not WANT to learn.(There really needs to be an italics button on this thing btw.) How to solve this? You cannot force, convince or bribe students to learn, it must be entered into willingly. If they refuse to conform and engage, you either disguard them or try to accomadate them. Other students and indeed teachers should not have to 'work around' a stroppy child which refuses to understand the importance of learning. But you cannot disguard these awkward people from the system as they are needed to surport the economy and create wealth. So what do you do with someone who expects the have money as an adult but refuses to learn the skills required to create that wealth?
This is a far-reaching problem that needs more intensive thought and study than a simple internet campaign, which is usually a soapbox for angry people to voice their oppinions.

BJ-16yrs

kim (:
I completley agree that Art in itself, Canno't be graded, and it is graded extreamly unfairly, like is my case, i have jsut sat all my GCSE's and now i'm doing my A levels, and the way in which the board marked my work was horrible, if all my work was not set out "propperly" ( in which we was not actully told ) then they don't mark your work correctly, in my sketch book i had pages of photos, that was ( my AO4 - reaserch ) and because they had too turn over the page, and was too lazy to do so, which then marked me down EXTREAMLY, i was suppose too be the "A/A* grade" which i knew i could acheive if not get better.. because i must say i love art it's my fav subject, but because of there lazyness i got a D!!! and i must dissagree with you on the GCSE "animation" my school does it! along with media!

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21/07/2009
Raising the participation age for education to 18 Read on »
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