The 7th of May is the General Election, a momentus occasion for us of all in Britain. It really, really matters, and therefore our vote really does matter - it's your
chance to tell the government what you want to happen in the coming years. And, as teenagers, our vote just might swing it, so we need to take this seriously.
chance to tell the government what you want to happen in the coming years. And, as teenagers, our vote just might swing it, so we need to take this seriously.
This is a little bit of a 'seasonal' blog post if you will, as the timescale is quite short before the 7th of May.
It's also a bit of a regional blog post, which mean that it only really applies to British readers but I'll try and incorporate some general points as well.
Make no mistake, the point of this series of blog posts is not to convince you to vote for any one party. I am aiming to lay out important policies that affect us as teenagers.
Enjoy!
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Make no mistake, the point of this series of blog posts is not to convince you to vote for any one party. I am aiming to lay out important policies that affect us as teenagers.
Enjoy!
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Today's topic is Life after School: Further/Higher Education and The Workplace
We as teenagers need to make sure that whoever we vote for has an educational plan for us, whether that be at university or in an apprenticeship scheme.
Before we begin however, there are just a couple of general points to consider:
- The first thing to bear in mind when choosing who to vote for is that the Conservatives have held the reigns for the last 5 years, and things have improved significantly in many areas since Labour was in government before them. That's not to say that one shouldn't vote for another party if you feel that they will provide better for you in the next five years, but it is a point worth thinking on.
- Please, please, please DON'T JUST VOTE FOR WHO YOUR FRIENDS VOTE FOR! THINK about it. READ into it.
- Think critically about policies. Don't just take them as hard facts. Try to consider these questions: can the prospective government logically afford these promises, given their plans for the economy? If you think they can, ask yourself where the money is coming from. Is it coming from an increase in tax, or a cut in government spending?
- This is a tricky one because it's embroiled in regional politics but try not to just vote for who your area votes for. I know that in some areas it's almost forbidden to vote for certain parties, so if you have to, just don't tell anyone who you're voting for! Lie and tell them you're voting for another party if you have to! (Obviously, if everyone in your area does the same then you're going to have a bit of an issue, but at least you'll have thought about who it is you want in power!).
First up, the Conservatives. The Conservatives say that they are going to:
- Deliver 3 million more apprenticeships over the next 5 years
- Introduce a Youth Allowance, which will replace Jobseeker's Allowance for 18-21 year olds. This will be time limited to six months, after which we'll have to take an apprenticeship, traineeship or do daily community work for the benefits.
- Replace class-room based Further Education courses with high-quality apprenticeships that combine training with experience of work and a wage
- Provide many more Degree Apprenticeships
- Publish more earnings and destination data for Further Education courses
- Abolish the cap on higher education student numbers - removing what they call "the arbitrary ceiling on ambition"
- Introduce a National Postgraduate Loan system, for taught masters and PhD courses.
- Encourage universities to offer more two-year courses
- Encourage the development of online education as a tool for students, whether studying independently or in our universities
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Moving on to the Labour Party's Manifesto. This is VERY different but bear with it.
They promise to:
- Introduce what they are calling The Technical Baccalaureate, which is a vocational award for 16-18 year olds.
- Students will continue to study English and Maths to age 18 but will additionally undertake work experience between the ages of 14 and 16.
- In terms of our teaching, teachers will now be able to achieve a new 'Master Teacher' status.
- Work to stop homophobic bullying.
- Cut tuition fees from £9,000 to £6,000 a year.
- Introduce a Compulsory Jobs Guarantee, which will provide a paid starter job for every young person who is unemployed for over a year.
- They are also guaranteeing every young person an apprenticeship who leaves secondary school with the right grades.
- Create new Technical Degrees.
- Support part-time study.
- Also introduce a new Youth Allowance, dependent on recipients being in training.
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Lib Dems Policies:
BEWARE, that when looking at the Lib Dems' Manifesto, they ask you to sign up to email updates. You don't need to to look at their policies though.
It is worth noting that when you first go onto the Lib Dem Manifesto page, very few policies can be found. It seems as though they have no discernible policies on Further Education, aside from simply "protecting the budget" and trying to justify why they promised to keep tuition fees down but failed.... I said no political bias, but just sayin'. However, this is not quite the case, but I think it is important to note that they don't make any sort of fuss about the policies relating to us.
- They will introduce a Young Person's Discount card for young people aged 16-21 giving a 2/3rds discount BUT the crucial part of this policy is that they end it with, "as resources allow". It's hard not to feel that this is a premature "out", for if they don't deliver.
- They will also allow Government departments, local councils and private businesses to add discount offers to the Discount Card.
- They are going to review access to transport for students and apprentices in rural areas where no schedules services may be available.
- Develop, what they call. the "NHS student guarantee", which makes it easier for students to get care and support while at university. This is aimed at those with long-term health conditions or caring responsibilities.
- Promote social action and volunteering at school, college and university, and work to raise the status of youth work and youth workers.
- Improve links between employers and schools, encouraging all schools to participate in mentoring schemes.
- They will seek to inspire more children and young people to follow technical and scientific careers through partnerships with businesses.
I know I said I wouldn't present any sort of political biases in this blog post but it is important to think about when considering voting for the Lib Dems that NONE of these policies are concrete promises. They have no economic bearing and you need to consider really carefully, given their past record whether they are realistically going to be able to provide anything for us young people.
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UKIP's Policies:
- In terms of Secondary Schools, they will introduce a range of different types of schools, including grammar, vocational, technical and specialist schools.
- Re-introduce grammar schools, and what that means for us is testing in a similar style to 11+ at ages 12, 13 and 16.
- Abolish the AS level exam as being a stepping stone to A Level, whilst keeping it as a standalone qualification in its own right.
- Make First Aid training a statutory part of PSHE in the national curriculum. Peoples can earn a 'Basic Life-Saving Diploma' at the end of secondary school, as well as instruction in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation for all secondary school pupils.
- They also promise to drop the "arbitrary 50 per cent target for school leavers going to university".
- "UK students taking approved degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM), mainly at universities funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, will not have to repay their tuition fees, on the condition that they work in their discipline and pay tax in the UK for at least five years after they complete their degrees".
- UKIP will also remove all tuition fee loans to EEA students when we leave the EU (under their government we will have left the EU). We will welcome international students at our universities, but they will have to be self-supporting students.
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Green Party:
The Green Party do in fact have an entirely separate manifesto for us teens, called 'The Youth Manifesto'. I'm not 100% sure how I feel about this. On one hand I find it sort of patronising that they don't think we're capable of finding and understanding these policies in the bigger manifesto. On the other hand, it could have been a useful document, until you notice that one of their policies on Education isn't even in their Youth Manifesto! And then I just found it incredibly annoying. Anyway, their education policies are:
- Greens will abolish student tuition fees in Higher Education, re-introducing living grants to support time at University.
- They would cancel all student debt issued by the Student Loans Company.
- They would restore the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) for 16 and 17 year olds, and prioritise the increase of funding for Further Education.
- They will also create 2000 Young People's Centres, dedicated spaces for young people to meet and access information and specialist support.
- Increase spending on youth services by over £1bn each year, protecting funding for youth councils, youth clubs and non-curricular education and training.
- They will would also entitle every young person under the age of 18 and in full time education to free off-peak bus fares.
- Increase funding to mental health provision and ensure that every young person should have 24 hours a day. 7 days a week access to support services.
- Provide apprenticeships to qualified young people aged 16-19 who do not have one and want one, and extend it to age 25. Can I just point out that this policies is not in the Youth Manifesto, which annoys me no end.
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Scottish National Party Policies:
Now, although only Scottish Nationals can vote for SNP they are an important consideration in this election, given that they will, in all likelihood win around 50 seats in Parliament. As such, it's good to be aware of their policies on Education. It is worth noting that SNP's Manifesto is exceptionally difficult to navigate, but the link is below anyway. So:
- SNP will deliver 30,000 Modern Apprenticeships each year and continue to keep university education free.
- Back an increase in the minimum wage rate for 18-21 year olds to £6.86 by 2020, with the same rate applied to apprentices. (Having said that, they believe it "should" be applied to apprentices. There's no promise it will be).
- Maintaining 116,000 full time equivalent college places Though I didn't find this is the manifesto, but on this website: http://www.snp.org/progress/education
And that's all I can really find....
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Plaid Cymru:
Plaid Cymru will only win around 4 seats realistically in Parliament in the coming election, but in terms of our Welsh readers they are a significant party. Their manifesto also has a separate section dedicated to Higher Education, Training and Skills. So they get a thumbs up for that. Their policies on education are as follows:
- Provide a subsidy to students resident in wales who wish to study in Wales.
- They will also target subjects vital to the Welsh economy and public goals. The students studying these degrees will pay no tuition fees in Wales, including those taking up key healthcare posts, studying science, engineering and technology.
- They will work with their universities to investigate increases in capacity and funding with an emphasis on making sure that Welsh universities get a fair share of UK-based research funding.
- Continue to promote apprenticeships, particularly Higher Level Apprenticeships.
- Introduce a Citizens' Service which focusses on skills on learning, so that young people are ready for the world of work.
- Increase provision of Welsh language courses and tutors in Further Education.
- They are also going to ensure that training for providers of educational, training nd careers services includes an improved understanding of the effect of gender on learning and how this can be tackled.
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I'd just to put a little disclaimer in and say that if I have made any mistakes, and quite frankly it would be a miracle if I hadn't, please do just write a comment so that everyone knows what the correct version is. I'm more bothered about my readers having accurate information than my talents as a writer. Kindly try and avoid political opinions though where possible.
Stay tuned folks because in the next couple of days I'll be covering Living Wages and Zero-Hour Contracts and Housing Policies, all in good time before Thursday's election.
If you'd like to check all the policies out for yourselves, either in addition to reading my blog, alongside or simply just instead of, the links to each party's manifesto is below:
Conservatives: https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/manifesto2015/ConservativeManifesto2015.pdf
Labour: http://www.labour.org.uk/page/-/BritainCanBeBetter-TheLabourPartyManifesto2015.pdf
Liberal Democrat: http://www.libdems.org.uk/manifesto or for their full manifesto: https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/libdems/pages/8907/attachments/original/1429028133/Liberal_Democrat_General_Election_Manifesto_2015.pdf?1429028133
UK Independence Party (UKIP): http://issuu.com/ukip/docs/theukipmanifesto2015/1?e=16718137/12380620
Green Party: Manifesto: https://www.greenparty.org.uk/assets/files/manifesto/Green_Party_2015_General_Election_Manifesto_Searchable.pdf
Youth Manifesto: http://younggreens.org.uk/assets/images/younggreen%20images/documents/Youth_manifesto1.pdf
(I just have to mention that when I clicked onto the Green Party's Manifesto, my computer flashed up "Do you want to trust the Green Party?" which I found ridiculously and disproportionately funny.)
SNP (for our Scottish readers if you're out there): http://votesnp.com/docs/manifesto.pdf
Plaid Cymru (for our Welsh readers): https://www.partyof.wales/2015-manifesto/
Cheers,
Philly x
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