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The article reports on the retirement of Alan Wells, director of the Basic Skills Agency, at the end of August 2006 after 30 years at the head of adult literacy movement. On October 12, 2006, his friends and colleagues gave him a farewell party in Covent Garden to pay tribute to him. Wells led the adult literacy movement and was an innovator and champion of the disadvantaged millions.

Presents a report on predictions of Alan Wells, Head of Great Britain-based Basic Skills Agency on Welsh literacy during the annual conference of the agency last year as of January 2004. According to Wells the literacy movement has been one of the most sustained and successful national campaigns in the recent history of education. It is likely to meet the targets set for it by the government of adult learning achievements by the end of next year. According to Alan Wells the Agency needs to change its style and strategy to meet the longer-term goal of eradicating illiteracy from the country.

The article reports on the presentation of evidence by Alan Wells to the Education and Skills Committee in Great Britain. His main concern remains those on basic skills which he fears are not a serious priority for the Government. According to him, the important basic skills needs are being neglected in favor of adults with marginal basic skills needs.

Career developments involving executives in Great Britain are discussed. Alan Wells, director of the Basic Skills Agency, has left the agency at the end of August 2006. Pat Collard was named executive director for national delivery, with responsibility for Quality Mark and Better Teaching Partnership programs of the Basic Skills Agency. Carol Taylor was appointed executive director for national development at the Basic Skills Agency.

Discusses the speeches on education made by Alan Wells, John Bangs, Pat Thomson, and Ben Levin at the National Union of Teachers' national education conference in Lincolnshire, England. Educational reforms; Report "Literacy Skills for the World of Tomorrow" on the correlation between government spending on education and academic achievement; Relation between high achievement and socioeconomic status.

Reports on the address of British Basic Skills Agency director Alan Wells at the North of England education conference. Progress in improving the standards of literacy; Importance of starting literacy efforts early; Need for widened access to the successful Family Programmes provision.

The article discusses the British Right to Read adult literacy campaign that began in 1974 in relation to the failure of the 2003 British government report "Skills for Life." Other topics include low British numeracy and literacy among young adults in a 2013 survey by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the work of the British Basic Skills Agency, and the opinions of scientist George Carr-Hill on British education standards.

The article reports on the sale of the journal "Times Educational Supplement" by Rupert Murdoch's News International. The venture capitalist who acquired the journal made all the right noises about respecting the paper's editorial independence. While the new owners are uninterested in influencing the editorial line, they are interested in the bottom line.

The article reports that staff at the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) in Great Britain are taking the Nordic Walking after work. Nordic Walking looks like skiing but without the skis, involving the us of two walking poles in helping propel the walker along. Four groups from the NFER are already walking on different evenings each week, including director Sue Rossiter.

This article focuses on the first major inspection report - Ofsted/ALI report - of the "Skills for Life strategy," carried out across the whole LSC sector, which says that the adult education tutors, in their haste to complete government targets, have been letting down thousands of hapless students with badly managed literacy and numeracy courses and poor teaching. Perhaps the saddest was that "the learners most at risk of dropping out are those taught by teachers with the lowest skills." A new report just published shows that mass recruitment of learners for this project was probably misconceived and much money has been misspent.

The author reflects on the role of independent national organizations such as charities play in the development of government policies in Great Britain. The author inferred that independent national organizations are afraid to voice out their criticisms of government policies because they might not receive funding. However, he argued that criticism makes policies and strategies more effective.

The article reports on the research by Training and Development Agency for Schools which shows that despite an increase in the number of people who enter the teaching profession, teaching is still under-rated by the public and final year students in Great Britain.

An obituary for teacher Lawrence Norcross is presented.

The article discusses the clarification on two important issues related to education It mentions that the surprise guest at the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) conference in Doha, Qatar is Carla Bruni, the wife of French president Nicholas Sarkosy and not the rumored football player Wayne Rooney. International researcher Lynn Davies has revealed that the secret to school effectiveness is unlocking the teacher's motivation to succeed even without salary increase.

An obituary for Lord Ron Dearing, a career civil servant in Hull, England, is presented.

The article presents the experience of Chris Waterman, children's services editor of Educational Journal on the summer's conference of the Council of Chief State Schools Officers in Portland, Maine. He and his wife Ann went off to the Mount Washington through the world's oldest cog railway. On the way down, the tender jumped the tracks, necessitating a dramatic emergency stop. It caused over an hour for the train to get fixed. It arrived at the bottom of the mountain 90 minutes late.

The author comments on the on-going program of administration on creating unitary council in England. The government has turned down six proposals to create unitary counties for small local authorities. In Exeter, the City Council has under-estimated the cost of going it alone. He suggests that the government and the councilors involved should ponder the words of Sir Malcolm Thornton, that reorganizations of the local government never saved money and never won any vote.

The article discusses the importance of including teachers, other school staff, and pupils in the educational planning process in Great Britain. The Select Committee for Education and Skills believed that collaboration and partnership working was vital for the future development of the international dimension in higher education. The committee also expressed concerns that government policy presumed a direct link between skills and prosperity.

The article discusses various reports published within the issue, including one by Martin Rogers and Frances Migniuolo on the report for the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and another on "Will A-levels ever be scrapped?" by Ian Nash.

The article evaluates the Leitch review of basic skills in Great Britain. Mistakes and inaccuracies in the report are also pointed out. The Leitch report is found to make positive recommendations about basic skills. These are the suggestions to improve basic skills screening and opportunities for unemployed adults. However, the report makes bold but unsupportable statements that are not helpful.

The article reports on the inability of most children from primary schools to use capital letters and full stop punctuation properly in Great Britain. This information is revealed by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA). An analysis of some test papers in 2006 discloses that 11-year-olds are blundering on basic grammar, punctuation and spelling despite seven years of daily literacy lessons.

The article reports on schools' lack of preparation for the introduction of the Disability Equality Duty (DED) in Great Britain. According to a survey from the Disability Rights Commission (DEC), only 37 percent of schools were prepared for scrutiny of their disability equality schemes. Although the DED came into force on December 5, 2006, several schools still admitted to not having a scheme in place in time.

The article cites a survey from the National Union of Teachers (NUT) stating that majority of state school teachers lack confidence in educating dyslexic pupils in Great Britain. Fewer than one in 14 teachers would be very confident in identifying a child with dyslexia. Only nine percent of teachers would be very confident in teaching such a pupil. The survey also found that teachers were inadequately trained due to lack of resources.

The article focuses on the decision of the British Department for Education and Skills (DfES) to cease its funding for the Basic Skills Agency (BSA). The decision's implications to the agency's future is also examined. The government bases its move on the interests of efficiency. Skills Minister Phil Hope assures that DfES is not trying to eradicate BSA.

The article offers information on the Association of Professionals in Education and Children's Trusts (ASPECT) annual conference in Leeds, England, in September 2006. ASPECT used their conference in launching a report calling for the government to tackle underachievement by adopting Scandinavian models of learning. In her presidential address, Carolyn Poulter greeted the Every Child Matters children agenda.

This article reports that the Basic Skills Agency of Great Britain has redefined its mission. From now on it intends to concentrate on ideas and innovation that will improve the quality of teaching and learning, and attract new groups and communities which traditional school and further education provision has so far failed to reach. Introducing the theme of "Ideas and Innovation" at its annual conference in December 2004, the chairman Garry Hawkes said that the agency had agreed its revised role and core grant with the British Department for Education and Skills for the next three years. He said the agency would remain a critical friend of Government programmes such as the Skills for Life and the 14 to 19 reforms.

Presents news briefs related to education in Great Britain as of February 1, 2004. Code of practice on teacher recruitment issued by the Secondary Heads Association to its members; Increase in the number of people who want to be teachers as measured by applications for postgraduate teacher training courses in Great Britain; Campaigns launched by the Welsh Assembly Government to promote healthy eating and drinking in schools.

The article focuses on the free food supply given to the Welsh children at school. It pointed to the importance of children eating a proper breakfast if they are to perform at school. The breakfast will consist of cereals, fruits and toast, and the food will be sourced locally where possible. Money will not be taken from the education budget to fund the scheme. Only 34 out of 1,700 primary schools in Wales currently offer breakfast. Schools in socially deprived areas will pilot the scheme in 2004, with the aim of giving all Welsh schools the chance to participate by September 2006.

The article focuses on a campaign launched by the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) to make school buses safe. According to NAHT, the journey to and from school should be the safest journey that children make, but in reality is the most dangerous part of their school days. It states a change in the rules governing the transport of children to school and tighter regulations governing the use of seatbelts. Furthermore, the Sutton Trust suggests a subsidized, pupil-only service that would provide safe access to and from school and will have financial benefits for the community as a whole.

The article focuses on a convention to be held on the theme of second child protection, to discuss local and national progress on child protection reform. According to Scottish Education Minister Peter Peacock, the event would ensure all agencies continued to make child protection a top priority and considered it as an integral part of child protection services. The summit will bring together leaders and managers of child protection in the statutory and voluntary sectors, representative bodies and councils to reaffirm their commitment, to challenge progress and champion change, review progress and agree future action.

The article presents a report by the Adult Learning Inspectorate regarding the low status of work-based training courses. There are currently around 2,000 courses in England, and around five million adults are involved in work-based training. The shortcomings in leadership and management are made infinitely worse by the complicated design of learning programmes and awards. Learning and training in the 21st century should be of a high standard in order to support the economy as a whole. And there is a need that every single learner to succeed, whether it is as a plumber, a care worker in an old people's home or as an engineer.

Recalls British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's offer of a union between France and Great Britain in 1940. Skepticism and resentment of the French; Objections of British government members; Statement of Board of Education president Lord de la Warr on the matter.

Focuses on the formation of the Confederation of Education Service Managers (ConfEd) in Great Britain in May 2002. Merger of the Society of Education Officers, Association of Chief Education Officers and Society of Chief Inspectors and Advisers; Inaugural conference to be held in Kensington, England in July 2002.

Focuses on a study commissioned by the Basic Skills Agency which shows that poor readers in Great Britain are more likely to be excluded from school, have unprotected sex and unplanned pregnancies. Need for the government's campaign on teenage mothers to be connected more closely with its secondary curriculum reforms and its adult basic skills strategy; Connection between low reading skills and poor physical and mental health.

Reports on key issues relevant to education that were discussed during the National Literacy Trust's conference on Creative Links to Literacy in Great Britain. Potential of reaching out to the hard-to-reach effective partnerships between education, libraries and the arts; Policy implications on education.

Reports on key issues relevant to education that were discussed during the annual meeting of the Society of Education Officers in Great Britain. Plea to the government to reduce funding streams for schools; Streamlining of different grants that account for the budget of schools; Policy implications on education.