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decline

ONS figures show decline in retail store sales as online continues to grow

by Loknath Das April 5, 2024

written by Loknath Das

Figures from the ONS show that retail sales fell 1.4% in the first three months of 2017. Average store prices increased by 3.3%, representing the largest growth since 2012.

The first quarter of 2017 is the third consecutive period of negative growth.

However, online sales increased year-on-year by 19.5%.

Retailers can no longer shun the truth that shoppers crave a more immediate, reliable and digitally driven experience

This represents an average weekly spend of £1 billion on online purchases, which accounted for 15.5% of all retail spending (excluding automotive fuel).

“The figures continue to show the decline in traditional bricks and mortar stores as retailers endured the biggest quarterly fall in seven years during the first three months of the year,” Hugh Fletcher, global head of consultancy and innovation at Salmon, said.

“Retailers can no longer shun the truth that shoppers crave a more immediate, reliable and digitally driven experience.”

Online card spending up

A separate study by the UK Cards Association reports that online card spending totalled £422 million a day in 2016. This is an increase of 28% since 2014.

A quarter of card purchases online are for entertainment purchases such as concert tickets.

The association states that the UK now spends more online per household than any other country.

Retailers must too embrace the change in shopping habits and feed consumers’ desire for convenient online shopping

“Since the early days of internet shopping there has been a host of innovations, from digital wallets to one click purchases, which bring enhanced security, choice and convenience for customers and which will lead to continued growth in the sector,” Richard Koch, head of policy at The UK Cards Association said.

“The additional protection provided when using a card also gives consumers extra peace of mind when they are shopping online.”

The research shows that online spending is dominated by certain sectors:

– 37% of the total spent on travel

– 23% of clothing purchases

– 67% of concert tickets and 61% of cinema tickets

Hugh Fletcher continued:

“A shift towards a strong digital strategy is the first step in combatting the decline in the high-street but retailers must increasingly test and embrace innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality changing rooms and Zero UI (the move away from physical interactions in favour of sound, movement and other senses).

“As consumers shift online, retailers must too embrace the change in shopping habits and feed consumers’ desire for convenient online shopping or face the dark prospect of poor sales, profit slumps and sluggish growth.”

[Source:- marketingtechnews]

April 5, 2024 0 comment

Education

Teachers take the strain after ‘depressing’ decline in support staff

by Rajdeep April 5, 2024

written by Rajdeep

Profession has ‘more to cope with than ever’ after years of cuts to crucial posts

The “depressing” decline in school support staff over the past decade has been laid bare by new TESS analysis, amid claims that teachers have been left with greater levels of responsibility and higher workloads than ever before.

Almost every category of support staff has seen a sharp fall in numbers and even one group that has not – classroom assistants – is widely seen as unable to provide the same help that it once did.

The period since the SNP was first elected in 2007 has brought falls in school-based staff, including administrative and clerical staff (down by 20 per cent) and additional support needs (ASN) auxiliary or care assistants (9 per cent), a comparison of new figures and previously published statistics shows. Centrally employed staff such as quality improvement officers (down 34 per cent) and educational psychologists (13 per cent) have also declined.

However, since 2007, the pupil population has only decreased marginally (by 2 per cent). The proportion of children recorded as ASN has risen from 5.3 per cent in 2007 to the current 22.5 per cent, after a change in how additional needs are recorded, with concerns raised regularly about their welfare.

Louise Wilson, assistant secretary of the EIS teaching union, said: “In terms of workload, in terms of responsibility, teachers have more to cope with than they ever have.”

She said that this was partly a result of declining support staff – an issue that Ms Wilson said had cropped up with increasing regularity at the union’s annual conferences over the past five years.

But she added that the situation was also down to ASN issues, the Named Person policy, new qualifications and increasing bureaucracy.

Dougie Atkinson, professional officer for the Voice Scotland union, which represents many support staff, said the overall picture was “a depressing one”, with staff being “steadily taken out of many mainstream classrooms” and the educational experience for all children now “compromised”.

He added: “If support staff are disappearing, who has to pick up the additional needs work left behind? Our teachers, that’s who.”

Stuart Jacob, a member of the Scottish Children’s Services Coalition (SCSC), said that while his group supported the policy of educating children in mainstream schools wherever possible, “this is clearly challenging against a background of these cuts in support.”

A Scottish government spokesman said that it wanted “all children and young people to receive the support that they need to achieve their full learning potential.”

He added: “The Additional Support for Learning Act places education authorities under duties to identify, provide for and review the additional support needs of their pupils.”

Decisions about employment of support staff were the responsibility of individual education authorities, he said.

[Source:- tes]

April 5, 2024 0 comment

Education

GCSE results show record decline

by Rajdeep April 4, 2024

written by Rajdeep

This year’s GCSE results have shown the biggest ever year-on-year decline – down to the lowest level since 2008.

The overall proportion of entries achieving A* to C has declined from 69% to 66.9%. Top A* grades have slipped from 6.6% to 6.5%.

This has been blamed on more pupils in England being required to resit English and maths.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said 17-year-olds who had successfully retaken these GCSEs now had “better prospects”.

Impact of retakes

The results of more than five million GCSE entries in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have been published.

This year’s combined figures show a sharp decline in the proportion of grades A* to C and smaller falls in top A* and A grades.

Prof Alan Smithers, director of the University of Buckingham’s Centre for Education and Employment Research, said the 2.1 percentage points decline was the biggest drop in A*-C grades since GCSEs were introduced in the late 1980s.

This has been driven by a fall in grades in England – as Northern Ireland’s results improved and results in Wales remained stable.

In England, the proportion of A* to C grades fell from 68.8% last year to 66.6%. Top A* grades were down from 6.6% to 6.4%.
In Northern Ireland the proportion of these good passes increased slightly to 79.1% and top A* grades rose to 9.3%.
In Wales, the level of A* to C passes remained at 66.6%, with A* grades rising slightly to 6.1%.

The fall in England has been attributed to a policy in England requiring resits in maths and English for 17-year-olds who did not make a C grade last year.

Even without these older pupils resitting exams, there has been a fall in the results of 16 year olds, with the proportion getting A* to C declining by 1.3% points.This year’s results were down for maths, English, history and geography.

And there were further falls in the numbers of pupils taking modern languages, with the British Council warning that entries for French had more than halved in the past two decades.

The National Union of Teachers said the decline in modern languages was exacerbated by the “difficulty many schools have in recruiting qualified language teachers”.

Gender gap

The gender gap has widened further – with 71.3% of entries by girls getting a C grade or above compared with 62.4% of boys.

There has been a continuing reduction in the number of pupils taking GCSEs a year early, down by about a quarter compared with last year.

League tables now only count the first time a pupil sits an exam, discouraging entries by younger pupils.

This will be the last year before the start of a major change in how GCSEs are graded in England and how school performance is measured.

A revised set of GCSE exams are going to be graded by numbers – from 9 down to 1 – rather than the current letter-based system in a process that will be phased in from next year.

There will also be a new way of assessing schools in England, to be introduced later this year, called Progress 8, which will measure how much progress pupils make in secondary schools, rather than their raw results.

Russell Hobby, leader of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: “GCSE results day is a nervous time for all, as much depends on these grades.

“2016 is worse than ever in this regard as the results are so unpredictable following wave after wave of over hasty changes. Such overwhelming change introduces mistakes and makes it hard to sustain a calm focus on teaching,” said Mr Hobby.England’s School Standards Minister Nick Gibb said he was “pleased to see that there are more GCSEs being taken in the core academic subjects, those that give students a wider range of opportunities.

“And for those 17-year-olds who have struggled to achieve good grades in maths, we are seeing 4,000 more successful re-takes of those exams; delivering better prospects for every one of those young people.‎”

Kirsty Williams, Education Secretary in Wales, said: “This year’s GCSEs show another strong performance with two thirds of our learners achieving at least A*-C and an increase in the top grades.”

[Source:- BBC]

April 4, 2024 0 comment