‘RAISING EXPECTATIONS STAYING IN EDUCATION AND TRAINING POST-16’
INTRODUCTION
The NUT welcomes the opportunity to respond to the above consultation.
CHAPTER 2
THE BENEFITS OF REQUIRING PARTICIPATION
1. The NUT has always understood that lifelong education is vital, both to society and the economy. Today, globally, many economies are developing extensively. This is both achallenge and an opportunity. Education must play its part in making the most of this opportunity and in rising to the challenge presented.
2. All young people should, therefore, have equality of access to high quality education as well as the opportunity to learn new skills and disciplines. It is important to improve worker skills as businesses face an increasingly competitive international environment. Increasing post-16 participation is a crucial part of increasing the skills levels of the workforce.
3. Britain has a relatively large number of 16-18year olds not in education, training or work. If post-16 compulsory education is to succeed, then young people must have access to good quality vocational education, as promised in the 14-19 education reforms.
4. There is, of course, a strong correlation between low levels of qualifications and unemployment, between dropping out of education and crime, and between productivity and staying on rates. Post-16 compulsory participation must be about identifying the right curriculum and training opportunities for all young people, whether at school, college or the workplace.
CHAPTER 3
A NEW REQUIREMENT TO PARTICIPATE
5. The NUT believes that the proposals should make it clearer that introducing compulsory participation for 16 and 17 year olds does not mean a requirement to stay in school or in the classroom. The consultation states in paragraph 7 that:
“We are clear that introducing compulsory participation for 16 and 17 year olds should not mean forcing them to stay in school or the classroom”.
This should be emphasised and made clear throughout the proposals.
6. The requirement that there should be a minimum of 16hours of guided learning hours per week needs to be enforced by significant funding as Post-16 compulsory participation age will have significant cost implications. The evaluation of 14-19 Pathfinders, by Leeds and Exeter Universities, showed the level of sustainable funding was a significant issue in taking initiatives forward, e.g., collaboration between schools and colleges.
CHAPTER 4
A SUITABLE ROUTE FOR EVERY YOUNG PERSON
7. The Government has set a 90 per cent target of 17 year olds to participate in education and work-based learning by 2015. To reach this target, it is intended that significant changes are made to qualifications pre and post-16 education. The successful implementation of the proposals relies on new initiatives, such as the new Key Stage 3 Curriculum and the 14-19 Specialised Diplomas that are still in their infancy. These initiatives must first be proved by proper trialling and evaluation before assuming that they will be the key factor in raising the participation rate in education and training for young people.
Diplomas
8. A new post-16 compulsory system of education should not rely on a new, untried qualification. Diplomas are intended to provide learning programmes for disaffected young people, for those who have failed to get five A* to GCSEs, for those wanting to pursue a high quality employer recognised qualification and for those wanting amore applied route to higher education. It is unclear, therefore, if the new Diplomas will be fit for purpose. The NUT would emphasise again that the speed in which the Diplomas are being introduced allows little time for considered piloting, testing and evaluation.
9. The Government should include Diplomas in any review of level 3 qualifications. This was promised when the 14-19 White Paper was published.
10. The NUT has argued that the content and the purpose of the Diploma system is problematic. At the moment, the teaching community has only little knowledge of the learning programmes within the Diplomas. If the Diplomas contain more general rather than applied learning, then there will be ‘academic drift’ occurring within these qualifications which make the GNVQs and the Advanced Vocational Certificate of Education problematic. More able students will continue to take A levels or the International Baccalaureate. That leaves the Specialised Diplomas as an uncertain and ambiguous qualification. The NUT would emphasise that since the role of teachers and lecturers has not been made explicit in the design or delivery of the Diplomas, then it remains to be seen whether they are “attractive learning routes” or not.
11. In Paragraph 4.7, an assertion is made that the Diplomas will create new, easy to understand opportunities for progression from one level of achievement to the next, from school or college to further or higher education and, ultimately, to adult and working life.
12. The NUT has yet to be convinced, however, that there are clear progression routes in the Diplomas leading to further study in school, college or to further and higher education. It is important, therefore, that the new Diplomas have clear progression routes to all levels built into them. It is vital that achievement below the proposed Intermediate Level is recognised positively. The Foundation Learning Tier, for example, should not replicate the perception of failure attached to D-G achievement at GCSE level.
13. The NUT endorses the Nuffield Review 14-19 Education and Training Annual Report 2005/2006 which stated that:
“The fact that Specialised Diplomas will co-exist with GCSEs and Alevels; that they do not embrace apprenticeships; the lack of vocational capacity in schools casts doubt on the ability of these awards to fulfil the ambitious aims of the DfES has for them. Moreover, there is an ongoing debate about the nature of the proposed Diplomas, centring on the degree to which they become more general, more acquired and more sharply vocational”
14. The bunching of reforms facing secondary schools and colleges leading up to the academic year 2008/09 is unacceptable. The 2008 14-19 reforms should not result in the turbulence and disruption that were caused by the Curriculum 2000 reforms. The changes to the 14-19 Curriculum, described in paragraphs 4.9- 4.85, will be challenging for schools. Introducing such a range of new qualifications at such short notice is not guaranteed to “reduce disengagement pre-16”.
The International Baccalaureate
15. If other qualifications, such as the International Baccalaureate, are not to become the admissions threshold for universities with over-subscribed courses, it is essential that the Government ensures all universities accept and acknowledge the new Specialised Diplomas. Otherwise more able students will continue to study Alevel or take the International Baccalaureate, leaving the Specialised Diplomas as uncertain and ambiguous qualifications.
Apprenticeship Entitlement
16. It is proposed that there will be an apprenticeship place for a young person who wants one. This will apply from 2013, in line with the national entitlement to study one of the 14 new Diplomas. The exclusion of apprenticeships from the Diploma framework, however, may make progression from the Diplomas to full apprenticeship problematic. The apprenticeship route must be developed as part of a coherent strategy for preparing all young people in the transition into the world of work.
The Foundation Learning Tier (Flt)
17. The proposed FLT is made up of individual qualifications for learners working below Level2. It is unclear, however, how motivating a route this will be for disaffected learners as this programme of study is not integrated into the main Diploma system and progression pathways are still being developed.
18. It is intended that at Level 1, within the Foundation Learning Tier, there will be apre-apprenticeship route for those who want to pursue their learning in a work-based setting. Teachers need to know that quality assurance is in place so that the FLT and Level 1 is appropriate for young people with learning difficulties.
CHAPTER 5
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
19. The professional development opportunities as described in the Gateway Bids are incoherent. There are numerous agencies identified in providing training for successful 14-19 consortia. It is crucial, therefore, that local authorities establish 14-19 Implementation Forums, including representatives from schools and colleges who are to operate the first five Diplomas. These forums should establish an audit-based workforce development plan and advise local authorities on what is needed.
20. Teachers and their representatives have very little knowledge about what training and coaching opportunities will be available from the Training Development Agency (TDA), the Specialist Schools and Academies’ Trust (SSTA), or the Quality Improvement Agency (QIA). It is intended that these agencies will support successful consortia who will be offering the first five Diplomas in 2008.
21. The NUT recommends that all these agencies are brought together with the teacher and lecturer unions to begin to identify the issues involved in the delivery of Diplomas and the consequent workforce development identified.
Information, Advice and Guidance
22. Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) is key to the successful introduction of any 14-19 Curriculum change, especially one involving young people and their parents or carers who will make crucial decisions as to which routes of education and training to take. The NUT considers that Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) services for young people need to be up and running in order that the 14-19 reforms can be implemented properly.
23. There has been a number of reorganisations of the careersservices. Since the publication of the Green Paper, ‘Youth Matters’ (2005), the intention has been to give local authorities the overall responsibility for co-ordinating Information, Advice and Guidance for young people. Schools and colleges have the right to directly contract for such services if those under the responsibility of the local authority are not considered to be of ahigh enough quality.
24. The IAG services need to be sufficiently strong and robust to give the independent, impartial, information advice young people will require in making crucial decisions about what learning programmes to take from the age of 14.
25. The evaluation of the DfES 14-19 Pathfinders revealed that the division of responsibility between a school’s career staff and the Connexions service has been ambivalent. If the new arrangements for IAG are to be shared between local authorities, Children’s Trusts and schools and colleges, then the co-ordination of such work must be made transparent to all the providers named.
26. Teachers and lecturers will have to be given more time to familiarise themselves with the CPD package that is being developed to support the 14-19 Information, Advice and Guidance proposals that have been identified in the 14-19 Gateway Support pack. If an identified member of staff in schools is to co-ordinate, develop and manage IAG, sufficient time and resources should be allocated to schools/colleges in order that this service is implemented effectively.
27. The NUT believes that the needs of children and young people are best developed by developing neighbourhood based multidisciplinary teams with management infrastructure. The needs of young people for informal education, provided by professionally trained youth workers and for independent advice and guidance, provided by Connexions, also need to be addressed in extended school services’ planning. The NUT is concerned that the development of ‘generalist’ workers will lead to the delivery of poor quality services to schools and children and young people.
28. One of the issues that the Government will have to face is the extra funding that will be needed for these proposals to succeed. Further education colleges, for example, will come under more strain if they have to cope with a lot more 17yearolds in their institutions. It is important, therefore, that both colleges and schools receive the extra resources necessary to prepare for such a significant change to the education system.
29. Although teachers/lecturers all have experience of some part of the areas covered by the 14-19 diplomas, all will need additional support in areas relatively new to them: school teachers in vocational/applied work, college lecturers in working with under 16s and in the delivery of the National Curriculum.
30. There is a strong case for collaboration between schools and colleges to best meet the needs of young people in post-16 education and training. One area of concern, however, is in the differences in salary and conditions of service of teaching staff in schools and FE sector colleges. These differences are particularly significant, especially if the Government’s anticipated target of enrolling 350,000 14-16 year olds on Specialised Diplomas is to be met.
31. It is local education authorities which have the capacity for developing partnerships between schools and colleges. They can ensure that such collaboration does not lead to inequities of provision. National performance tables and targets, however, distort and underpin the capacity of schools and colleges both to work together and to provide qualifications which have value for all students.
32. Employers need to participate in such schemes as well as valuing apprenticeship routes thus ensuring that education and training routes are properly completed.
Youth Support Services: 5.41
33. The NUT is concerned that the distinctiveness of youth work will be lost in the move towards extended school services. Integrated youth support services need to build on the distinctiveness of the approaches coherent in Youth and Community work, including voluntary and community sector services for young people, and should not be taken over by approaches mainly based on mainstream education, or leisure activities or youth justice. The current Youth Service offers personal and social development guidance in an informed context. These skills need to be transferred to any new services that are proposed.
34. There needs to be rationalisation also as to how the expertise of the current Youth and Community Work Services can be incorporated into the new targeted youth services, as described in the DfES Green Paper ‘Youth Matters’. Outreach work that is to be incorporated into the new proposals should, therefore, be a matter of consultation between local authorities and the Youth Service. Those working in the Youth Service should be consulted closely regarding the new emerging proposals. As Children’s Trusts will be responsible for co-ordinating targeted support for an integrated youth service at local level, it is imperative that those currently working in the Youth Service are represented on them especially if Children’s Trusts “will decide what existing services” need to remain in place to deliver statutory duties and make links with other professionals.