To brief the Committee on the improvement plan and the progress in strategy development to date.

(REPORT TO FOLLOW)

The Committee considered a report on new arrangements for the 14-19 Education and Skills Strategy and the progress on this initiative in Herefordshire.  

The Committee was informed that the development of a Strategy for 14-19 education was a focus of attention by the Department for Education and Skills.  The report set out the national objectives of the DfES Programme, performance and progress to date and arrangements for implementing the Strategy within the County. 

The Head of Commissioning and Improvement said that it was in many ways pleasing that only 6.1% of 16-19 year olds in the County (240 people) were not in education, employment or training.  However, the greatest concern was that many young people were in low paid, low skilled jobs and had not taken up further training.  The challenge for the County was to provide greater access to ongoing training and higher skilled jobs.

The Secondary School Improvement Manager reported on the importance of developing partnerships as it was impossible for any one school or institution to deliver all the national requirements.  It would therefore be important to build more local networks within the County with schools and colleges working together.

He noted that there was a statutory duty on the Council to ensure county-wide access for every 14 year old to fourteen specialised, specified, diplomas (the first five to be available from 2008), the remainder by 2012.  The diplomas were required to be designed by groups which were led by local providers and employers; designed to provide a good basis for progression to university; be both theoretical and practical and appeal to a different learning style to traditional subjects; and be available to all young people across the country at three levels (1, 2 and 3).

He said that in Herefordshire the majority of level 1 qualifications could be gained in existing school accommodation with some development. Many Level 2 qualifications could be gained on school sites with access to distance learning, mobile resources peripatetic staff and local specialist school and FE provision.  Level 3 qualifications could be gained in partnership with HE institutions and specialist local and regional provision.

The Herefordshire area target was to have over 95% of 19 year olds in employment, education or training and to ensure the statutory entitlement to the 5 diplomas for every 14 year old by 2008.

Sarah Tulk of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) said that the Strategy represented an improvement.  It addressed the traditional perception that vocational training was regarded as inferior to academic study.  The focus was on preparing people for employment.  The infrastructure (workforce, providers, facilities, local partnerships and arrangements) capable of delivering the curriculum and qualifications entitlement needed to be developed in the County to allow the initial requirements of the Strategy to be met and provide for implementation of the further stages.

In the course of discussion the following principal points were made. 

·          It was suggested that there appeared to be a great deal of theory but little practical information on what the Council was going to do and how it was going to do it.  In reply it was stated that there was as yet no national guidance on what the diplomas would contain.  The 14-19 Strategy Group was inviting expressions of interest in developing diplomas and what it would be feasible to deliver, including an analysis of supply and demand.  A bid had to be submitted to the DfES by March 2007.  The importance of employer engagement with the Strategy was emphasised.

·          It was confirmed that there was no new money being made available by the Government for the Strategy and that resources may well be an issue, although it had to be borne in mind that the Council was providing for the same number of pupils, but offering different things.  The Council and the Learning and Skills Council might need to consider providing some pump priming money once it was clear where this would be best spent. 

·          There were logistical issues to overcome, noting that 14-19 diplomas were provided on the basis that where possible and particularly for 14-16 year olds, the course and providers were to be brought to the student rather than the student travelling to the course and providers.  Consideration would need to be given to where specialist teachers and facilities would be needed.  The time and cost of travel would also be a factor.

·          That whilst a lot of young people left the County for higher education and other reasons, the majority remained.  Many young people in the County, particularly girls, had very low aspirations. The limited higher education facilities and low paid employment were factors in this and the challenge was to raise these aspirations. 

·          That whilst there were as yet no syllabuses for the diplomas work had to continue on expressions of interest required to be submitted by March 2007.  The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority would eventually determine the content of courses.  It was a significant challenge.

·          It was asked what could be done to encourage the 240 people not in employment, education and training, given that training was available now but not being taken up and what those 240 people were currently doing.  In reply it was stated that the opportunities currently available had clearly not interested a number of people.  This was a national issue and that was why the Government was trying to find ways to engage young people and encourage more to stay in education after the age of 16.  It was stated that the Connexions service should know the current circumstances of these people.

·          Concern was expressed about how the provision of the new courses would be managed.  The numbers of children involved were relatively small and it was suggested that if institutions and schools competed with each other to deliver the courses the viability of both could be damaged. 

In reply the Head of Commissioning and Improvement said that some concerns had been expressed by the colleges.  Discussions were ongoing.  His view was that because of the County’s geography, as a principle, it was likely to be better if the teacher was brought to the pupils rather than the pupils from across the County travelling to the teacher.  He envisaged a potential role for colleges as providers of courses within schools.  The LSC had emphasised that it would expect full account to be taken of the role of the colleges.  The Secondary Schools Improvement Manager added that the colleges had acknowledged the need for local delivery of courses.  He emphasised that it was in no-one’s interest to damage existing provision.  The aim was to work together to enhance provision.

On behalf of the LSC it was noted that colleges were part of the Strategy Group and the aim was to achieve a consensus on the Strategy.

·          In relation to choice for pupils it was noted that because of the small numbers of students the need for flexibility was being emphasised.  It could not be guaranteed that each cohort in each school would have the opportunity to study each diploma at each school.

·          It was recognised that devising and implementing the Strategy was a complex task.  The importance of monitoring the arrangements for its progression, implementation and delivery were therefore all the more important.  The Director of Children’s Services suggested in response to the Committee’s concern on this point that it would be timely to provide a progress report to the Committee with an action plan in March, 2007, when the first expressions of interest in providing the diplomas would have been received.

·          It was suggested that all Members of the Council needed to be briefed on the Strategy.

·          The Cabinet Member (Children and Young People) noted that the Council was building on a successful record in Education with standards being achieved above the national average.  This gave him confidence that the Council could succeed in delivering the Strategy.  It remained difficult, however, to convince parents that a vocational qualification and an academic qualification were of equal standing.

RESOLVED:  that a progress report be made to the Committee in March 2007 setting out firmer detail on the proposals under the 14-19 Education and Skills Strategy, including the financial implications and the practical actions required to implement the Strategy and how progress in delivering the Strategy may be monitored.