1 INTRODUCTION
1. Since the last general election the Government
has brought forward a number of initiatives in relation to skills.
In particular, it has produced the White Paper Success for
All, the Green Paper 14-19: Opportunity and Excellence
and the White Paper 21st Century Skills—Realising
Our Potential. In addition,
as announced in 14-19 Opportunity and Excellence, the Government
established the Working Group on 14-19 Reform to examine: the
structure, content and coherence of full-time vocational programmes;
the assessment arrangements for 14-19 year olds to ensure that
they are appropriate for different types of course and styles
of learning and teaching; and the possibilities for a unified
structure of qualifications.
2. Amongst a number of issues relating to skills
that we considered important and worth examining, we decided to
begin by looking at 14-19 education, with the terms of reference:
To examine the Government's
proposals for the provision of education for young people between
the ages of 14 and 19 and the work of the Working Group on 14-19
Reform in the context of the national skills strategy.
3. We took
oral evidence from Rt Hon Charles Clarke MP, then Secretary of
State for Education and Skills, David Miliband MP, then Minister
of State for School Standards, and Ivan Lewis MP, Parliamentary
Under Secretary of State for Skills and Vocational Education,
Mr (now Sir) Mike Tomlinson (on two occasions), Mr Rob Hull and
Ms Carol Hunter, Department for Education and Skills, Mr Chris
Humphries, Director General, City and Guilds of London Institute,
Professor Alison Wolf, King's College London, the Learning and
Skills Council, the Association of Colleges, the Chartered Institute
of Personnel and Development, the Construction Confederation,
the Federation of Small Businesses, the Centre for Guidance Studies,
University of Derby, the Guidance Council, the National Association
of Connexions Partnerships, the Engineering Employers' Federation,
the Trades Union Congress, the Confederation of British Industry,
the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, Professor Adrian
Smith, Queen Mary, University of London, and Professor David Raffe,
University of Edinburgh. In addition, we received 59 written submissions.
We also visited the United States, Germany, Denmark, Finland and
Norway.
4. We are grateful
for assistance in this inquiry from Professor Sir William Taylor,
Dame Pat Morgan-Webb, and Mr Chris Hayes.
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