Examination of Witnesses (Questions 300-302)
DR JOHN
BRENNAN, MS
PAULINE WATERHOUSE,
MR ALAN
TUCKETT AND
MR COLIN
FLINT
28 NOVEMBER 2005
Q300 Mr Chaytor: You are concerned
about increasing competition and proliferation of small sixth
forms, and so on, but in the White Paper there is constant emphasis
on the importance of collaboration, both between the trust schools
and other schools. Do you think it is a workable model for the
16-19 phase to have pupils attached to one institution, but spend
part of their week travelling around between three or four different
institutions?
Dr Brennan: I think there are
a number of different issues which that question throws up. Some
of them are issues of practicality, simply that movement of pupils
between sites, and so on, raises all sorts of issues about timetabling,
transport, and so on, which have got to be solved at the local
level. Some of them may be soluble and some may be insoluble.
I think a lot of work needs to be done to try and realise that.
The extent of which they are soluble depends in part on the framework
within which they are placed. If, for example, your funding framework
is to say to schools, "You have money and you can buy or
provision in other institutions", then all of history suggests
that it is quite difficult for schools to go down that road because
they find it difficult to realise savings as a result of moving
individual pupils out of classes, and so on, and therefore it
becomes a major inhibitor. On the other hand, if your funding
model is such that you have a ring-fenced pot of money which is
there to support the development of this alternative curriculum
offer for that group of young people, and that can be accessed
by the partnership of institutions who are providing that, then
you may create the right incentives and the right support to deliver
that. A lot depends upon the mechanisms which you put in place
around all of this. If we can get the mechanisms right, then I
think you can solve a lot of those practical problems.
Q301 Chairman: Pauline, would you
like to come back to any of this on the White Paper?
Ms Waterhouse: I was thinking
about the very first point that David made a moment ago, which
was what colleges feel is the best thing in the 14-19 White Paper.
I would say in both of the recent White Papers on 14-19 education,
I really welcome the emphasis that has been placed on functional
literacy and numeracy and the real drive and will there appears
to be to start to address those literacy and numeracy development
needs of young people because, for myself, in the days when I
was a teacher, before I went into management, what I would say
is one of the key reasons why it was sometimes difficult to ensure
young people passed their vocational qualification was because
of the very, very real issues of literacy and numeracy skills
deficits. I think that is one of the key reasons behind people
failing Level 2, Level 3 qualifications and, as we know, this
then goes on to be a problem in the adult workforce as well. I
think the need to address that, and the will that was there in
the White Paper to do so, is very encouraging.
Q302 Chairman: Colin, you have had
some strong opinions today. With all your experience, what do
you think of the White Paper?
Mr Flint: My worry is an old worry,
really. When I was working in the local authority in Solihull,
we had a very good programme with local schools of link courses,
which was funded by the local authority. It worked pretty well,
except that schools did tend to choose the young people that they
sent to colleges, and I fear that there may still be some of that
even in the new arrangement and that it is going to perpetuate
that academic vocational design. I am all in favour of good quality
vocational opportunities being made available to young people,
but I think they ought to be made available to all young people,
not just those that particular schools decide will benefit from
them, because there are dangers in that decision-making process.
Mr Tuckett: I wanted to talk about
the parental involvement issue which the White Paper addresses
and the challenges that presents. You can see how well it will
work in areas where there are lots of articulate parents who are
already engaged with all kinds of arenas of the way our world
works. For the least engaged parents, I miss the focus on how
you would support them to be effectively taking up the kinds of
challenges Government poses for parents here and with that a lack
of linkage, as it were, to extended schools, to community schooling
into the role adults have in the support of young people's achievements.
Related to that, a kind of worry that not giving the local authority
enough powers to ensure that the plurality of purposes we have
for schooling in our communities can be secured and not just those
which individual groups of governors and parents recognise for
themselves.
Chairman: We are out of time. Can I thank
Pauline, Colin, Alan and John for appearing before the Committee
today. You have been a difficult bunch to manage, I am afraid,
because you are so knowledgeable and it is so interesting to listen
to your answers, but it certainly honed up my chairing skills.
We appreciate it very much, thank you.
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