Memorandum submitted by the Association
of School and College Leaders (ASCL)
A. INTRODUCTION
1. The Association of School and College
Leaders represents 13,000 members of the leadership teams of colleges,
maintained and independent schools throughout the UK. This places
the association in a unique position to see the Diplomas from
the viewpoint of the leaders of both secondary schools and colleges.
2. ASCL welcomes the Education and Skills
Committee's Inquiry. School and college leaders have long campaigned,
through this association and other bodies, for a more coherent,
unified system of 14-19 qualifications. We were strongly supportive
of the recommendations in the Tomlinson report and, although we
were disappointed that the Government did not accept these recommendations
in full, we support the introduction of the Diplomas as a major
step on the way to the 14-19 system that we believe to be necessary
for England in the 21st century.
3. These Diplomas offer the possibility
of a curriculum at KS4 in particular that may be better suited
to the needs and interests of a significant proportion of young
people.
4. While supporting the introduction of
the Diplomas in principle and practice, ASCL is concerned about
several aspects of the present situation and these concerns are
outlined below.
B. STRUCTURE
5. ASCL has viewed with concern the statutory
entitlement, enshrined in the Education and Inspections Act 2006,
for all young people to study one of 14 Diplomas by 2013.
6. We believe that this will inevitably
create an extremely complex structure, which will have two major
problems.
7. First, with 14 Diplomas at three different
levels, it will be difficult for schools and colleges, even when
supported by careers services, to explain to students and their
parents the full implications of the choices that lie before them
at the ages of 14 and 16. Yet, without a clear communications
plan, it will be difficult to recruit to Diplomas all the students
who would benefit from them.
8. Second, the sheer size of the structure
will almost inevitably lead to a massive amount of bureaucracy
falling on school and college leaders.
9. It has to be remembered that the Diplomas
will in practice work quite differently in KS4 from post-16. At
the later stage there is already a tradition of courses more similar
to these, and students will very likely move to a new college
or school to take the Diploma of their choice. (Most young people
already change institutions at age 16.) At KS4 the expectation
is for students to stay at their current schools, spending part
of the time taking a Diploma, in many cases at another institution.
10. Because of the complexity of the proposed
eventual structure, ASCL strongly supports the gradualist approach
adopted by the government for the introduction of the Diplomas.
Although we recognise that many school and college leaders are
hoping to introduce Diplomas in their institutions in 2008, we
believe that the system will be best served by a small-scale start
in 2008, and a further small cohort starting Diplomas in 2009.
ASCL believes that these two initial cohorts should be treated
as a two-year pilot—surely a minimum period for a trial
of so large and important an initiative as this.
11. Although 2013 seems to be a distant
date, the target for all young people to have access to all Diplomas
at all levels is a very demanding one that may not be possible.
ASCL would urge that every effort is made to make sure that this
large curricular change is made well rather than to what will
prove a tight deadline.
12. The Welsh Baccalaureate and the Secretary
of State's announcement in December of an encouragement of the
International Baccalaureate are other developments which may compete
for the attention of teachers and their leaders in schools and
colleges. The Welsh Baccalaureate has proved successful in early
trials, and some schools and colleges in England have already
expressed an interest in it if permitted to offer it to their
students. Alan Johnson's announcement about the International
Baccalaureate included an expectation that its expansion might
be largely in sixth form colleges, but the leaders of these colleges
will in most cases also have to involve themselves in the partnerships
required for the specialist Diplomas.
C. COLLABORATION
13. ASCL is strongly supportive of partnership
working between schools, and between schools and colleges. We
see the 14-19 Diplomas as giving a considerable boost to school/college
partnerships; indeed, the Government has already acknowledged
that it will be impossible for single institutions to deliver
Diplomas.
14. ASCL hopes that the Diplomas will help
the school and college system to move from the culture of competition
that has been evident for the last 20 years to a culture of collaboration,
in which institutions work together to broaden opportunities and
raise achievement of all young people in the area.
15. However, many of the policy drivers
in the system still promote competition. The accountability structure,
for example, relates to individual institutions. It hardly makes
sense, where there is fully collaborative local provision, for
each institution to be held separately to account publicly for
the results of its own registered students, many of whom will
have done some of their courses in other schools or colleges.
If the imperative towards joint working in the 14-19 sector is
to mean anything, joint performance indicators are a pre-requisite.
16. The demographic dip in pupil numbers
in secondary schools, which coincides with the period of introduction
of the Diplomas, will—at least, in some parts of the country—lead
to increased competition between schools. This could easily work
against the efforts to collaborate on 14-19 provision.
17. It is possible that the new system will
lead to 14-year-olds transferring from one school to another not
just for their Diploma work, but outright. If that becomes significant
it could again increase competition and undermine collaborative
structures.
18. The difficulties of timetabling the
Diplomas simultaneously in several institutions should not be
under-estimated. Joint timetabling always has to take precedence
over all other curriculum priorities in the single institutions
and this often leads to unacceptable compromises elsewhere in
the timetable, particularly in the lesson arrangements for 11-14-year-olds.
If lesson patterns and timings are inappropriate, or specialist
staff or facilities not available when needed, this could have
a deleterious effect on standards in KS3 or elsewhere in the post-14
curriculum.
D. COST
19. The Government must recognise that collaboration
costs money. Diplomas are an expensive option and this must be
reflected in the funding of schools and colleges. ASCL has been
attempting to estimate the scale of the extra cost, and the relatively
technical paper prepared by our funding expert is attached as
an appendix.
20. The major cost of offering Diplomas
as a school/college partnership is the cost of transport for students
studying some of the week at an institution other than their "home"
school or college. This is substantial in most urban settings.
It will be prohibitive in many rural settings without additional
funding.
21. Partnerships require management structures
and this, too, requires additional funding, both for additional
posts to lead the collaborative and for the governance of the
joint work.
22. Joint timetabling between institutions
also has additional costs if there are not to be major compromises
for other students, as mentioned in the previous section.
23. There will be considerable costs associated
with the professional development of the school and college workforce
to enable the Diplomas to be delivered successfully.
24. ASCL is concerned at the potential costs
of the Diploma assessment arrangements. Vocational course examination
fees have always tended to be greater than those of traditional
academic examinations. ASCL sees no need for this to be case with
Diplomas. External examination fees already take up far too big
a proportion of school and college budgets and are often the second
largest budget item after staffing.
E. CREDIBILITY
25. Because the Government made the decision
not to include GCSEs and A levels within the Diploma structure,
there is a grave danger that the Diplomas will be seen as second-class
qualifications and all the hopes of creating greater parity of
esteem between academic and vocational qualifications, promoted
by Sir Mike Tomlinson in his report, will have come to naught.
26. The credibility of the Diplomas is therefore
of great importance to their success and the Government should
continue to give consideration to how to address this question
with employers and higher education. The recently announced champions
will be good ambassadors in this respect, but much more will need
to be done.
27. In particular, because A levels are
not part of the Diploma system, ministers will need to persuade
the Russell Group universities and the major independent schools
of the depth and rigour of the Diplomas, so that bright students
from both maintained and independent sectors see Diplomas as a
credible alternative path to a degree course at a prestigious
institution. Without declarations from the Russell Group universities
that they will accept Diploma qualifications for entry to the
most competitive courses, the major independent schools will not
offer Diploma courses to their students. Without the imprimatur
of the Russell Group universities and the participation of the
major independent schools, the task will be made immeasurably
more difficult for state schools to persuade bright students to
study for the Diplomas.
28. As well as the new Diplomas being demanding
enough to allow bright students to demonstrate their capability
they must also be accessible to a wide range of abilities. And
if they are to provide a real alternative they must not simply
emulate academic courses in pedagogy or assessment methodology.
29. The new Diplomas will have to establish
credibility in a very hostile context, which means that they cannot
afford to have widespread significant failings, of organisation,
delivery or assessment, in their early years. This again underlines
the need for a small number of carefully chosen pilots in 2008
and 2009 to minimize the danger in those years and to allow for
lessons to be learnt before a complete implementation in later
years.
F. CONCLUSION
30. ASCL welcomes the new Diplomas. School
and college leaders hope that they will succeed in breaking down
the academic/vocational divide and hierarchy and in offering a
genuine alternative to many young people not well served by our
present qualification structure.
31. Several earlier initiatives have failed
to do this. If the Diplomas are to be such a success the significant
concerns outlined above must be fully addressed and the new courses
must be very carefully prepared by awarding bodies, by school
and college leaders, and by teachers.
32. It is therefore imperative that there
is a proper pilot phase, with a small number of carefully chosen
consortia in 2008 and 2009, and with sufficient time allowed for
proper evaluation before the Diplomas become generally available.
January 2007
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