Memorandum submitted by the Learning and
Skills Council (LSC)
INTRODUCTION
This submission addresses the Committee's concerns
regarding the design, development and future roll-out of the new
Diplomas first announced in the 14-19 Education and Skills White
Paper.
The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) is a Government-funded
public body that exists to improve the skills of England's young
people and adults in the interests of having a workforce of world-class
standards. We are responsible for planning and funding high-quality
education and training for everyone over 16 (except higher education)
in England, including provision in school sixth forms. The range
of qualifications and programmes that the LSC funds is diverse,
and includes AS and A levels, Advanced Vocational Certificates
in Education (AVCEs), National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs)
and Apprenticeships.
The LSC has a central role to play in driving
forward the reform of 14-19 education. The Government introduced
14-19 reform in order to encourage young people to continue learning
after compulsory school age by offering a broader choice of courses
and qualifications across a wider range of subjects and skills.
More 16-18-year-olds are participating and succeeding
in learning than ever before. The longer-term vision of the LSC
is for at least 90% of 16-18-year-olds to be engaged in learning
by 2015. We therefore want all young people to get the learning
that is right for them and this means delivering a broader curriculum
offer.
The LSC is therefore working with the DfES to
support the introduction of the new Diplomas, particularly supporting
the Diploma Gateway which will select the partnerships that will
be the first to deliver the Diplomas in 2008.
DESIGN AND
DEVELOPMENT OF
DIPLOMAS
1. The LSC remains confident that the new
Diplomas will be ready for September 2008. We have been involved
in the development of Diplomas from initial design through our
representation and involvement with the Diploma Development Partnerships
(DPPs) through to close collaboration with delivery partners in
submitting consortia proposals to the Diploma Gateway. We are
fully in support of colleges, independent training providers and
schools who in partnership are able to offer a high quality opportunity
to young people in 2008.
2. We have worked to gain employer support
for these qualifications through our newly established partnership
teams, through briefings and working with our statutory Young
People's Learning Committee. The LSC delivered the employer engagement
workshops at the recent DfES 14-19 regional conferences and whilst
concern was expressed about the ability to recruit enough employers
to deliver the work experience component of the new Diploma, there
remained overwhelming support for the need for a high quality
vocational and applied route to enable all young people to experience
success in their 14-19 learning.
3. The Diplomas in our view retain significant
support from the UK's leading employers and companies, who are
also committed to supporting implementation. There also remains
keen interest within the FE system for the Diploma and there has
also been a high response to the opportunity to offer the first
five Diplomas in 2008. Colleges are involved in the large majority
of the 324 consortia wishing to pass through the Gateway with
the potential for offering places to over 200,000 learners.
4. We believe good progress has been made
in ensuring Diplomas are ready for 2008 and fully support the
innovative design of the Diplomas with their design led by employers
through the broad-based Diploma Development Partnerships with
their representation from colleges, HE and schools as well as
employers. The timescale, though tight, is for us appropriate
as we are committed to urgency in raising the quality and improving
the choice of learning opportunities for all young people. This
remains our top priority for 2007-08 in our published annual statement
of priorities. The full document is attached with this submission.[11]11
5. We remain supportive of the strategic
partnership between DfES, QCA, the DDPs and awarding bodies to
deliver the Diploma qualifications as it mirrors the collaboration
required by colleges, independent training providers and schools
at a local level to deliver Diplomas on the ground. We do not
support a stronger co-ordinating role for any one of the agencies
involved, though we have been supportive of recent moves to streamline
and clarify project management and governance arrangements of
the Diplomas. The recent appointment of Diploma champions especially
the choice of Mike Tomlinson is, we think, wholly positive.
TEACHER AND
LECTURER TRAINING
6. The LSC has been involved in discussions
about the £45 million package of support for workforce development
for roll-out in 2007-08 and supports the collaborative development
of the different programmes by organisations involved in pre-
and post-16 work.
7. We would also like to see support for
consortia who do not pass through the Gateway for 2008-09 as well
as a package of workforce development to be available for those
pastoral managers, teachers, lecturers and guidance professionals
who have a role in advising young people and will need to know
more about the make-up of the Diplomas and possible progression
routes in order to advise young people of career pathways.
8. We also support the programme of Learning
Visits to enable principals, 14-19 managers, headteachers, LA
and LSC colleagues to understand 14-19 reform in different localities.
We have organised, promoted and funded visits ourselves to Increased
Flexibility Programme (IFP) colleges to showcase successful collaborative
practice in vocational and applied learning. We view this IF programme
as being the true precursor of the collaboration required for
Diploma delivery and we have been keen to pass on the lessons
learned by IFP partnerships with regard to partnership delivery,
quality assurance, health and safety, costs and funding.
CO-ORDINATION
BETWEEN SCHOOLS
AND COLLEGES
9. As indicated above the LSC has long experience
of promoting collaboration and partnership between 14-19 providers
to maximise benefits for learners. The first cohort of learners
for the Increased Flexibility programme was in 2002 and the similar
Young Apprenticeship Programme is now in its third year. Both
programmes require colleges and schools to work in partnership
to deliver quality programmes for 14-16 learners in vocational
areas of learning. Evaluation of the programmes has been consistently
encouraging and the programmes have provided innovative ways of
combining elements of academic and vocational learning at all
levels.
10. There is concern from some colleges
that good partnerships led by colleges through the Increased Flexibility
programme have been disrupted by "new" LA- and school-led
partnerships to go through the Diploma Gateway. This has not been
the intention of the Gateway which has sought to build on historic
and an existing culture of collaboration, but reinforces the need
for vigilance at the Gateway stage to ensure that good proposal
writers do not prosper at the expense of experienced and committed
partnerships.
11. The restructuring of the LSC has enabled
us to offer more support to consortia and partnerships of colleges,
schools and training providers. LSC partnership teams can work
more effectively with their 14-19 LA counterparts as boundaries
are now coterminous and enable funding to be aligned in support
of strategic improvement priorities. We continue to work directly
with LAs to develop the local partnerships of schools, colleges,
providers and employers necessary to offer a wide choice of learning
for all young people in an area.
12. The LSC also brings significant research
experience and knowhow into the conditions that make partnership
work. We are working with the DfES and QCA currently to develop
a toolkit to improve partnership self-assessment and are organising
conferences and workshops for LSC and LA colleagues in February
and March to develop thinking around the critical success factors
that make partnership and collaboration work.
13. We do have concerns that some schools
in some areas have indeed not realised the implications of Diplomas
and in particular the 2013 entitlement for all learners to have
access to all lines of the Diploma and fear that such schools
may not engage sufficiently. We feel that it is important for
this to happen not just for the status of Diplomas but also to
enable collaboration, specialisation and sharing of expertise.
We suggest that the DfES and partners accelerate the pace of communication
about the Diplomas and accompanying reform as soon as possible.
14. It is our belief that college principals
and head teachers are indeed well-informed about the Diplomas
but that knowledge now needs to involve all members of the workforce
at colleges, training providers and schools.
15. We do have some concerns that the oft-repeated
line that the "bar will be set high" for the Gateway
may throw out worthwhile proposals and, without sensitive handling,
may actually lead to the break-up of some consortia. Whilst supportive
of the need for quality provision we expect that there should
be a good spread of providers both in terms of regions and sectors.
We need also to have in place a reliable process that will properly
support consortia to apply again for 2009-10 and not let consortia
drift apart. The LSC will make it a priority for 2007-08 to support
all consortia, not just those who pass through the Gateway for
2008.
16. The major concern for colleges is funding.
Colleges have concerns that funding via schools will not guarantee
sufficient and sustainable funding for 14-16 delivery. The LSC
is working intensively with the DfES to ensure that delivery of
the Diplomas is incentivised and does not sideline or threaten
existing successful provision pre- or post-16. We also share the
concerns of colleges and training providers that the premature
phasing out of BTEC/City and Guilds vocational qualifications
may lead to less choice for learners and the loss of a successful
alternative route to level 2 and level 3 achievement.
17. We intend to ensure also that our responsibility
to plan and expand provision for 16-19-year-olds takes into account
the requirements of the new Diplomas both in terms of relevant
provision, capital requirements and building design. We are next
month providing input to a Royal Institute of British Architects
(RIBA) conference that will examine these issues. We are working
closely with the DfES to ensure that policies on academies, competitions,
presumptions and expanding successful provision work in favour
of young people in all areas but especially where provision to
encourage participation and pathways into learning may be absent.
18. Finally, securing high quality learning
for 14-19-year-olds is a responsibility we share with our partners.
We are working closely with all our partners to support the effective
introduction of the new Diplomas which we see as key to achieving
our and the DfES aspiration of at least 90% participation by 2015.
January 2007
11 Not printed. Back
| 
