Memorandum submitted by the Department
for Education and Skills (DfES)
PURPOSE
1. This memorandum sets out the rationale
for the Government's policy to introduce new Diploma qualifications
as an entitlement for all young people from 2013; the design and
development process; plans for its successful delivery by schools,
colleges, work-based learning providers and others; and the structures
in place for the leadership and management of the project within
the Department for Education and Skills (DfES).
THE RATIONALE
FOR THE
DIPLOMA
2. The 14-19 Education and Skills White
Paper (Cm 6476, February 2005) set out the Government's plans
to improve secondary, further and higher education. The introduction
of specialised Diplomas is a key element. We aim to create, for
the first time in this country, a highly valued mixed theoretical
and practical route for young people which genuinely meets the
needs of employers and provides a sound basis for progression
into higher education (HE). This is necessary because, at present,
too many young people are failing to achieve their full potential
which is impacting negatively on the skill base of the country.
The Diploma will allow young people to learn in a different way
and therefore appeal to all those, whatever their ability, who
enjoy a different learning style. Young people will be motivated
and stretched in a way that the current curriculum does not consistently
achieve. The Diploma initiative will, therefore, help to boost
participation in learning both by improving attendance at the
compulsory school age and by encouraging staying-on post-16. The
Government has set ambitious proposals to tackle low post-16 participation,
with the aim that participation at age 17 should increase from
75-90% over the next 10 years.
3. There will be 14 Diplomas, brigaded by
broad employment sector, at each of levels 1, 2 and 3 in the National
Qualifications Framework. In addition, there will be an award
for part-completion of the level 3 Diploma.
4. The introduction of the Diploma is one
of a series of related curriculum and qualification reforms set
out in the White Paper including making A levels more challenging,
changes to some GCSEs, and revising the Key Stage 3 National Curriculum.
The key purpose of the Key Stage 3 reform is to ensure that time
is available to ensure that all young people are literate and
numerate as they enter their teenage years. Because the basics
are so critical to young people's chances, a further planned reform
is the introduction of new Functional Skills qualifications in
English, Maths and Information Technology. Young people sitting
GCSEs in these subject areas will need to pass the related functional
skills elements in order to achieve an A*-C grade in the GCSE.
Achieving functional skills will be a pre-requisite for attaining
a Diploma qualification. Further features of the Diploma include
a compulsory project and inclusion of Personal Learning and Thinking
Skills which employers and HE providers increasingly look for
in new recruits. These require learners to be independent enquirers,
creative thinkers, reflective learners, team workers, self-managers
and effective participators.
DESIGN AND
DEVELOPMENT OF
DIPLOMAS
5. The programme of work to develop and
deliver the Diplomas reflects the scope of the Diploma's ambitions
and the scale of the challenge.
6. At its heart is the Government's determination
to secure twin objectives: that the Diploma should meet the needs
of business and that it should be respected and accepted by universities
and other HE providers for the increasing number of young people
progressing to HE. To secure those objectives, the Government,
through the Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA), established
multi-organisational partnerships, convened by Sector Skills Councils
(SSCs), to design and develop a Diploma for each employment grouping.
These are called Diploma Development Partnerships (DDPs). Membership
of each DDP includes employers and representatives from HE, professional
bodies, schools, colleges and awarding bodies. The role of each
DDP has been, through wide consultation, to determine the skills,
knowledge and understanding which needs to be contained in its
Diploma, at each level. This work has been carried out under guidance
from the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) which has
been remitted to design the shape and structure of the Diploma,
and has a statutory function to regulate its delivery to ensure
high standards and consistency. DDPs also have important roles
to play in communicating the reforms and in building employer
capacity for delivery.
7. Once a DDP has determined the skills,
knowledge and understanding required from each Diploma, the QCA
is responsible for translating those requirements into regulatory
criteria. It is then the task of accredited awarding bodies to
develop units and full Diploma qualifications for endorsement
by DDPs and, subsequently, accreditation by QCA.
8. QCA, through the National Assessment
Authority, is also responsible for designing the systems and technical
infrastructure capable of allowing the awarding of Diplomas from
2009. This project has been entitled "Minerva".
9. Progress to date has been good. The main
milestones in the timeline published in the 14-19 Education and
Skills Implementation Plan (DfES 2037-2005 DCL-EN) last year have
been met or are on course to be achieved (these are set out at
Annex A). In addition, DDPs have secured real interest from their
sectors and commitment from key figures. The Diplomas have very
significant support from some of the UK's largest companies, such
as Vodafone and Rolls Royce, and leading universities.
COMMUNICATING THE
REFORMS
10. We have embarked on a major programme
of communications tailored to each of the different groups that
the 14-19 Reforms will affect; employers; schools, colleges, training
providers and other local partners; HE providers; young people
and their parents. As part of this, leading figures from the HE,
business and education sectors will act as Champions for the new
Diplomas and wider 14-19 Reform programme, to raise awareness
of the reforms, support the implementation and increase take up
of the new qualifications. The employers champion is Sir Alan
Jones, Chairman of Toyota. Sir Mike Tomlinson, currently chair
of the Learning Trust in Hackney, will act as Champion for Schools
and Colleges. Two Champions have been appointed to cover the HE
sector; Deian Hopkin, Vice-Chancellor, London South Bank University
and Professor Michael Arthur, Vice-Chancellor, University of Leeds.
11. We have a number of current and planned
communications activities, focussed on the main audience groups:
— Our priority over the last six months
has been to raise the awareness of practioners within schools
and colleges, and partner organisations, who will be delivering
the reforms. Nine regional conferences for schools, colleges,
training providers, local authorities (LAs) and other partners
took place in the autumn attracting over 1,000 people. These have
been supplemented with contributions to a large number of other
events, a termly newsletter and a range of other products.
— We recently launched a series of
activities to raise awareness within HE providers and are running
regional conferences for HE, which are attracting senior personnel,
including Vice Chancellors and Pro-Vice Chancellors as well as
admissions tutors and directors of study.
— We will be running a number of major
events for employers in the New Year. These build on the work
of DDPs in raising awareness in their sectors. The SSCs have undertaken
large consultations and they are gradually raising the awareness
of employers as to the significance of the reform programme and
the opportunities it presents them with.
— Finally, we are planning a major
awareness raising campaign for young people and parents for the
spring, when we know where the Diplomas will be available in 2008.
SUCCESSFUL DELIVERY
12. The Government plans to phase the introduction
of the Diploma (see Annex B). From September 2008, five Diplomas
will be available rising to all 14 by September 2010. The Education
Act 2006 provides for the Diploma to be an entitlement to all
young people. The Government's current thinking is that the effective
date should be September 2013 by which time capacity will have
risen to meet expected demand, and the impact of the Diploma will
have been fully evaluated.
13. If delivery is effective, schools, colleges
and work-based providers need to collaborate in effective local
consortia, and the workforce needs appropriate and timely professional
development.
Developing Local Partnerships to underpin delivery
14. In developing the Diploma, the Government
is building on strong foundations for the type of school-college
coordination that will be required. There is a wealth of evidence
from practice over the last three years to provide confidence
that the system has developed models of effective and excellent
practice and there is also a real desire and enthusiasm to learn
from the areas that have developed this excellence.
15. Until 2005, the joint DfES/Learning
and Skills Council (LSC) 14-19 Pathfinder programme tested local
delivery of 14-19 education in a range of settings, building on
the increasingly distinctive specialisms of local schools, colleges
and training providers. The 39 Pathfinder areas were a key means
of identifying and spreading good practice and have also helped
to assess the scale and costs of new patterns of 14-19 provision.
In addition, the Increased Flexibility Programme (IFP) has been
the catalyst for establishing partnership working between post-16
and pre-16 education providers. Since September 2002, approximately
290 partnerships have been created between FE colleges, schools,
training providers and other agents. The IFP has involved around
2,000 schools and over 90,000 pupils.
— Our analysis of the Pathfinder and
IFP programmes show there are five key characteristics that are
needed for the development of successful partnerships:
— A shared sense of ownership:
The most effective 14-19 partnerships are typically comprised
of all key local stakeholders including schools, colleges, training
providers, employers and IAG services.
— Strategic leadership and vision:
Clear strategic leadership at a senior level, with dedicated operational
support, brings together the range of different interests to ensure
coherence and a grasp of the bigger picture.
— Clear objectives and organisation:
Local steering groups, with the authority to take executive decisions
and commit resources, provide a clear sense of purpose and direction.
— Recognition of individual strengths:
Different providers need to focus on what they do well and recognise
the contribution others can make.
— Access to professional advice:
14-19 partnerships may need to draw on the help of expert practitioners
from outside their immediate area.
16. Good partnerships bring together a range
of bodies to collaborate to provide a strong range of quality
programmes, including those which give young people the chance
to experience areas and develop skills not normally accessible
through the traditional school curriculum. They include employers
and, on occasion, HEIs as well. We are encouraging the continued
development of this multi-partner approach. Employer involvement
in the teaching of Diplomas is particularly important if the experience
for the young person is to be materially different. This is partly
about proving good quality work experience, but it is also about
providing a stimulating curriculum through bringing employers
into schools and colleges and generating industry relevant tasks
and materials. SSCs and other partners such as Education Business
Partnerships have a key role in securing the involvement of employers
to support local delivery.
17. Evidence from regional conferences and
Government Offices shows that LAs are taking an increasingly strategic
overview of 14-19 provision in their areas. They have a key role
to play in assessing local need and ensuring that plans for supply
and demand are matched and are on course to meet the 14-19 Implementation
Plan target that every area will have a local prospectus by September
2007. They are also explaining and communicating the purpose behind
the reforms, brokering relationships between providers and facilitating
self-assessments of strengths and weaknesses in providers. In
addition, LAs are working closely with new LSC partnership teams;
their responsibility for the planning and funding of all post-16
learning, including the statutory entitlement, makes them the
primary partner in the emerging picture of a growing number of
LA led partnerships.
18. The development of local partnerships
is being supported by additional funding from DfES. We have provided
£15 million per year in 2006-07 and 2007-08 to support 14-19
partnerships in meeting the administrative and logistical costs
of local collaborative working to deliver 14-19 reform.
19. The DfES has developed ways of spreading
good practice from the best of these programmes. The Manual
of Good Practice from 14-19 Pathfinders featured advice on
collaborative working and developed case studies to show how any
challenges around transport, timetabling and pastoral support
could be tackled. We have also introduced a programme of Learning
Visits which enables leading practitioners from schools and colleges,
together with strategic planners from LAs and LSCs, to visit areas
that have progressed quickly in delivering collaborative arrangements.
To date, 115 LAs have attended introductory Learning Visits, and
feedback from attendees has been extremely positive. An increasing
number of areas are also taking up the option of a more in depth
follow up planning visit with the area they visited initially.
20. To support the capacity building by
local partnerships, the DfES aims to create 50,000 new post-16
places by 2008. Capacity building measures include:
— the ability for high performing schools
to establish sixth forms where there is student and parental demand
to extend quality and choice (the "presumption" arrangements);
— a parallel "presumption"
for high performing FE colleges (including sixth form colleges)
to expand their provision for 16-19 year-olds in order to deliver
the Diplomas;
— local competitions, where significant
numbers of new places are needed, to open the market and encourage
a diversity of bidders;
— a new 16-19 capital fund to permit
coherent investment in new 16-19 provision.
21. Allowing the expansion of high performing
schools and FE colleges to deliver post-16 provision will create
a stronger and more robust system for delivering the new Diplomas.
Choice is a powerful lever for driving up quality and we believe
that it is best delivered by giving institutions greater autonomy
in serving their local markets so that successful provision can
expand and local strengths be fully exploited. Diplomas will stimulate
the development of local partnerships of autonomous institutions,
each contributing their individual strengths to create a high
quality, broad-based offer that meets the needs of all young people
in the area.
22. We have made £40 million available
in 2006-07 and a further £70 million in 2007-08 through the
Dedicated Schools Grant to support practical learning opportunities
for 14-16-year-olds. This funding will cover the additional core
costs of delivery including teaching, curriculum planning, resource
and equipment and relevant fees.
23. The capital needs to support 14-19 reform
is being increasingly integrated into the wider Departmental capital
strategy. Areas now applying for waves of the Building Schools
for the Future programme (BSF) need to demonstrate how 14-19 plans
are part of their local strategy. Relevant LSC capital streams
will also be integrated into this overall strategy to ensure a
joined up approach to capital expenditure. In addition, an additional
£40 million will be made available in 2007-08 for consortia
preparing to deliver Diplomas from September 2008. This funding
will be available as capital grant for investment in buildings,
equipment or IT infrastructure, to be used across partnerships
to enhance the delivery of the 14-19 Reforms.
Developing the workforce
24. Our approach to workforce development
is to provide national support which partnerships can incorporate
into local professional development plans in line with their approach
to rolling out the Diplomas in their area and other workforce
development activities they are undertaking.
25. We are investing £50 million over
the financial years 2006-07 and 2007-08 to create a programme
of support and have brought together a cross-sectoral coalition
of workforce agencies with proven expertise to develop this, working
with other partners including DDPs. This will enable teachers
and lecturers to get free access to packages of support to help
with Diploma delivery from September 2007.
26. There is range of initiatives in the
programme:
— The Training & Development Agency
(TDA) and Life Long Learning UK (LLUK) are developing and implementing
routes for initial teacher and support staff training (including
Higher Level Teaching Assistants) to meet the needs of the new
qualifications. To encourage new staff into the system, the Government
has a new system of golden hellos and bursaries for the school
and FE sectors, which include functional skills and Diploma subjects.
LLUK and TDA are also developing an industrial/commercial updating
programme that will be linked to the "Business Interchange"
Programme. The programme will be open to all existing teaching
and support staff.
— The Quality Improvement Agency (QIA)
and Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) are producing
a subject specific resources pack for each of the Diplomas and
setting up regional professional development networks. They have
recently let major contracts to Nord Anglia Education plc and
the Learning and Skills Network, both of whom have significant
experience in this area. We envisage that the essential package
will consist of three days of face to face training, with a third
of this taking place within a work-related setting, supplemented
by online resources which can be used locally in a wide variety
of ways to support further professional development. To bring
this together for partnerships we are funding full-time regional
co-ordinators and coaches in every area.
— The National College for School Leadership
(NCSL) and the Centre for Excellence in Leadership (CEL) will
be promoting leadership capabilities, management development and
partnership working through coaching and mentoring, seminars and
other means of sharing best practice, and online support.
— The Department is also supporting
exams officers, via the National Assessment Agency. This support
will involve face to face assistance, access to best practice
and awareness-raising for local exams officers.
27. These initiatives are complemented by
related activity to prepare the workforce for functional skills.
The QIA and Secondary National Strategies contractor are developing
teaching and learning resources and continuing professional development
in this area.
Securing quality delivery
28. Diplomas are innovative qualifications,
which will demand new ways of teaching and learning. So as well
as fostering the capabilities of partnerships through the initiatives
detailed above, we want only those schools, colleges, and other
providers who are ready to deliver them to the high standard demanded
to do so in the early years. To ensure that the critical elements
for successful Diploma delivery come together to support high
quality programmes from September 2008, we have set up a Diploma
Gateway through which consortia must pass.
29. The Gateway is designed to look at the
strength of partnership arrangements, drawing on what we already
know about the characteristics of successful delivery models,
and the robustness of plans to appropriately resource Diploma
delivery. The Gateway process requires local partnerships to assess
their own preparedness to offer Diplomas and identify groups of
providers who will work together in consortia. These judgements
will be validated by Regional Panels, including representatives
from Government Offices, LSC regional offices and DDPs. They will
set the standard high as it is important to protect the interests
of the first young people to undertake Diplomas.
30. Gateway decisions will be supplemented
by awarding body approval processes. As with other qualifications,
consortia must be able to demonstrate that they have the right
facilities and that their staff have the right skills to offer
all or part of a Diploma.
MANAGING THE
DIPLOMA PROGRAMME
31. Due to the important role that different
parties have to play, the Diploma programme was set up as a multi-agency
project, with an executive board jointly chaired by senior officials
in DfES and the QCA. Membership included representatives of the
SSDA and of the SSCs leading the Diploma work. The Senior Responsible
Owner for the project is the Director of the 14-19 Reform Programme
in DfES. He, and his staff, are ultimately accountable to Ministers
for the delivery of all the parts of the programme that will lead
to a successful roll-out. Issues relating to delivery and workforce
development have been managed by a parallel process, again reporting
to the 14-19 Director. There has been a steering group which comprises
the wider stakeholders who have an interest in the Diploma. In
addition, the Diploma project, as part of the wider 14-19 reform
programme, has been discussed on two standing bodies: an external
advisory group, chaired by DfES Ministers, and a stakeholders
group, chaired by the DfES 14-19 Director.
32. As the first set of key milestones have
been secured, and the project has expanded to include the development
of the 2009 and 2010 Diplomas, the DfES commissioned an external
health-check of the project management structure. In the light
of its findings, it has been decided to appoint a new, dedicated
Project Director for Diplomas, who will be responsible for the
"all-through" process of delivering Diplomas—from
design through to delivery—making sure that all the appropriate
connections are made and interdependencies are managed. This postholder
is employed by the Department, at a Senior Civil Service grade,
and will be supported by a team in DfES but she is working with
all partners in this very complex programme to ensure they are
working together effectively to deliver the results we need. Thus
the co-ordinating role of the Project Board will be supplemented
by an individual who works directly to the SRO. The new structures
are set out at Annex C.
CONCLUSION ON
14-19 SPECIALISED DIPLOMAS
33. The Diploma initiative is one of the
key priorities of DfES Ministers. It is a highly innovative project
requiring co-operation between a wide range of stakeholders at
national, regional and local level. The DfES has established a
leadership and governance structure which, to date, has delivered
on key milestones. Ministers will continue to take a close and
regular interest in progress, but are confident that the first
set of Diplomas will be delivered on time and will, over time,
make a significant impact on learning and achievement.
|
