Confed
Written Submission to The Education and Skills Select Committee on 14-19
Specialised Diplomas
1.0 Introduction
1.1 The
Confederation of children's services managers - Confed - is the professional
association representing Directors and Managers of Education and Children's
Services in local authorities in England and Wales. Initially established as the Association of Directors and
Secretaries for Education in 1906, the Association evolved over time into the
broader based Society of Education Officers. Confed was officially launched in
July 2002 marking the beginning of the Association's expansion into the broader
children's services agenda. Confed is an umbrella body bringing together the
Society of Education Officers (SEO), the Association of Directors of Education
and Children's Services, (ADECS, formerly the Association of Chief Education
Officers), the National Association of Senior School Improvement Professionals
(NASSIPs, formerly the Society of Chief Inspectors and Advisers) and the
Association of Local Authority Advisory Officers for Multi-cultural Education
(ALAOME).
1.2 The
prime purpose of Confed is to contribute to the raising and maintaining of high
quality standards in local authority education and children's services. As a
Learned Society, Confed aims to influence national developments in the
provision of education and children's services and within the profession to
share good practice among local authorities and promote the interests of staff
working in the leadership and management of education and children's services.
Confed is committed to a stakeholder model of a publicly accountable system
which delivers high quality, appropriately-targeted services to children, young
people and their families and carers, where all providers work together
collaboratively for the good of every child and young person.
1.3As the
professional voice of Directors of Children's Services, Confed would wish to work with all partners to
ensure that the emerging 14-19 agenda is both deliverable and delivered to our
young people. It is Local Authorities who now have the responsibility to
establish and develop effective local 14-19 Partnerships. Confed members have a
key role in the development and strategic leadership of the delivery of the
Diploma at a local level.
1.4 The
implementation of policy into practice and providing feedback is the particular
experience, role and expertise of Confed's professional membership and Confed
has considerable collective knowledge and understanding of how to deliver
through partnership working. Confed also has a regional membership structure
across England and is currently re-organising with ADSS to develop a single
professional voice of Children Services leaders in England.
2.0 Confed's recommendations
There are 3 main recommendations
that Confed would wish to put forward for consideration:
2.1 That a
new Joint Protocol be agreed, under the leadership of the Diploma Champions
that sets out the vision, values and modus operandi of all key stakeholders and
that clarifies roles and responsibilities.
2.2 That 9
Regional Diploma Teams be established that are multi-agency and integrate with
the existing regional infrastructure.
2.3 That
National Demonstration Projects for each line of learning that become regional
hubs for Diploma development and delivery and sit within new regional Diploma
strategic management arrangements based on Government Offices
3.0 Design and Development
of Diplomas
We need a Protocol to engage
all partners and stakeholders, including young people, that will map the
· Design
· Development
· Delivery
of the diplomas and will
clearly articulate the
· Aims
· Ambitions
· Roles
· Responsibilities
·
of all the players.
3.1 The
shared vision and common understanding that comes from this will establish:
· The
Purpose of The Diploma
· Shared
values , principles and strategy
· How
the Diploma fits into and complements the 14-19 Framework and curriculum
· How
the Diploma will innovate & motivate
· Delivery
of the knowledge, understanding and skills that will have currency for young
people in the world of work & how they will be assessed and graded
· The
experiential nature of the curriculum
· Employer
and key stakeholder engagement at a regional level
· Regional
support and strategic management
· Testing,
trailing, research and development to inform Diploma delivery
· Clear
roles and responsibilities at both national and regional levels
4.0 Strategic Management
An all-partner National
Steering Group should be established to ensure that the implementation of the
Protocol is followed.
4.1 A National Steering Group
National Progression
Demonstration Projects (see below) are principally concerned with development
and delivery of the Diploma. It would be appropriate for the National Steering
Group to be chaired by the QCA. The purpose of the steering group would be to
co-ordinate and have strategic leadership of the National Demonstration
Projects and bring together key national strategic leaders in the Development
of the Diploma and in particular would have strong Employer membership and
involvement to ensure highly successful diploma provision and credibility for
each of the Phase 1 Lines of Learning.
4.2 The roles and
responsibilities of the National Steering Group
These would include:
· Determining
terms of reference for the Demonstration Projects to develop scale, structure,
and employer leadership
· Scoping,
commissioning and implementing a Project Plan
· Inviting
expressions of interest for NDP status
· Determining
criteria and deciding choice of projects to include geographic spread
· Responsible
for Monitoring and Evaluation of the Projects and producing an Annual Progress
Review of the Demonstration Projects.
· Giving
strategic leadership to the development of the NDPs.
· Quality
Control of the work of NDPs
· To
disseminate effective practice for future diploma development
· Commissioning
and overseeing regional strategic management support for local management and
implementation of the projects
· Monitoring
the implementation of the project plan and receiving progress reports
4.3 National Steering
Group Membership
The membership of the
National Steering Group would carry out the Governance role and its membership
should include as a minimum:
· Phase
1 DDP Leads and /or SSDA representatives
· DfES
representative
· QCA
· A
Regional Steering Group Representative for each Phase 1 line of learning
National Demonstration project
· 2 HEI
Representatives
· 2
Awarding Body Representatives
· 2 Confed/ADCS
representatives
This would give a membership
of around 20 and it is envisaged that the National Steering Group would need to
meet at least 3 times a year and possibly more intensively at the development
stage.
5.0 Diploma National Demonstration Projects
5.1 A programme of National Demonstration Projects should
be established that will secure high-level national credibility for each Line
of Learning. It will ensure that students, parents, employers and HE have full
confidence in the Diploma as a genuine, robust and clear pathway for
progression through secondary, further and higher education to employment
according to their appropriate entry point into the world of work. The National
Demonstration Projects will demonstrate, from first draft to delivery, that
Diplomas are high quality, robust and genuinely innovative for learners with
new opportunities for progression that meet the needs of employers, Higher
Education and young people.
5.2 The 5
Projects, one for each Phase I line of learning, will be nationally led. They
will demonstrate the benefits of effective employer engagement and leadership
and give a practical explanation of how each line of learning will work This
will teach and inform training providers, schools, colleges employers, learners
and Higher Education how an individual line of learning can be effectively
delivered. They will show -case innovative curriculum practice and establish
new approaches for applied, experiential learning, PLTS and Functional Skills,
in the context of an individual line of learning. They will also provide the
opportunity for national testing, trialling and structured external evaluation
of qualification development and test the implementation of each individual
line of learning.
5.3 The NDPs
will be Centres of Excellence for staff development, effective practice,
stakeholder engagement, and act as regional hubs for the national rollout and
promotion of the Diploma as well as being a national exemplar reference point
for their individual line of learning.
5.4 There
may be some national organisations including the Offender Management Services,
Young Offenders Institutions and The Armed Forces where it might be appropriate
to consider separate demonstration projects to reflect their unique situation.
5.5 There
would be the opportunity to link national and local employer Diploma champions
to each National Demonstration Project who could form an Ambassadors Network to
promote the Diploma so that the National Demonstration Projects are shown to be
and are in practice employer-led.
5.6 By 2008
there would be 5 National Progression Demonstration Projects (one for each
Phase 1 Line of Learning) located in different parts of the country in
different kinds of communities developed to reflect the context of the regional
economy and the regional economic strategy. In Phase 1 it would be appropriate
for innovative local centres and consortia to be designated as National
Demonstration Projects that would bring together the Sector Skills Councils,
local centres, their partnerships, national and local employers, awarding
bodies and higher education. They would be compatible with the Diploma Gateway
process and would be complementary to the proposed Pathfinder projects. The
selection of designated NDP's would mirror the Diploma Gateway process in terms
of meeting robust selection criteria
5.7 It would
be possible in Phase 2 to identify further National Demonstration Projects for
each new line of learning in such a way as to eventually ensure geographical
coverage for each of the 9 Government Office Regions. Consideration could be
given to establishing at least one National Progression Demonstration Project for
each Line of Learning in each Region as the Diploma is developed.
5.8 A
crucial aspect of a National Demonstration Project will be the alignment of all
delivery partners to establish clear, genuine and robust pathways for young
people and for these to be communicated to young people and their parents.
Therefore a co-ordinated local stakeholder engagement strategy will be a
prerequisite of designation as a National Demonstration Project as part of the
national 14-19 Communication strategy.
5.9 The NDPs
will provide the opportunity to secure national strategic management,
structured implementation, and feedback and learning on a range of Diploma
development and delivery issues. These would include:
· Employer
Engagement and Leadership
· Communication
with teachers, learners and parents
· Identify
effective ways of delivering the Diploma
· Making
collaborative consortia work
· Strategic
management and planning
· Impartial
IAG and structured access for Young People
· Workforce
Development & training
· Funding
mechanisms and costs
· Grading
and Assessment
· Timetabling
& transport
· KS3/4
Curriculum models & compatibility issues
· Progression
across 14-19 framework including pathways to Apprenticeships & employment
· Buildings
and specialist facilities
· Accountability,
reporting, roles and responsibilities
· Delivery
of PLTS, Functional Skills & high quality work experience
· Experiential
learning and teaching strategies
6.0 The Regional
Approach.
Many of the key stakeholders
for the Diploma have a regional organisational structure e.g. Government
Offices, LSC, Sector Skills Councils, Employer Organisations, SSAT, Confed/ADCS
and there are also a number of existing regional partnerships that have an
interest in this agenda as well school, college, HE and training provider
networks. There is also regional support for the 14-19 agenda through EBLOs and
Connexions arrangements as well as the local 14-19 Partnerships which LAs have
the responsibility for establishing and developing.
6.1 A
Regional Diploma Team is urgently needed, established through the 9 Government
Offices in England who are ideally placed to, co-ordinate and align all field
force support and partnership work on the 14-19 Agenda and are already giving
local leadership to the 14-19 Progress Checks and the Diploma Gateway Processes.
Each Regional Diploma Team should include any organisation or field force that
is involved in Diploma support and delivery as set out above. At the same time
there is the opportunity to integrate these developments with the work of the
RDAs and Regional Skills Partnerships, who bring together the major regional
stakeholders including Sector Skills Councils in addressing skills development
in the context of the Regional Economic Strategy.
6.2 Regional Steering
Groups
It is envisaged that there
will be a geographical spread of National Demonstration Projects and that a
Regional Steering Group could oversee them at a local level to exercise local
Governance. This would integrate with existing LSC regional partnership
arrangements and could be an additional function of an already existing group
or be newly created for this purpose according to local needs. It would be
crucial that this is seen to be employer-led and again there will be different
local networks that would be appropriate in the context of local LSC
arrangements.
6.3 Regional Steering
Groups-Roles & Responsibilities
These would include:
· Engaging
all local key stakeholders particularly employers
· Provide
additional support for delivery of agreed Demonstration Projects
· Management
of NDP support budget
· Management
of Tests , trials and drawing lessons from project
· Drawing
up NDP in consultation with local partners
· Project
management of the Demonstration Project Plan for their NDP
· Approval
,monitoring and evaluation of their NDP
· Regular
accountability to the National Steering Group
· Liaison
with the National Demonstration Project Steering Group
· Oversight
of strategic support for all Diploma development in the Region
· Promotion
and marketing of the Diploma in their region
· Developing
a regional communication strategy for dissemination
· Developing
regional infrastructure support for Diploma rollout
6.4 Regional Steering
Group Membership would include:
· Employer
Chair
· Local
Sector Skills representative
· Regional
Skills Partnership
· RDA
· Government
Office DfES 14-19 lead
· HEI
· LSC
· QCA
· Local
14-19 Partnership co-ordinator and key providers
· Awarding
Body Representative
· Local
Centre Co-ordinator
7.0 Key outcomes
7.1 A
success story, which demonstrates that the new qualification can genuinely meet
the needs of employers and HEIs by developing technically competent and
personally proficient young people, who might not otherwise have chosen that
field of employment, attracted by an applied learning course.
7.2 The
development of a national test-bed framework for independent evaluation,
testing and structured trials during the development of the Diploma prior and
subsequent to the launch of Phase 1 in
2008.
7.3 A
practical foundation for the development of national guidance for local centres
and providers based on a well-designed research and development framework
established within the National Demonstration Projects.
7.4 Involvement
of National bodies in local development through the leadership of Sector Skills
Councils /DDP's, Dfes, QCA.
7.5 Creating
synergy between national and regional organisations such as LSC, Aim Higher and
Regional Skills Partnerships, RDAs and Specialist Schools and Academies.
7.6 Development
of Centres of Excellence to support on-going local diploma rollout, and
work-force development.
7.7 Demonstrating
how effective pathways will work from age 14 through to Higher Education and
employment.
7.8 Demonstrate
that The Diploma is as good as A levels as a pathway to Higher Education and
employment.
7.9 National
communication and sharing of effective practice
7.10Co-ordination
of national, regional and local stakeholder involvement to deliver a high
quality hub and spoke framework
7.11 Support
for the delivery of the Work Experience component
7.12 Limited
in scale so that it can be assured of success, capable of replication and
carefully and widely marketed.
7.13 Delivering
confidence and credibility for the Diploma demonstrating the benefits of local
employer engagement.
