Memorandum submitted by the Association
of School and College Leaders
INTRODUCTION
1. The Association of School and College
Leaders (ASCL) represents over 15,000 members of the leadership
teams of secondary schools and colleges throughout the UK.
2. ASCL members are in the forefront of
developing and providing opportunities for young people to continue
with study and training and are pleased to share their experience
with the Children, Schools and Families Committee.
3. The evidence below cites many examples
of good practice and ASCL members would welcome the opportunity
to expand on these if required.
STRATEGIES FOR
THE IDENTIFICATION
OF YOUNG
PEOPLE AT
RISK OF
FALLING INTO
THE NEET CATEGORY
4. Schools and colleges have a range of
sophisticated strategies which they employ to identify those in
danger of NEET.
5. These include "at risk" registers
that are maintained by pastoral tutors. Based on a selection of
common characteristics of learners that do not complete courses,
including socio-economic, prior achievement, health, distance
to travel to study factors, these records are used sensitively
and confidentially by personal tutors to monitor "at risk"
learners.
6. Regular individual tutorials are held
and additionally when required in order to allow tutors to support
learners in danger of leaving a programme before its completion.
7. Colleges and schools have also established
central student databases that are available for all teachers
to access confidentially in order to monitor progress of learners
across all their activities. These automatically highlight repeated
unexplained absences, problems with submitting work for assessment
or, with the learner's permission, personal circumstances that
could affect the commitment of a learner to his or her course.
8. East Ayrshire authority has developed
a Secondary School database system that uses data already collected
to identify those students that may need additional support to
settle on transition from primary to secondary school.
9. Schools in the Tower Hamlets Local Authority
use their excellent working relationship with Connexions to benefit
from information obtained in interviews with learners in planning
individual support.
10. ASCL members will be pleased to demonstrate
examples of these tools, including a college system that has received
an AoC Beacon Award, to the Committee.
11. There is evidence to suggest that young
people make their decisions about the future at a far earlier
age than was traditionally recognised. The work of such universities
as Kent and Salford Young People's University is designed to encourage
young people to aspire to higher education, thus avoiding becoming
NEET.
12. Other good examples of university links
with schools include Plymouth University through the Widening
Participation agenda, Oxford University working with primary and
secondary schools in Banbury and schools in Stoke that have good
working relationships with Staffordshire and Keele universities.
These initiatives raise aspirations and encourage learners from
families that would not otherwise have considered progression
to Higher Education.
13. ASCL members are keen to emphasise their
support for the work of the Aim Higher programme, which has had
a sustained effect in supporting attempts to raise aspiration
and provide opportunities for young people.
14. The work of Action on Access,
which is described at www.actiononaccess.org is a successful national
example of strategic action to encourage young people to remain
in education and ASCL is represented on its advisory board.
SERVICES AND
PROGRAMMES TO
SUPPORT THOSE
MOST AT
RISK OF
BECOMING NEET AND
TO REDUCE
THE NUMBERS
AND ADDRESS
THE NEEDS
OF THOSE
WHO HAVE
BECOME PERSISTENTLY
NEET
15. In curriculum terms, secondary schools
and colleges have developed programmes that are designed to encourage
young people to achieve, ensuring that their offer includes opportunities
at all levels.
16. Many local partnerships have developed
curriculum that is shared between schools and colleges—for
example in Horticulture and Information and Communications Technology
(ICT). Teaching is shared and carefully selected work experience
is included in the offer. Individual programmes are often developed
to meet the needs of students and this can include tailored on-line
learning where the student has fallen behind his or her peers.
17. The introduction of Diplomas was intended
to provide vocational opportunities for young people in danger
of non-engagement. The progress so far has been slow, with concerns
that Diplomas may be insufficiently "hands on" to engage
the hard to reach, particularly at level one.
18. Other concerns stem from the need to
ensure that Diplomas are offered in "bite sized chunks"
so that learners may move in and out of study as their personal
circumstances dictate.
19. ASCL members believe that Foundation
Learning will be a useful pathway for these students but again
this pathway is now under development and it will take some time
for it to be available to all beyond the pilots.
20. Up to now, courses and qualifications
aimed at students working below level two or students who are
hard to engage have been short-lived, particularly in terms of
funding and it has been difficult to plan ahead.
21. The Increased Flexibility programme
is a good example of a programme that was successful in retaining
students and encouraging them to remain in learning post-16, but
almost impossible to offer to students in advance as funding was
decided at a very late stage.
22. ASCL members hope that a similar fate
will not befall Foundation Learning. We need to be able to make
clear offers to students and offer qualifications and pathways
that are clearly explainable and relevant to employers.
23. The offer to young learners should be
widely differentiated from 14 years onwards, allowing for
the full range of interests and abilities that exist in the cohort.
24. ASCL members would also welcome more
opportunities for young learners to enter for qualifications early
and bank their results, thus enabling them to stretch themselves.
25. There are concerns that many young learners
leave their programmes at age 17, having studied chosen programmes
for one year and not completed their qualification. In order to
ensure that learners gain benefit from interrupted study, the
speedy introduction of unitised accreditation in a wide range
of subjects and at varying levels through the Qualifications Credit
Framework (QCF) is essential.
26. Many colleges successfully use flexible
starting dates throughout the year as a means of encouraging prospective
NEETs to commence education or training, fitting in with the other
aspects of the young person's life.
27. Examples of good practice in supporting
young people in danger of leaving programmes include the co-location
of services in schools and colleges, where Connexions, Social
Services specialists and pastoral tutors work together to support
individuals.
28. Further funding for enhanced individual
tutorial support and mentoring is required to assist in the most
difficult circumstances. Specialist support workers from a variety
of backgrounds, not necessarily in teaching, are required to work
with those young people in danger of missing out on their education
and/or training.
29. This level of support obviously has
budgetary implications, but if the Government is to take its responsibility
to improve the NEET situation seriously, these cannot be avoided.
Indeed, an investment at this stage will contribute significantly
to improving the country's future overall economic situation.
THE EFFECTIVENESS
OF THE
GOVERNMENT'S
NEET STRATEGY
30. The Government's NEET strategy is centred
on four key themes:
— Careful tracking to identify those that
are or at risk of NEET;
— Personalised guidance and support for
young people to tackle barriers to learning;
— A flexible mix of learning provision
both pre and post 16; and
— An emphasis on rights and responsibilities
in order to provide clear incentive.
31. There is a wealth of advice and guidance
available on the DCSF website, including a useful NEET Toolkit
which has been welcomed by members.
32. ASCL members approve the opportunity
that is offered for horizontal progression through Foundation
Learning and its attendant funding. This will allow for young
people to build confidence as they progress to the next level.
33. However, if the progress demonstrated
in implementing this strategy is to be continued, guaranteed future
funding must be in place.
34. This includes funding to support individual
learners (through Educational Maintenance Allowances (EMAs) and
Discretionary Learner Support (dLS)) as well as funding to incentivise
employers to provide employment with training and funding for
providers to establish and deliver relevant programmes.
35. As guidance and support is such an important
feature of the NEET strategy, related services like Connexions
should also be assured of funding.
36. It is important to recognise the effect
that the current recession has had on prospective learners and
their families. Not only has it caused shortage of family funds
to support further learning, but it has also cast doubt on the
value of gaining qualifications in order to obtain employment
that may not exist.
37. Funding that follows the learner and
is devolved to the provider will provide the most economical and
targeted means of supporting young people to become trained and
contribute to the improvement of the national economic situation.
The Likely Impact of Raising the Participation
Age on Strategies for Addressing the needs of Young People not
in Education, Employment or Training
38. As many of the young people that will
be included in the Raising of Participation (RPA) measures for
2013 are likely to be those who would otherwise have been
NEET, attention to the composition of the cohort is required.
39. There is likely to be unwillingness
from some young people to "stay on". Therefore the manner
in which the requirements of RPA are communicated is very important.
Emphasis should be given to the employment with training aspects
as well as the improved opportunities for vocational training
and education that are offered through RPA.
40. Information and guidance should be carefully
designed to ensure the compliance of the cohort involved.
41. In theory, if the offer to these young
people is correctly designed to meet their needs and interests,
there will be little need for compulsion in relation to RPA. The
points made above on curriculum design and unitisation are therefore
central to the success of any curriculum offer.
42. It is however important that the public
is aware that RPA is not simply "staying on at school"
but that it encompasses training at work. ASCL members do not
believe that this message is yet fully understood.
THE OPPORTUNITIES
AND FUTURE
PROSPECTS IN
EDUCATION, TRAINING
AND EMPLOYMENT
FOR 16-18 YEAR
OLDS
43. ASCL's recently issued Manifesto includes
a call for the development of a general diploma along the lines
of the current Welsh Baccalaureate, which incorporates a wide
range of academic and vocational qualifications. This is currently
under discussion and members will share progress if required.
44. Employers also have a responsibility
to engage with new curriculum through their Sector Skills Councils
and to accept the qualifications that arise from it as suitable
for their needs and those of their future employees.
45. The proposed new arrangements for commissioning
across local partnerships will provide opportunities for joint
approaches between schools, colleges and other providers, and
these should be further explored in relation to NEETS.
46. Robert Hill's Achieving More Together:
Adding Value for Partnership, which was written in 2008 as
part of a year-long ASCL project, includes many examples and case
studies of partnership and the successful application of principles
formerly used in other public services to schools and colleges.
47. ASCL is pleased to enclose a copy of
this book to inform its submission and would welcome a further
opportunity to expand on the evidence submitted, as its members
are completely committed to improving opportunities for young
people who are not in education or training or are in danger of
becoming so.
Malcolm Trobe
Policy Director
December 2009
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