South West Regional Skills Enterprise and Employment Analysis 2007/2008

Final Report

4.13 Participation and provision

4.13.1 14-19

The recently published Nuffield Review of 14-19 Education(53) (Nuffield Review) highlights the fact that rapid changes have taken place in secondary education policy and provision, with greater emphasis on vocational learning and on the relationship between schools, colleges, training providers and employers. Government policy initiatives for the 14-19 phase are numerous.

The Nuffield Review notes that the major driver of 14-19 policy in England is the widely accepted desire to raise levels of participation and attainment in order to compare more favourably with international competitors on education and training performance. In particular, there are concerns about participation at 17-plus and raising Level 2 attainment (the level associated with employability).

At the heart of the national 14-19 entitlement lie the new specialised Diplomas, of which there will be 14 lines offered at Levels 1 to 3, and the development of flexible and collaborative local delivery systems.

However, the wider context of the 14-19 reform process may prove problematic in relation to the development of specialised Diplomas, including:

• The fact that specialised Diplomas will co-exist with GCSEs and A' levels;
• That they do not embrace apprenticeships;
• Continued employer voluntarism;
• Lack of vocational capacity in schools and the pace of reform

There is an ongoing debate nationally (see Nuffield Review) and within the region (see Review of Level 3 Skills) about the nature of the proposed Diplomas, centring on the degree to which they will become more general, more applied or more sharply vocational.

Despite a broad welcoming for the Diplomas, concerns exist that the process of ‘academic drift’ that occurred with both GNVQs and Advanced Vocational Certificates of Education (AVCEs) will be seen again with the Diplomas. If this happens (and evidence from the Level 3 Review suggest that these concerns are real), they will not provide the solution that government seeks.

It is unlikely that schools will be able to offer a large number of specialised Diplomas because they will not have the facilities. The Nuffield Review found that colleges, while potentially appearing to be the obvious providers of the vocational entitlement are, from their discussions, concerned:

• About taking on new qualifications without a strong reputation. Many have gone back to offering BTEC awards and are unlikely to want to switch wholesale to the new specialised Diplomas.
• That some of the diploma lines, at each of the levels, may attract very small numbers of learners and will be costly to mount as courses.
• About the very broad nature of each of the 14 Diploma lines and the risk of not being able to meet specific learner or employer needs without offering large numbers of costly specialised units.

These concerns have been shared by college colleagues in the South West region, interviewed as part of the Review of Level 3 Skills. A House of Commons Select Committee on Education enquiry into the 14-19 Diplomas has recently been launched and will look at this issue.

Conclusions

It is important that the Diplomas provide a credible vocational pathway. Concerns about the academic drift of the new specialist diplomas need to be understood and addressed.

(53) Nuffield Review of 14-19 Education and Training, Annual Report 2005-2006, University of Oxford, 2006