LS16

Proposed Learning and Skills (Wales) Measure 2008

Coleg Gwent

(Saesneg yn unig)

1. Coleg Gwent welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Welsh Assembly Government’s (WAG) proposed Learning and Skills Measure 2008.

2. Serving the community formally known as greater Gwent, the College is the largest in Wales and one of the largest in the UK. With nearly 1,700 staff and approximately 34,000 learners, the College’s total budget represents over 15% of the total FE sector budget in Wales, making it best placed to make a difference in the region and in Wales.

The College is focusing on three key strategic goals:

• To ensure learners attain their qualifications and acquire valuable and practical learning.
• To strive for excellence in all the College does and to promote its reputation.
• To ensure the College maintains sound financial health.

Operating from six main campuses, City of Newport, Crosskeys, Ebbw Vale, Pontypool, The Hill Education & Conference Centre and Usk, as well as two outreach Learn IT Centres in Cwmbran and Monmouth, the College provides a wide range of learning and training. The College also works in partnership with the five local authorities of Gwent to deliver adult education through franchise agreements. 

Coleg Gwent response to Proposals: April 2008

3. Coleg Gwent submitted a detailed response to the proposals for a Learning and Skills (Wales) Measure in April 2008. We supported the principles behind the measure, placing a duty on LEAs, schools and colleges to collaborate.

Our response follows the sequence of questions in the document and has taken the fforwm response to the consultation into account, which the College fully supports.

Key Questions

(i) Is there a need for legislation to reorganise 14-19 provision?

4. Coleg Gwent believes that there is a need for legislation to reorganise 14-19 provision.  Even a College the size of Coleg Gwent is unable to offer a complete range of academic and vocational options to suit the needs of learners aged 14 and 19 in all the communities served by our campuses.  The current lack of integrated planning between LEA’s, schools and the College across some of Gwent means that some 16-19 learners do not have a wide choice of options.

5. There is good practice between our campuses and neighbouring schools in planning and providing vocational options at 14.  However there is still a perception that these options are for learners less likely to succeed at GCSE.

There is less good practice at 16-19 planning because of real and perceived competition between some of our campuses and schools and the impact of the NPFS which promotes rigorous competition for 16-18 year olds (against a context of declining pupil numbers)

A measure legislating to this type of planning will legitimise and mainstream vocational options within 14-19 Learning Pathways and would further the likelihood of genuine impartial advice and guidance being available to pupils in years 10 and 11.

(ii) Does the proposed Measure achieve the policy objective or could changes be made without legislating?

6. Our view is that the policy objective can only be achieved by legislation.

(iii) What are the views of stakeholders who will have to work with the new arrangements?

7. We have identified the stakeholders as:

• Learners
• Colleges
• Local Authorities
• Schools
• Employers

Learners - It is not possible to represent comprehensive views of learners but our view would be that learners deserve the widest choice of options and that their choice should not be limited by providers failing to work together.

Colleges - As already stated Coleg Gwent, whilst recognising the challenge of the measure, welcomes it.  Our detailed comments are as follows and follow the fforwm comments in this section

8. If the measure significantly increases the range of options for 14-19 learners it could encourage some learners to remain in learning until they are 18 and could re-engage 14 year olds turned off by the current academic school curriculum.

9. Coleg Gwent welcomes the key purpose of the Measure to create a right for learners aged 14-19 to elect to follow a course of study from a local area curriculum, known as an 'Options Menu’. A minimum number of academic and vocational courses must be included in the local curriculum for 14-16 year olds and for 16-18 year olds. Also welcome is the duty on LEAs to form local curricula for learners aged 14-16 and on the Welsh Ministers for learners aged 16-19 containing a range of options across the specified learning domains.

10. The five learning domains - mathematics, science and technology; business, administration and law; services for people; arts, media, culture and languages; humanities, social sciences and preparation for life and work - should provide a sufficiently broad curriculum opportunity for young people.  However the domains must contain balanced vocational and academic provision.

11. The Measure should provide strong encouragement for institutions to work together.  The NPFS, however, does not support and at present, discourages partnerships.  There needs to be a clear timetable for introducing the Measure.

12. Coleg Gwent supports the extension of duties on LEAs and on Welsh Ministers to ensure that there is an entitlement to a range of academic and vocational options.  The proposal to give learners an entitlement to a minimum number of courses up to level 5,  means that the needs of learners must take precedence over the needs of the institution in respect of the curriculum offer.

13. The proposal in the Measure to award a point’s score to courses (sections 6 and 10) to facilitate the setting of maxima for learner entitlement is helpful. The points system will need to be fair and transparent.

14. Planning for 14-16 provision should be the result of local joint planning and contracting between partners. Vocational provision must involve cooperation between schools and FE colleges. It would not be an effective use of resources if vocational courses were duplicated at local level.  Where applied vocational education is delivered it must be properly supported by specialist facilities and appropriately skilled staff.

15. We note that schools and colleges will be under a duty to assist the LEA in the planning of the local curriculum and to determine cooperation as an option in delivering the entitlement to learning.  For colleges, this 'duty’ must be reflected in the articles of governance of colleges.  The articles of governance will need to be amended accordingly. There should also be a duty on LEAs to work jointly with colleges.  There should also be an appropriate obligation placed on schools governing bodies to ensure co-operation.

16. We recognise that a duty will need to be placed on governing bodies of the College to consider whether to cooperate.

17. The clarifications setting out the grounds by which a headteacher may decide on or remove entitlement for a pupil aged 14 and how a headteacher and principal may decide on or remove entitlement for a student aged 16 are helpful. The grounds for deciding on entitlement or the removal of entitlement will often be a matter of judgement. General guidance should be issued although the college would emphasize that matters such as these will often depend on the judgment of appropriate local staff.

18. The wording in the proposed Measure for joint working (Clauses 12 and 13 and 29 and 30) is helpful in clarifying the definition of cooperation by including more formal collaboration arrangements.

19. Local Authorities - As referred to in 5) our experience working with 5 local authorities is very positive at 14-16 as there is mutual benefit.  16-19 is more variable and depends on the relationship between the local campus, schools and the LEA.  Where there is tertiary provision there is good 16-19 planning however where there is competition for 16-18 learners little planning occurs.

20. Schools - See comments on Local Authorities.

21. Employers - Recent conversations with local employers reveal very clear views on skills they wish to see in leavers from schools, colleges and universities.  They want future employees with good technical skills but also high level generic skills including literacy, numeracy and interpersonal skills.  We are confident employees would support a measure that raised these skills.  They do not understand why schools, colleges and LEAs are not already planning to maximise these skills cost effectively.

(iv) What might be the barriers to delivering the policy agenda and does the proposed Measure take account of them?

22. In its response to the April 2008 proposals, the College highlighted the following barriers:

• NPFS system that rewards successful competition for 16-18 year old learners;
• Colleges adopting a more competitive strategy for recruitment of 16-18 students;
• Schools within a LEA that are able to not follow the authority’s strategy and guidelines on collaboration with colleges;
• Attitudes of individual head teachers and school governors who see colleges as competitors rather than partners; and who wish to preserve their sixth forms at all costs because they believe it establishes the reputation of the school.
• Attitudes of some schools who focus exclusively on the A level curriculum in their sixth form and do not feel it necessary to consider their whole school population.

Possible solutions include:

• Make use of the forthcoming "Transformation” strategy and local Evidence Based Reviews to rationalise and reconfigure duplicate and inefficient provision in schools and colleges.
• Exploring the Estyn definitions of:
• Collaboration and co-ordination
• Confederation;

Adopting possible future models for more collaborative workings including;

• Requiring LEAs, colleges and schools to include strategies and actions with outcomes for collaboration and co-ordination in strategic and business plans;
• Including reporting on collaboration and co-ordination in KQ3 of the Estyn inspection framework;
• Requiring colleges, schools and LEAS to jointly plan and sign off the annual 14-19 Network Development Plan;
• Allocating funding to institutions in such a way to support and encourage collaborative working.

23. Conclusion

• Coleg Gwent welcomes the proposed Measure as it focuses on the curriculum entitlement of 14-19 years olds and the importance of widening opportunities.