14+ REFORM: IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHER EDUCATION IN FE Ken Spours

Institutional and system landscape A divided mixed economy system Divided qualifications system with dominant A Level and GCSE routes which are presently not being ‘diplomarised’ Selective secondary schooling with high stakes examinations at 16 Vocational education 14-19 very much associated with social inclusion Colleges often play a reactive social inclusion role in relation to schools Mixed economy provision - schools getting into applied provision and colleges still teach A Levels Competition been a major focus over last 20 years but beginnings of a more public Is the Government trying to untangle the institutional landscape with the 14-19 and 19+ split?

14+ policy context: New Labour’s double shuffle Dominant neo-liberal and subordinate social democratic themes (Hall 2003), leading to ‘adaptive neo-liberalism’ (Newman 2001) and complex policy process Dominant themes Selective academic track Alternative applied and vocational routes Institutional autonomy Centralism and PSA targets Employer voluntarism Subordinate themes Reducing the academic/vocational divide Institutional collaboration - rhetoric but still not a lot of teeth Devolved governance Strong broad 14-19 entitlement Limited ‘license to practice’

Main policy dimensions 2005-2008 14-19 White Paper & 14-19 Implementation Plan (2005 onwards) - with focus on Diplomas and institutional collaboration Higher Standards, Better Schools for All White Paper - Trust Schools and more sixth forms but joint Local Authority/Local Learning and Skills Council 14-19 planning at the local level (Autumn 2005) Foster Report on Further Education Colleges and FE White Paper - vocational mission for FE, higher quality, more self assessment (2005 and 2006) FE White Paper - Raising Skills, Improving Life Chances (Spring 2006) and Leitch Report on Skills (Autumn 2006) and FE demand-led system with increasing emphasis on 19+ divide Announcement on three new diploma lines in science, languages and humanities (2007) - Gov’t prepared to confront the academic/vocational divide? Raising of participation age to 18 by 2015 (announced in 2007) Pro-Apprenticeship - Government wants to make this a major route, but problems of dilution of provision

14+: the professional context Education profession broadly supports an inclusive and unified 14-19 qualifications system and has done so since early 1990s Professional concern about the content of 14-19 reforms and the way policy is made (e.g. rejection of Tomlinson and politicisation and the amount and pace of reform) Support for the inclusion of three new lines of diplomas (science, languages and humanities) because many hope that it signalled a new approach Colleges anxious to be inclusive institutions and to respond to their ‘local ecologies’ Colleges unsure about their role in relation to Local Authorities and may feel more comfortable on regional and sub-regional landscapes - not sure that Government recognises FE’s role with a more explicit emphasis on schools and apprenticeships Broadly in favour of the Government’s ‘quality agenda’ in FE but want more freedom from central micro-management Concern about the precise meaning of ‘demand-led’ for adult provision and erosion of college planning and relationship with employers in localities.

Curriculum and qualifications reform Changes to the dominant route - GCSE and A Levels - less internally assessed work; A* grade at A Levels, fewer modules at A Level - Will FE colleges continue to offer the ‘academic route’ as it becomes more selective? The Diplomas - a more generic applied/vocational provision? A bigger role for schools at Level 2 but what about future of more sharply vocational BTEC and CGLI provision? Will colleges be able to resituate their specialist vocational provision towards the work-based route and Apprenticeship? Functional skills, PLTS, IAG and the Extended Project - development of generic learning skills. How should this be done and what does it mean for subject specialism? Foundation Learning Tier - who will teach those who reject school environments and have to make up lost ground?

14-19 Partnerships and building collaboration Partnerships - current state of play - largely ‘weakly collaborative’ (Hodgson and Spours 2006a) Most 14-19 Partnerships still at an early stage but some advanced (e.g. Wolverhampton, Kingswood and Cumbria) Joint provision often seen as exciting and innovative, but actively affecting a small proportion of learners and staff Some institutions more heavily involved than others, with focus on vocational provision, minimal impact on general education In 2008 there will be 145 consortia across 97 local authorities delivering 250 diploma lines for 38,000 learners Role of colleges and developing area-wide provision helping schools develop Levels 1 and 2 in applied areas providing progression routes at 15 and 16+ leadership of the ‘local learning ecology’

An area-wide approach to 14-19 provision & progression Importance of raising post-16 participation rates to 100% and providing real choice of provision for all learners post-16 This could involve: Highlighting which learners are not catered for at 16+ transition Real focus on 14-19 progression - every institution should be responsible for the destination of all its 14-19 learners Development of adequate provision at all levels with a focus on Entry, Level 1 and Level 2 Development of accessible and flexible progression routes - considering all qualifications including the new Diplomas Support for transition - guidance, tutorial work, formative feedback and ‘bridges of provision’ for vulnerable learners Developing shared vocational facilities Developing area-wide quality assurance systems

14+ reform: implications for teacher education Importance of a wider knowledge and understanding Develop a more ‘devolved social partnership’ view of FE (Spours et al. 2007) - involving a rejection of marketised or micro-managed models - importance of professional value systems Understand the wider context - need to have ‘policy memory’ (Higham and Yeomans 2007) and ‘system understanding’ (Hodgson and Spours 2006b) Understand the dimensions of ‘local ecologies’ in order to serve the needs of learners Develop the capacities of ‘specialism +’ - subject specialism and ability to develop learning skills - the concept of ‘expansive participation’ and learning (Fuller and Unwin 2003) Recognise the value of strong ‘communities of practice’ and its association with vocational and professional identity (Wenger 1991) Develop collaborative leadership capacities (Briggs et al. 2007) and area-based leadership skills Understanding patterns learner progression from 14+.

References Briggs, A., Hall, I., Mercer, D., Smith, F., Swann, T. and Falzon, C. (2007) Leading partnerships for 14-19 education provision. Centre for Excellence in Leadership, University of Newcastle. (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/ecls/research/project/1918) accessed 8 Nov 2007. Hall, S. (2003) New Labour’s Double Shuffle, Soundings <http://www.lwbooks.co.uk/journals/articles/nov03.html> (accessed 9 July 2007). Higham, J. and Yeomans, D. (2007) Policy memory and policy amnesia in 14-19 education: Learning from the past? in Raffe, D. and Spours, K. (eds) Policy-making and policy learning in 14-19 education. Bedford Way Paper No 26. London: Institute of Education. Hodgson, A. and Spours, K. (2006a) The organisation of 14-19 education and training in England: beyond weakly collaborative arrangements, Journal of Education and Work 19 (4) 325-342. Hodgson, A. and Spours, K. (2006b) An analytical framework for policy engagement: the contested case of 14-19 reform in England, Journal of Education Policy 21 (6) 679-696. Fuller, A. and Unwin, L. (2003) Learning as apprenticeships in the contemporary UK workplace: creating and managing expansive and restrictive participation Journal of Education and Work 16 (4) 407-426. Newman, J. (2001) Modernising governance: New Labour, policy and society. London: Sage. Spours, K., Coffield, F. and Gregson, M. (2007) Mediation, translation and local ecologies: understanding the impact of policy levers on further education colleges, Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 59 (2) 193-211. Wenger, E. (1999) Communities of Practice. Learning, meaning and identity, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press