1. 14+ REFORM: IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHER EDUCATION IN FE Ken Spours

2. 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 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 and 19+ split?

3. 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 entitlement
Limited ‘license to practice’

4. Main policy dimensions 2005-2008
14-19 White Paper & 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 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

5. 14+: the professional context
Education profession broadly supports an inclusive and unified qualifications system and has done so since early 1990s
Professional concern about the content of 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.

6. 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?

7. 14-19 Partnerships and building collaboration
Partnerships - current state of play - largely ‘weakly collaborative’ (Hodgson and Spours 2006a)
Most 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’

8. 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 progression - every institution should be responsible for the destination of all its 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

9. 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+.

10. References
Briggs, A., Hall, I., Mercer, D., Smith, F., Swann, T. and Falzon, C. (2007) Leading partnerships for education provision. Centre for Excellence in Leadership, University of Newcastle. ( accessed 8 Nov 2007.
Hall, S. (2003) New Labour’s Double Shuffle, Soundings < (accessed 9 July 2007).
Higham, J. and Yeomans, D. (2007) Policy memory and policy amnesia in education: Learning from the past? in Raffe, D. and Spours, K. (eds) Policy-making and policy learning in education. Bedford Way Paper No 26. London: Institute of Education.
Hodgson, A. and Spours, K. (2006a) The organisation of education and training in England: beyond weakly collaborative arrangements, Journal of Education and Work 19 (4)
Hodgson, A. and Spours, K. (2006b) An analytical framework for policy engagement: the contested case of reform in England, Journal of Education Policy 21 (6)
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)
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)
Wenger, E. (1999) Communities of Practice. Learning, meaning and identity, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press