1. Securing a better future for all at 16 and beyond East of England Regional Seminar December 2014 Dissemination event

2. FE & Skills Annual lecture themes – September 2014  accountability  the right provision for all aged 16-19  local solutions  Local leadership

3. HMCI Annual Report 2013/14 Further education and skills  Local accountability for tracking and ensuring that all young people meet their statutory requirement to participate in education or training remains unreliable  There is no effective national skills strategy or local accountability for the range of post-16 provision  The lamentable quality of much careers guidance is an additional obstacle

4. Tracking – immediate considerations arising from survey Well established and well-recognised young people’s characteristics but:  tendency to predetermine provision around ‘known vulnerabilities’  mental health - concern  plight of 18-plus – ‘new NEET’  academically able – able middle – dropping out

5. Tracking and monitoring (1)  Welcome recent positive ETE trend for 16- and 17-year-olds (RPA)  Increasing 18-plus  ‘not knowns’ – still struggling  LAs that retained core data services better placed  Data are people – safeguarding!  Hugely contradictory data at local level – confusion regarding terminology  Poor transcription of figures led to wildly inaccurate records

6. Tracking and monitoring (2)  Plans to expand ULN – instances seen of multiple ULNs for same individual  Not enough schools, academies and providers meeting requirements to inform the local authority in a timely manner when a young person leaves before completing  Collective responsibility - too few instances !  Examples of effective integrated coherent teams and good personalised support for vulnerable

7. Provision 14–19 (1)  Emerging educational landscape – disparate, fragmented, coherent ?  Difficult to identify the combined curriculum offer for all in each of the areas visited  A few excellent examples, but little systematic collaboration to reduce duplication and unnecessary competition.  Competition frustrating strategies to meet needs of all

8. Provision 14–19 (2)  No clear structures or lines of accountability to ensure that the range of provision locally available serve all young learners well  No mechanisms to check the local offer prepares young people for career pathways that were in line with the needs of employers  IAG – educating school staff about vocational routes ‘a battle not easily won’  Few school managers feel they have sufficient capacity to ensure that they can engage with the complexity of 14–19 progression routes

9. Leadership and strategy (1)  Elements of successful planning in all areas but strategic planning disparate and fragmented  National strategies not aligned with local delivery ‘Local solutions to local problems’  To repeat -‘Little systematic collaboration among providers to reduce duplication and unnecessary competition’  Knowledge of gaps does not inform actions  LAs looking again and in different ways of how to support IAG -the most successful are …  A intervention role for the LA – delivering or enabling - LA leadership e.g. peer review, conducting ‘inspection’

10. Leadership and strategy (2)  Alternative strategic entities are emerging -some evidently productive– more fit for purpose than LA ?  Employer/LEP engagement varies – too few good instances  Link between JCP and LAs to ensure continuity of support and guidance variable  Small providers competing with nationals to meet contract requirements – VCS providers closest to learners locked out?

11. Ofsted calling for (1)  A reliable system for tracking a young person’s educational progress and participation throughout their learning career  Local authorities – legal powers of intervention  Schools, providers, local authorities and government agencies mandated to share information about learners’ backgrounds  Young people at the heart of all planning and delivery of 14-19 provision  Employers to take more responsibility for leading vocational education and training for young people

12. Ofsted calling for (2)  Providers to work with employers to ensure that what they provide leads to their learners securing employment  Schools to collaborate with other providers and careers guidance professionals to ensure that every young person has access to impartial careers guidance

13. Characteristics of high-quality provision (1) The characteristics of provision designed to engage and sustain young people in education and training:  shared local understanding and collective action to prevent NEET  detailed and up-to-date knowledge of communities  provision sufficient and suitable to meet the needs of all  thorough and scrupulous data collection and interrogation  area-wide mapping of provision to meet needs and prospectuses  engagement of responsive providers including voluntary and community  challenging persistent pockets of NEET and prevention  good referral processes and subsequent targeted 'services around the young person'

14. Characteristics of high-quality provision (2)  post-16 strategy as part of an integrated pathway across children’s services  local authorities undertaking school 14-19 reviews  managing cross-border links with other local authorities to track young people