The new 14-19 agenda
As schools gear up for the arrival of the vocational diploma Julie Nightingale looks at the changing face of 14-19 education
Heads and teachers often complain that the big problem with education change is not the nature of it but the amount: wave after wave of reform has come schools’ way in the last decade.
The plethora of initiatives confronting schools was criticised in the Nuffield Report, a three-year review of 14-19 education being undertaken by Oxford University, UCAS and other higher education institutions.
It found, among other things, too much ‘policy busyness’ affecting 14-19 education. The cumulative effect of national targets, new qualifications, short-term funding and new regulations, it said, “is unlikely to produce significant improvements to the education and training system as a whole.”
The impact of “Piecemeal policy initiatives,” was not being assessed before new ones were introduced, it added.
It also criticised the state of competition which exists between schools and colleges, rather than the collaboration required to improve 14-19 education and training opportunities.
Steve Sinnott, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers says the Nuffield Report is right to identify ‘policy busyness’ as obscuring the Government’s achievements in education.
“There still seems to be little understanding of the limits to schools’ capacity to absorb change or of the need to foster the teaching profession’s ownership of initiatives,” he says. “There remain knotty issues in 14-19 education which need tackling.”
The 14-19 diploma
The report comes as schools in England are starting to gear up to deliver the next wave of reform - the 14-19 vocational diploma which will be taught from 2008.
Students opting for the vocational diploma at 14 will be able to choose between work-related specialisms but must also pass GCSE maths and English with a C or above.
Alongside the diploma, GCSEs and A-levels will stay. Pupils who get five GCSEs will automatically get a general diploma, provided they also achieve a C in maths and English.
The five diploma types recently announced by the QCA cover construction and the built environment, IT, creative and media, engineering and health and social care.
They were selected in consultation with sector skills councils - employer training bodies.
“After meeting with the SSCs we chose the five diplomas most ready to deliver for first teaching in 2008,” said a QCA spokesman.
The diploma is intended to broaden the opportunities for children with whom - for a variety of reasons - the traditionally academic style of education does not strike a chord.
It has been widely welcomed but many felt the Government should have gone further and adopted a diploma-style approach to all 14-19 qualifications, as recommended by the 14-19 review led by Sir Mike Tomlinson. It would have meant incorporating A-levels into a qualification along the lines of the International Baccalaureate used in other countries and some UK schools (see separate feature) but the then Education Secretary, Ruth Kelly, rejected the idea.
John Dunford, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders says the wider-ranging diploma would have been a better option but he is optimistic that it may yet be revived when 14-19 options are reviewed again in 2008.
The International Baccalaureate
The IB is being increasingly touted as the alternative to A-levels for high-achieving schools and students.
It is accredited by the International Baccalaureate Organisation which works with almost 2,000 schools around the world. Since 2000, the number of UK schools offering the IB more than doubled from 33 to 72 in 2005.
Over two years, students follow six academic subjects - including at least one language and one science. At least three and not more than four are taken at higher level, which demands indepth study, while the rest are taken at standard level, which gives students a broader knowledge of the subject area.
There are three additional strands: theory of knowledge, which develops critical thinking skills; creativity, action, service (CAS), which incorporates voluntary work, sport and other extra-curricular activities and is designed to promote good citizenship; and an extended essay on a topic chosen by the student.
Grades run from one to a top mark of seven - believed to be harder to achieve than an A-level grade A (only a tiny percentage of students achieve sevens in all subjects worldwide).
A form of baccalaureate will be on offer to all schools in Wales from September 2007. The Welch Bac, which has already been piloted, features modules in subjects including modern languages, ICT and maths plus credits for community work and work experience. It will be offered at intermediate and advanced levels with an advanced being equivalent to an A grade at A-level.
“We are leading the way to a new style of learning, and I believe one that will be the envy, if it's not already the envy, of learning cultures throughout the UK," said Jane Davidson, Minister for Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills in Wales.
There is growing interest in the IB elsewhere in the UK. Partly because of difficulties universities experience in differentiating between the increasing numbers of students who achieve top A-level grades - the A-level pass rate rose for the 24th year running in 2006 and almost a quarter of candidates achieved an A-grade - more and more schools are now examining whether taking the wider-ranging IB could give their students that crucial advantage.
International Baccalaureate: www.ibo.org Diploma information: www.qca.org.uk/17046.html