Anyone who wishes to gain insight into the profound
contradictions underlying current government thinking on the curriculum would
be well advised to read a recent Ofsted best practice report: ‘Apprenticeships
for young people’. ( http://bit.ly/ICSXFr )
The findings of this informative report included the
following:
·
A recognition that ‘young people who had
previous experience of vocational training were more successful in making good
progress with their apprenticeship framework than those starting straight from
school without it.’
·
A strong emphasis on the value of work
experience for school students and commentary on the incompatibility of this
with a GCSE based curriculum. ‘Employers saw successful work experience at
school as an important factor.’
·
A strong recognition of the importance of
employability skills: ‘Most of the providers or employers did not see
pre-entry qualifications such as GCSEs as a deciding factor in choosing
applicants.’
·
A strong case for all school students to have
access to high quality impartial careers guidance.
·
Some examples of schools discouraging
‘bright’ pupils from ending their general education at 16 to pursue
apprenticeships.
Recommendations to government and schools included the
following:
·
‘improve the national
availability of careers guidance on post-16 options so that young people can
make informed and independent choices about their education and training’
·
‘improve the local
coordination of work experience so that willing employers can respond to more
requests for such experience across a wider time-frame’
Now, contrast this with some of the DfE’s policy
announcements in the last 12 months:
·
Accepting the Wolfe report recommendations
that all 14-16 year olds spend no more than 20 per cent of time on vocational
subjects
·
Cutting £200 million from the national
careers budget and replacing a face-to-face Connexions service with a telephone
line and website
·
Removing the requirement for schools to
provide careers education and work experience
·
Giving the National Curriculum Review a remit
that focuses on knowledge and academic subjects rather than employability
skills
·
Drastically cutting the number of vocational
qualifications that count in school league tables
Considering that concerns about Ofsted’s independence or
otherwise from government have been expressed in a number of places, it is
encouraging to see Ofsted draw its own evidence-based conclusions. However, I
wonder how this will inform future policy development:
·
Since potential employers clearly see the
value of vocational courses for pupils aged 14-16 does this report not present
a strong case against their marginalisation in the curriculum?
·
Since this report reflects the desire
consistently expressed by employers for young people to leave school with a
range of employability skills should these not be at the heart of the national
curriculum?
·
Does this report justify the removal of the
requirement on schools to provide careers education or work experience?
·
Does the accountability framework including
the proposed destinations measure value schools which guide pupils onto
apprenticeships rather than towards higher education?
·
Why has the provision of careers advice for
school age pupils been left to individual schools when the case for national
and local coordination is so clear in this report?
I am just asking……….
