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Press release: Vocational education must be a real option even for our most academic young people

Consistent, effective provision for young people between the ages of 14-19 must become a reality; the economy demands it, says Ofsted chief

The Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) will today publish a package of reports on the education of 14-19 year olds to coincide with a speech by Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools, David Bell, at the annual conference of the Association of Colleges (AoC).

The Key Stage 4 Curriculum: Increased Flexibility, Work Related Learning and Young Apprenticeship Programmes; Developing Enterprising Young People and Developing a Coherent 14-19 Phase of Education and Training all point to encouraging developments in the education and training of 14-19 year olds. Equally, the reports also point out that such strategies need to be implemented with commitment, coherence and vigour if they are to be truly successful.

In his speech to the AoC conference in Birmingham, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools, David Bell also backed the recommendations of Sir Andrew Foster’s review of further education (FE) which drew upon many of the findings contained in Further Education Matters: The First Four Years of Ofsted/ALI College Inspections, also published today.

The report highlights that much teaching in FE colleges is good or better, and the majority of colleges are satisfactorily or well managed. It also states that sixth form colleges offer almost uniformly good provision. However there continues to be a small number of poorly managed colleges where inspectors found an ill-defined purpose, inadequate self-assessment arrangements, poor leadership and weak teaching, at the heart of institutional failure.

Mr Bell said:

“I support Sir Andrew’s view that there should be a tougher stance taken against colleges which are slow to improve. However, overall, I am optimistic that FE colleges can rise to the challenge set for them by Sir Andrew. The success of our re-inspections of failing colleges and poorly performing curriculum areas shows how quickly colleges can turn themselves around when they have little alternative.

“Inconsistency between colleges is, in many ways, a more serious problem than inconsistency between schools. For national employers, it can seriously impede their training and development strategies if they cannot rely on the quality of the further education offer to be uniformly good.”

“So, my message to the sector now is this: focus on a clear purpose and expect to be judged on the particular job you have to do. To government, I say: fund FE colleges to do that job, incentivise collaboration and demand that these vital institutions be in the vanguard of economic and skills’ development.”

Today’s reports show that many schools have extended the curriculum at Key Stage 4 to include more vocational learning but inspectors found that in some schools the pace of curriculum change has been slow.

Teaching and learning in new courses offered by schools was found to be good or better in two thirds of lessons seen, but unsatisfactory in nearly a fifth. This is a higher proportion than at Key Stage 4 as a whole. Inspectors recommended better training for teachers so that they can acquire the knowledge needed to teach new courses.

Joint provision at Key Stage 4 between schools remains rare and inspectors found widespread concern about the sustainability of many of the new collaborative ventures. In a few schools surveyed, there is still resistance to the idea that work-related learning is for all and adaptations to the curriculum are mainly aimed at those who might become disengaged from learning.

Mr Bell added:

“Vocational education and enterprise education should be a real option even for those on course for Oxbridge; vocational education is for the student who wants to be an architect as well as the student who shows an interest in becoming a builder.”

Students on adapted programmes of study were very positive about the changes to their curriculum and evidence suggests that attainment and staying on rates are improving.

Inspectors found that young people are provided with good personal support to help them succeed on their courses but are rarely given informed advice to help them make decisions about what to study. Their understanding about qualifications and settings for learning post 16 is limited.

The development of enterprise education, which recently became a statutory curriculum requirement, was looked at closely by inspectors. They concluded that more work needs to be done by policy makers to develop detailed learning objectives as some schools were unclear about what was meant by enterprise education.

Overall findings suggest there is still a lot of work to be done if enterprise education is to be firmly embedded in the curriculum and it is hoped the extra funding supplied by the government in September 2005 will provide new impetus for this.

Mr Bell concluded:

“Some schools we looked at were successfully implementing the enterprise education requirement. These schools have senior management teams who are committed to making sure enterprise education is a central part of the curriculum.”

In relation to area-wide developments, inspectors identified some improvements. However, local authorities and local learning and skills councils have been slow to provide the strong and persuasive leadership needed to move forward developments in 14 to 19 education.

Creating Opportunity for Young People, another report published today evaluates, the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) grant scheme for National Voluntary Youth Organisations. The government invested £18 million in grants to 87 organisations has been effective in helping to raise standards of achievement and improve the quality of practice of youth work. National Voluntary Youth Organisation programmes engaged many young people, aged 13-19 years and they made good progress in their personal and social development.

Notes For Editors

1.The following reports are available on the Ofsted website.

• Developing a Coherent 14-19 Phase of Education and Training
• The Key Stage 4 Curriculum: Increased Flexibility, Work Related Learning and Young Apprenticeship Programmes
• Developing Enterprising Young People
• Further Education: The First Ofsted Cycle
• Creating Opportunity for Young People. The DfES’s grant for National Voluntary Youth Organisations 2002-2005

2. Ofsted is a non-ministerial government department established under the Education (Schools) Act 1992 to take responsibility for the inspection of all schools in England. Its role also includes the inspection of further education, local authority children’s services, teacher training institutions and some independent schools. During 2001, Ofsted became responsible for inspecting all 16-19 education and for the regulation of early years childcare, including childminders.

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