Appendix Seven

Report to the Cabinet of Hampshire County Council

14-19 Education in Hampshire

30 October 2006

John Clarke

1 Summary

1.1 This paper summarises the key issues relating to the implementation of 14-19 as a single phase of education in Hampshire. These issues are explored in greater depth in Appendix 1, "The future of 14-19 education and training in Hampshire."

1.2 No decisions are required by Cabinet at this stage. The purpose is to draw to Members' attention the fundamental shift which is about to take place.

1.3 Developing educational opportunity for 14-19 year olds supports the corporate strategy to maximise wellbeing by providing appropriate and engaging routes through Key Stage four (KS4) and into post-16 education and training for all learners in Hampshire. Successful progression through KS4 and into further education and training helps students to enjoy and achieve in school and supports young people in making a positive contribution and achieving life-long economic wellbeing in accordance with The Children Act.

2 The aims for the 14-19 phase of education

2.1 Establishing 14-19 as a single phase which provides all young people with an appropriate and engaging course of study and encourages them to remain in education or employment with training until 19 has been the underpinning vision of successive government reports and White Papers since 2001. The ambitious target of 90% post-16 participation with at least 72% of students achieving level 2 (5+A*-C equivalent qualifications) by 19 is fundamental to the drive to improve the personal skills and employability of the nation. Improvements are evident when the UK performance is compared with that of many other countries but there remains a gap to be bridged to match the performance of the most successful nations.

2.2 The vision goes beyond improving educational achievement. The success of such a strategy not only addresses issues of educational success and economic wellbeing through creating a more highly skilled and flexible workforce. It is also focussed on developing real choice and variety in the routes students can take 14-19. If successful, such a strategy has the potential to reduce disaffection and disengagement with traditional routes to success in school so that more young people are able to make a positive contribution to society. " ... a route out of poverty and into better opportunities." (Ruth Kelly, 14-19 Implementation Plan, December 2005). Further, if the strategy works, it should go a long way towards bringing parity of esteem between `applied' pathways and more `academic' ones.

3 Funding

3.1 The effective delivery of the 14-19 vision, as set out in the appendix, relies on a number of fundamental shifts in the current organisation of this phase of education and training.

3.2 Schools budgets are comprised of an age weighted pupil unit (AWPU) amount for each student on roll in addition to some core, standards and capital funding. Funding is through the local authority. Post-16 is funded by the course that is being delivered (these are differently weighted) and by the number of students who are retained and what they achieve. Funding is through the local Learning and Skills Council (LSC). The way in which additional funding through the local authority, such as standards funds, is allocated is decided in consultation with the Schools Forum which involves local authority members. There is no similar body with which the LSC is required to consult over the distribution of any such discretionary funding which they receive directly from the DfES.

3.3 Aligning these two funding mechanisms has foxed successive governments and is a significant bone of contention since colleges consider that they are funded far less generously than schools and have none of the flexibilities. School funding must also, however, deliver a wide range of statutory services for students which cannot be absorbed within funding calculated by course. The 14-19 Technical Sub-Group of the DfES School Funding Implementation Group (SFIG) is currently grappling with this anomaly.

4 Implications for the workforce

4.1 The 14-19 Implementation Plan outlines a national entitlement for all students to access all fourteen Specialised Diplomas, a new range of qualifications focussed on fourteen vocational areas and available at three different levels. These are in addition to the full range of GCSE subjects and functional English, mathematics and ICT by 2013.

4.2 The expectation is that by 2015, 40% of any cohort of 14-16 year olds will be pursuing one of the diplomas. If this changed curriculum is to be delivered by the current workforce in schools, considerable retraining will be required. Officers from the Local Authority and the LSC have a meeting scheduled with members of Hampshire Conditions of Service Working Party (COSWP) to begin discussing these implications. A short term standards fund grant from central government is being used by Hampshire County Council to provide advisory support for schools as they prepare for these changes.

5 Working together: schools and colleges

5.1 The delivery of the 14-19 entitlement requires institutions to work together across local areas. No single institution, even a large FE college, will be able to deliver all qualifications at all levels. Schools will need to plan in partnership with their neighbouring schools and colleges if the full range of diplomas and GCSEs/A levels are to be accessible to all students within reasonable travelling distances. This is a major challenge and demands leadership from the Local Authority as well as from college principals and school headteachers.

5.2 Some very good Increased Flexibility Partnerships already existed in Hampshire and a 14-19 Pathfinder in two areas of the county enjoyed some success, particularly in the north east of the county. Considerable work has been undertaken since January 2006 in convening meetings, sometimes jointly facilitated by the Local Authority and the LSC, to persuade secondary schools and post-16 providers to organise themselves into nine coherent consortia.

5.3 Previous central government policy, such as the establishment of Grant Maintained or Foundation schools, coupled with league tables and falling school rolls has led to an atmosphere of competition in some areas which it is hard for institutions to put aside. Concerted effort by both Local Authority and LSC officers continues to be necessary to engage all schools, colleges and training providers. Despite the clear drivers for collaborative working, some difficulties remain unresolved, exacerbated by the need for schools, and increasingly colleges, to engage with two separate planning and funding bodies.

5.4 The potential for piloting arrangements where 14-19 in a local area could be planned and funded by one body is mentioned in the 14-19 Implementation Plan and, in seeking a strategic way forward for post-16 provision in Andover, such innovative arrangements were considered. Regrettably, the options review commissioned by the LSC considered the financial and legal complexities of such a local solution to be a barrier to its further exploration.

6 Working together: the Local Authority, Connexions and the Learning and Skills Council

6.1 The Local Authority responded to the need to develop good working arrangements between itself, the local LSC and Connexions on this particular agenda by establishing a working party to agree and publish a joint strategy for 14-19 in February 2004, and setting up an Executive body of chief officers from all three organisations to direct strategy across the county.

6.2 In February 2005 Hampshire County Council and the LSC published, "A Strategy for Developing 14-19 education and training as a single phase." This was the first such jointly written strategy in the country and it drew on the work of the National Working Group on 14-19 Reform chaired by Sir Mike Tomlinson. Actions in accordance with the plan which accompanied this document placed Hampshire in a strong position to respond to the 14-19 Implementation Plan published by the DfES in December 2005.

6.3 However, securing a co-ordinated response to this rapidly moving agenda can be challenging when timescales are short. A recent joint Local Authority/LSC communication which attempted to give a coherent message to providers about aligning funding streams and responding to the changing agenda, was written by officers of Hampshire County Council but had to involve lengthy consultations with LSC colleagues to ensure agreement on wording and to seek permission to communicate with colleges, training providers and other LSC funded bodies.

6.4 The vital role of Connexions in providing information advice and guidance and in supporting young people to make appropriate choices and remain in education has been an important aspect of 14-19 development. In 2008 the budget for this service transfers to the Local Authority and work is about to start to produce a service specification for an integrated youth support service. Such a service will provide a greater opportunity for coherence in planning and delivery for this complex phase.

6.5 Meanwhile, the LSC in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight covers four local authority areas (Hampshire, Portsmouth, Southampton and the Isle of Wight) and even within the county area itself, it is structured into four separate partnership areas which are not contiguous with those of the Children's Services areas, those proposed by the Primary Care Trust, or with district councils.

6.6 Joint working has progressed better in Hampshire than in many areas of the country despite, rather than because of, national policy on 14-19. The County Council has responsibility for outcomes up to 19 and the 14-19 Implementation Plan makes clear that the Local Authority is expected to give overall direction across the whole of the 14-19 phase but the County Council is only able to fund, capital and revenue, 14-16 while the LSC has that responsibility for 16-19. This separation is an awkward anomaly particularly at a time when the County Council is seeking greater public accountability for its operations and the LSC is not subject to any such local accountability.

7 Legal implications

7.1 None at this stage

8 Financial implications

8.1 There are no financial implications arising directly from this report.

9 Personnel implications

9.1 Potential personnel implications for staff working in schools and colleges are discussed within the body of the report.

10 Impact Assessment

10.1 Race and equality impact assessment has been considered in the development of this report and no adverse impact has been identified. Impacts should be positive, allowing a larger number of students, currently disadvantaged and disenfranchised, to take advantage of opportunities more suited to their needs and interests.

11 Crime reduction issues

11.1 The effective implementation of a national 14-19 strategy is intended to have a positive impact on crime prevention through achieving the target of 90% of seventeen year olds remaining in education and training and acquiring qualifications which support economic wellbeing.

12 Views of local councillors

12.1 The views of local County Councillors have not been sought.

Recommendations

That Cabinet consider the key issues relating to the future direction of education and training for 14-19 year olds in Hampshire and the likely implications for the County Council.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background documents

The following documents discuss facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and have been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB: the list excludes

1. Published works

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

None