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Building the Foundations of A LIFELONG LEARNING SOCIETY

SECTION 4: MANAGING SUPPLY AND DEMANDAND FUNDING RESPONSIBILITIES

4.1 In developing the lifelong learning strategy, the Executive's watchwords were responsiveness, relevance, quality and coherence. We will adopt these watchwords in developing a joint schools/FE strategy and implementation plan.

4.2 Pupils' curriculum needs are the responsibility of the relevant education authority (and school). Further education colleges - as autonomous bodies - determine the particular courses they wish to offer and the students (including school pupils) they accept on to these courses. It is within this context that further education colleges currently play a role in broadening school pupil choice in a school-based curriculum.

Meeting Pupil Expectations

4.3 A joint schools/FE strategy and implementation will need to address the extent to which school pupils should expect their desire for a college place to be realised, at least to the same extent that students are able, within their school, to exercise a right to study subjects of their choice.

4.4 The Partnership Agreement committed the Executive to "enable 14-16 year olds to develop vocational skills and improve their employment prospects by allowing them to undertake courses in further education colleges as part of the school-based curriculum". The strategy will need to set out the extent to which pupils in this particular age group (and perhaps older pupils) should have a legitimate expectation to undertake a further education course to develop vocational skills if they so choose. That said, it is worth noting that giving school pupils immediate and automatic access to a college course of their choice would be a significant departure from practice in the further education sector. No other category of further education student has at present an absolute entitlement to a college place.

Q10. Should responsibility for pupils' curriculum remain entirely with the relevant education authority (and school)?

Q11. Should further education colleges remain entirely responsible for the courses offered to school pupils and the pupils they accept on to them?

Q12. To what extent should school pupils generally expect their desire for experience of college be realised?

Q13. Given the Executive's Partnership Agreement commitment, to what extent should 14-16 year-old pupils expect to undertake a further education course to develop vocational skills if they so choose?

Q14. Should any special arrangements be extended to older school pupils?

Planning College Provision for School Pupils

4.5 There is no single model for the planning of further education college provision for school pupils. Colleges interact differently with both local schools and education authorities. Most schools are happy to consider college initiatives for collaborative work. Effective dialogue takes place between college and schools to ensure that college provision for school pupils meets the needs of these pupils. Some colleges have formal written agreements with local schools. Some councils play a very pro-active role. Others have no policy of central direction or planning of provision for its pupils, although they are happy for colleges to work with their local schools.

4.6 Various groups have been set up within colleges in order to plan and monitor provision for school pupils. Colleges have a member of staff whose responsibility includes (or is wholly made up of) schools' liaison. These officers, or co-ordinators, generally lead developments and communicate with counterparts in school who are at the level of Deputy Headteacher or Principal Teacher of Guidance. Planning for programmes which start in June or August each year starts as early as the previous November and as late as Easter.

4.7 Planning activities include meetings of schools' liaison co-ordinators with school colleagues; parents' evenings; taster days; distribution of custom prospectuses and brochures.

4.8 A key message from the school/college conference was that Careers Scotland should be fully involved in assisting pupils in assessing their curriculum choices.

Q15. How can we best make clear that we expect all schools to have links with colleges and ensure that colleges make appropriate provision for school pupils?

Q16. How should colleges engage with the independent school sector (and what are the possible implications of this for public funds)?

Q17. How should the potential role that further education colleges may play in a pupil's curriculum choices best be identified? What role should Careers Scotland play in this process?

Q18. How should the suitability of pupils for college be assessed?

Personal Learning Plans

4.9 In September 2003 the Scottish Executive consulted on issues about assessment in schools. ¹⁰ The consultation paper reported on the considerable progress that has made on the development and management of Personal Learning Plans, the aim of which is to improve the quality of information about the progress and achievements of individual pupils as they move through school, particularly at points of transition.

4.10 In its lifelong learning strategy, Life Through Learning; Learning Through Life the Executive articulated its expectation that learning providers should deliver learning in ways that helps learners make transitions between learning opportunities. In particular it explained that the Executive would "pilot a Personal Lifelong Learning Plan with school leavers in 2004 to record their achievements and plan future learning. The Plan would not be based solely on academic qualifications, but could also help people record and plan on-the-job learning and experience with a view to acting as a CV. The Plan would link with current developments on Personal Learning Plans for all schoolchildren and also provide signposts to, for example, learndirect scotland and Careers Scotland, to help individuals identify what learning they need and where they can do it".

Q19. Can Personal Learning Plans be a useful vehicle to support school pupils who make use of learning opportunities in colleges? If so, should they be mandatory for such pupils?

Labour Market Needs

4.11 There was also a call at the school/college conference that courses undertaken by school pupils in college should - as far as is consistent with a student-orientated approach to learning - be responsive to the needs of the labour market, particularly with a view to the longer term.

4.12 The lifelong learning strategy places its emphasis on improving the responsiveness of providers to demand from learners and employers, coupled with improving the ability of learners and employers to make informed choices, with the help of bodies such as Futureskills Scotland. The strategy sits alongside the Executive's strategy for enterprise A Smart, Successful Scotland: Ambitions for the Enterprise Networks, ¹¹ published in January 2001.

4.13 Futureskills Scotland is part of Scottish Enterprise and Highlands & Islands Enterprise. Its aims are to:

• analyse the Scottish labour market to inform policy making;
• improve the availability, quality and consistency of labour market information and intelligence across Scotland; and
• work closely with Careers Scotland to provide the organisation and its clients (including further education colleges) with labour market information.

4.14 Further education colleges and Local Economic Fora also play an important collaborative role in designing measures to address gaps, overlap and duplication in the provision of business support services.

Q20. What further measures, if any, are required to consider labour market needs when planning school/college collaboration, and what role could the Enterprise Networks play in this process?

Delivery

4.15 We recognise that links between colleges and schools will be different, dependent on local circumstances. For example, we would not expect the same level of collaboration between the city centre colleges in Glasgow and a college in a rural area, which is more likely to be relied upon as a community-wide resource.

4.16 It may be more appropriate for further education to be delivered by college staff in schools rather on college grounds. Some participants at the conference also suggested that colleges or Learning Teaching Scotland should develop distance learning materials to support the further education needs of pupils in rural schools.

Q21. How should the further education needs of pupils in less geographically accessible areas be met when it is not practicable for pupils to attend college?

4.17 In its response to the Enterprise in Education Review Group's report, ¹² published in March 2003, the Executive said that "All primary, secondary and special schools must develop partnership agreements with local businesses and other appropriate organizations to deliver the enterprise in education agenda." While these agreements would naturally cover vocational education, an option would be to build into these agreements the wider links between schools and further education colleges.

4.18 We do not intend to be overly prescriptive about how supply and demand should be managed, though we do want to ensure quality and that the process produces positive outcomes. We therefore consider that it would be useful for the review to consider best practice that could be disseminated to the school and further education sectors.

4.19 As well as considering issues of supply and demand, some syndicate groups urged the review group to consider how enrolments in college are managed to ensure that pupils obtain maximum personal value from the experience and that the quality of the experience is a positive one.

Q22. How should education authorities, schools and colleges work together to plan further education provision in appropriate colleges (or schools) for school pupils?

Q23. Which body should assume lead responsibility for preparing any local strategies?

Q24. In partnership with which bodies should local strategies be developed?

Q25. Should partnership agreements to deliver the Enterprise in Education agenda be adapted to cover the full spectrum of school/college collaboration?

Q26. How should issues of over-demand for courses be managed?

Q27. How should pupils' on-going engagement with further education be monitored and evaluated?

Duties of Incorporated Further Education Colleges and the Scottish Further Education Funding Council (SFEFC)

4.20 The boards of management of incorporated further education colleges are under a duty to ensure that "their college provides (either by itself or by arrangement with any other person) suitable and efficient further education to students of the college", having regard to "the provision of education in the area in which the college is situated and to the likely needs of persons desirous of becoming students" - section 12(1) of the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 1992 refers. (This duty does not mean that there is a right of admission- or 'entitlement' - for those seeking a college place, whatever their age or whatever the course.)

4.21 The Scottish Further Education Funding Council shares a duty with Scottish Ministers to "secure adequate and efficient provision of further education in Scotland" - section 1(3) of the 1992 Act ¹³ refers

4.22 In both instances further education is defined, in part, with reference to 'persons over school age' - section 1(3) of the 1992 Act refers.

Q28. Should there be some form of statutory duty on incorporated colleges and education authorities to encourage school/college collaboration?

Q29. Similarly, if SFEFC (or any successor body) ¹⁴ remains the principal source of funding for school enrolments (see below) should this be incorporated into its duties?

Funding Responsibilities

4.23 For wholly understandable reasons, the issue of funding was at the forefront of the minds of many participants at the school/college conference. The clear message from the event was that the joint FE/schools strategy needs to address the inconsistency of current local funding arrangements. The consensus which emerged was that greater transparency was required, and clear and stable lines of responsibility have to be established and sign-posted. Adequate resources also need to be made available.

4.24 Scotland's further education colleges receive most of their funding for school enrolments from SFEFC. However, as the conference discussed, there are other sources of funding for colleges, including the European Social Fund (though these funds are declining) and education authorities. For the purposes of funding, SFEFC treat school enrolments like any other enrolment.

SFEFC Funding

4.25 All bar two of Scotland's 46 further education colleges ¹⁵ receive core-funding from SFEFC calculated according to the 'Activity Measurement Method'. Of the total core allocation in 2003/04 of 326.7m, 254.5m (that is 77.9%) was distributed in this way. Student activity is expressed in terms of student units of measurement (SUMs). A SUM equates to a notional 40 hours of student study time, and relates directly to a one credit Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) unit. It is weighted according to the resource needs of particular subjects. Given that there are additional costs associated with operating, what are often small colleges, in remote and island areas in Scotland a 'remoteness element' is also paid. Additionally there is a premium paid for students domiciled within the 20% most deprived postcode areas in Scotland in order to support social inclusion.

4.26 This means that further education colleges are only reimbursed for the work they undertake with school pupils if such engagement is considered to be an 'enrolment'. The review will have to consider whether this funding mechanism inadvertently skews the overall picture of further education enrolments.

4.27 The other main core-funding stream for colleges is fee income. Fee-waiver grant from the Funding Council compensates colleges for fees they waive for further education students that meet the eligibility criteria set out in SFEFC's fee-waiver policy. This essentially means that students from low-income households have their fees paid by the Funding Council.

4.28 As a matter of policy, the household income of pupils studying at college as part of a school-based curriculum is not assessed by colleges. Clearly, it is a fundamental tenet of school education that it is delivered free. Ministers are in no doubt that it is wholly inappropriate for a school pupil's family income to be assessed for courses they undertake in college which are being undertaken as part of their school-based curriculum. This, however, leaves colleges with a funding gap at present - they (rightly) do not receive fees from a pupil's family, nor do they in practice receive fee-waiver grant (because the family's income has not be assessed as eligible for such support).

4.29 Although core-funding from SFEFC is by far the most significant source of college funding, it is not the only funding model. Some further education colleges deliver Modern Apprenticeships (MAs) and Skillseekers (VQs) programmes and therefore receive funding from Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise through their network of local enterprise companies. Colleges receive funding for each candidate based on a range of criteria including the occupational sector the candidate is training in and the age of the candidate (some MAs and VQs take longer to deliver). Funding rates are set at a national level. Local enterprise companies have some discretion as to what MAs they deliver and fund in their particular areas, depending on local priorities, but the levels of funding for each MA/VQ are set nationally.

4.30 A significant issue for the review to consider is whether primary funding responsibility for school enrolments should continue to rest with the Funding Council, or whether responsibility should be given to education authorities or local schools themselves (under delegated authority from the education authority to the Headteacher) to provide funding directly along the lines perhaps of the relationship between colleges and local enterprise companies, or indeed whether there ought to be an entirely different funding route. If SFEFC continue to be the primary source of funding, the review will need to consider whether the fee funding gap should be filled. Options here include considering whether the education authority (or local school) should pay school pupils' fees (as the conference heard this already occurs in certain areas), or whether fee-waiver grant should automatically be paid by SFEFC for enrolments that are part of a pupil's school-based curriculum.

Local Authority Funding

4.31 Eighty per cent of local authority funding is provided by way of a grant from central government - the remaining 20% is funded through council tax. The local government distribution system is agreed following collective consultation with local government. It takes account of a wide range of factors influencing local authority spend - the number of school pupils is one of these factors. Levels of funding are given for three years (currently 2003/04 to 2005/06) to allow local authorities to plan ahead. The central government grant is largely non ring-fenced and local authorities allocate to different spending areas, e.g. social work, education or local roads based on local priorities. Local authorities are responsible for the allocation funding to the schools/pupils in their area in line with the priorities they have identified.

4.32 The number of pupils on a school roll who actually receive all or part of their education outwith their school and the associated time is not currently measured. There is an indicator which measures time spent 'out of school', but this is not broken down in terms of activity. That said, there are some data available on those pupils classed as 'winter leavers'.

4.33 There are a number of sources of local authority funding for colleges, some of which are direct funding and others which are indirect. As well as funding from local authorities direct, colleges can receive some funds from schools themselves. Community Education funding, which is funded by local authorities, also contributes to college provision for some school pupils. Colleges may also receive from local authorities, should the councils so decide, some funds as part of their implementation of the Enterprise in Education strategy Determined to Succeed.

Q30. Should primary funding responsibility for school enrolments continue to rest with the Scottish Further Education Funding Council? Or should funding responsibility rest with education authorities or schools? Are there other bodies this responsibility should be given to?

Q31. How can colleges be appropriately reimbursed for their partnership working with schools, while safeguarding the integrity of the concept of 'enrolment'?

Q32. Should colleges receive fee income for enrolments undertaken by pupils as part of their school-based curriculum? If so, from which public body should they derive that income?

Q33. What scope might there be for releasing funds dedicated to school pupils' school education when those pupils undertake college courses?

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