« Previous | Contents | Next »
Listen
SECTION 4
Purpose and Nature of School/College
Partnership
Purpose of Partnership
4.1 The overall rationale for
school/college partnership is to enable colleges to help
schools in their task of developing the capacities of
pupils as outlined in
A Curriculum for Excellence: to enable
them to become successful learners, confident individuals,
responsible citizens and effective contributors to society
and at work. It can be encapsulated in the following
purposes:
- to
widen pupils' opportunities for
progression and prepare them for further
learning;
- to
ease pupils' transition from
school to further learning, training or
employment;
- to
broaden pupils' curriculum
choices; and
- to
enrich pupils' educational
experiences.
4.2 For example, we encourage partnership
between schools and colleges to enhance opportunities to:
16
- give pupils access (appropriate to their
educational development) to specialist staff,
materials and facilities, which schools may
generally be unable to offer (because of too few
pupil numbers or other constraints such as
accommodation);
- give pupils the opportunity to undertake
meaningful courses and experiences in vocational
areas;
- give pupils the opportunity to study specialist
subjects, such as Psychology and Philosophy;
- stimulate pupils creativity and enterprise,
including through Enterprise in Education under
Determined to Succeed;
- place into context for pupils the relevance of
aspects of their learning;
- provide pupils with a different learning
environment from that of school;
- provide pupils with a wider range of learning
opportunities (e.g. open and distance
learning);
- improve pupils' access to a wide range of
educational opportunities to improve pupils'
confidence, self-reliance, self-worth, life skills
and attainment, which are important to the delivery
of social justice;
- demystify post-school learning, encouraging
pupils to see the value of post-school education
and understand the 'lifelong' nature of
learning;
- re-engage pupils most at risk of disengagement
with the traditional education system;
- give 'winter leavers' opportunities to pursue
the options most suitable to them in their final
school term;
- support the learning of pupils with additional
needs and from special schools;
- improve pupils' retention rates at school and
their acquisition of qualifications, both of which
have a positive impact on their lifetime
earnings;
- give pupils the opportunity to explore career
options within the context of the 3-18 continuum of
career planning;
- improve pupils' general work-readiness and
improve their prospects for employment, including
developing attitudes and behaviours necessary for
work;
- give pupils over school age technical skills to
improve their chances of securing employment in
their chosen field;
- promote to pupils over school age career
opportunities in key areas of Scotland's economy
and where skills gaps exist or are emerging;
- break down pupils' gender stereotyping of
occupations;
- encourage pupils' interest in science,
technology, engineering and maths; and
- encourage pupils' interest in creative and
cultural subjects, including sports, art, theatre
and dance.
College Learning Environment
4.3 The following features of colleges
typically differ from the school environment:
- less direction and greater self-reliance -
there are fewer rules to be followed with a greater
expectation that students own their learning;
- size - there are typically more students,
more tutors/lecturers and support staff, bigger
buildings, increased resources (library,
etc.);
- varied student population - there is a far
greater age mix, students have a variety of
motivations and reasons to be at college, and
students make a voluntary decision to enrol at
college rather than on a compulsory basis as in
schools; and
- curriculum and teaching - there is a more
varied level of courses from access to
professional, both theoretical and practical
courses, vocational opportunities, modular
approach, varied course durations, and greater
variety in teaching and learning methodology.
4.4 These differences provide pupils with
a different learning environment from that of school, one
that may better engage particular pupils because of their
individual needs or inclinations. We will continue to
support the differences between schools and colleges.
Nature of Partnership
4.5 The pooling of resources between the
two sectors is essential to the delivery of a modern
flexible school curriculum.
4.6 All secondary and special schools in Scotland will
by 2007 have effective, meaningful and appropriate
partnership with at least one college for S3 pupils and
above. Similarly, all Scotland's colleges will have
effective, meaningful and appropriate partnership with
secondary and special schools.
4.7 Pupils of all abilities in S3 and above will be
able to be considered for college learning opportunities.
It should be a positive choice to access specialist
provision in colleges - it should not be regarded as
alternative provision for pupils with additional support
needs or disaffected or disengaged pupils.
4.8 We recognise and commend the
activities colleges themselves have undertaken in recent
years to satisfy local demand from schools. Partnership
will be developed with a view to the long term. It will
grow in an evolutionary way over the coming years. We set
no target on the eventual increase in such activity,
because partnership is not an end in itself. It is meeting
the identified needs and aspirations of pupils that is
important.
4.9 Partnership with schools is an
essential and significant part of colleges' work, but it is
- and will remain - a minority activity for colleges.
Colleges are predominately for adult students and their
delivery of learning reflects this. The distinctive
contribution that colleges make to pupils' education arises
from this role as centres of voluntary learning for adults.
It is therefore essential to the success of partnership
that that ethos is not altered.
4.10 Options will be made available to pupils
as they are with all other students in further and
higher education - on the basis of available capacity.
Given there is an inevitable limit on capacity to
maintain colleges' central ethos due regard will be
paid to pupils who will benefit most from activities
that enhance their life chances.
4.11 Colleges' partnership work with
schools is a priority for the further education sector that
sits alongside its other priorities. It supplements and
supports the sector's other priorities. Subject to
maintaining colleges' central ethos, there is no conflict
between them. Growing Scotland's economy (the Executive's
foremost priority) and closing the opportunity gap require
that we help school pupils to realise their full potential.
That is why we are investing substantial resources to
increase and enhance existing school/college
activities.
Drivers for Increased Demand
4.12 There are a number of related policy
developments that will lead to increased demand for
school/college partnership. These include:
- Enterprise in Education delivered through
Determined to Succeed (where college
provision is one option);
- the introduction of Education Maintenance
Allowances
17 (and the anticipated
increase in retention rates in schools in S5/S6);
- the continued delivery of our target to reduce the
proportion of 16-19 year olds not in education,
employment or training (
NEET) and the delivery of our target
to increase the average tariff score of the lowest
attaining 20% of
S4 pupils by 2008. Flexible learning
opportunities are key to achieving these targets;
- ending the Age and Stage regulations to remove
unnecessary bureaucracy in the exam system. This may
increase the number of pupils undertaking courses more
likely to involve some form of school/college
partnership activity; and
- the delivery of our Partnership Agreement
commitment, the details of which we go on to explain
below.
4.13 Also, the Education (Additional
Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004
18 will give new focus on
supporting all children and young people who may need
additional support, for whatever reason, to benefit from
school education. It makes provision for improving
transition from school to post-school provision and
preparation for adulthood with a view to ensuring that
there is a continuum of support for these pupils. There
will be a new duty on appropriate agencies, to assist
education authorities with their functions under the Act.
These functions include the preparation, planning and
support for transitions from school for those pupils with
additional support needs who would benefit from extra help.
It is expected that colleges will be specified in
regulations as appropriate agencies to ensure early
provision of information about support available in college
to meet the needs of potential students. A Code of
Practice, which will provide guidance on how authorities
and agencies should exercise their functions under the Act,
and appropriate regulations will be published by Scottish
Ministers prior to the commencement of the Act in late
2005.
Increased Funding
4.14 When we launched the school/college
review we ensured that there was no increase in school age
college activity funded by the Scottish Further Education
Funding Council (
SFEFC) until the outcome of the review
was known. Now that the review is complete, this
restriction no longer applies. We will increase capacity
for college activity from academic year 2005/06 onwards to
enable colleges to provide greater opportunities for pupils
of differing abilities to access the most appropriate
curriculum for their needs and aspirations. The nature of
provision for different age cohorts, including the length
of courses and design outcomes, will necessarily be
different because they will have different needs. Key to
the success of the partnership will be the ability of the
partners to agree with the pupil (and their parent or
carer) the nature of their college learning.
4.15 We estimate that about £19m of
SFEFC funding allocated to colleges in
2003/04 was attributable to pupils undertaking college
courses as part of their school-based curriculum.
19 In 2003/04 there were about
44,000
SFEFC-funded pupil enrolments,
accounting for over 6% of overall
SFEFC-funded activity.
4.16 We will make available more than
£41.5m across financial years 2005/06 to 2007/08 to
implement this strategy.
20 This is in addition to
existing resources that colleges devote to pupils'
learning. The funding will support, among other things:
- an increase in college activity for pupils,
including more pupils accessing college
learning;
- ensuring that college activities for state
school pupils that form part of their school-based
curriculum are eligible for automatic
fee-waiver;
- training for the new professional development
award and units for college staff teaching under 16
year olds;
- training for all college staff on pupil welfare
and support, including child protection
matters;
- college activity to implement the Education
(Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act
2004;
- the reimbursement to colleges of fee costs to
Disclosure Scotland for the disclosure of existing
college staff; and
- enhanced careers advice to inform pupils of
school/college options and to help pupils reflect
upon their college learning in relation to
post-school career opportunities.
4.17 There are major levels of new
resource from the 2004 Spending Review including the
additional funding for school/college partnership for
2006/07 and 2007/08, to deliver our other
FE priorities to enable significant
developments in college buildings and learning and teaching
facilities and to allow for modernisation and further
improvements in quality, innovation, modernisation of the
curriculum, development of the Higher National
qualification, and enhancements of teaching methods.
Spending Review 2004
Total Additional Funding for College
Sector
Year | 2005/06 | 2006/07 | 2007/08 |
Capital | £28m | £50m | £50m |
Current | - | £45.5m | £62.5m |
Vocational Education
4.18 Education should open up a range of
opportunities to pupils and give them a variety of social,
personal and educational skills that are transferable to
many different situations, including the workplace and
community life. There should be no dead end to learning. It
should provide opportunities for further learning, training
or employment.
4.19 Vocational education can provide a
suitable context, something which may capture pupils'
imagination and interest and better engage some pupils to
learn. It provides the opportunity to demonstrate the
relevance of subjects such as literacy and numeracy in
practical ways. For example tiling, a subject which
although at first glance may seem relatively
straightforward, needs the application of a range of
mathematical skills at a relatively high level including
trigonometry and geometry. Another example is language
study, which can be provided with a vocational focus. This
gives pupils the opportunity to learn language skills in a
work-related context as part of their studies.
4.20 As a country we are generally good at
laying the educational foundations for those who train to
be professionals such as doctors, lawyers and accountants.
Vocational education serves them well. For at their heart,
medicine, law and accountancy are by their nature
essentially vocational courses. However, our education
system currently does not serve as well pupils who want to
enter other occupations. We must do more for pupils
wanting, for example, to be professional care workers,
electricians, technicians and plumbers. There should be
parity of esteem across all vocations and all forms - and
places - of learning.
4.21 The nature of college provision
relates to the local economies that colleges serve and in
some cases to a strategic element of the economy. For
example, in rural areas this may be land-based and fishing
related subjects. We will not do justice to pupils unless
we ensure that their learning is relevant. That is why our
lifelong learning strategy sits alongside our strategy for
enterprise
A Smart, Successful Scotland,
21 which we refreshed in
November. Colleges work closely with Futureskills Scotland.
22 Colleges and local economic
forums will also work together to ensure the continuing
relevance of college provision.
Skills for Work Courses
4.22 The key means by which we will
deliver our Partnership Agreement commitment 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" is through the
development of skills for work courses leading to
nationally recognised qualifications in vocational areas
for pupils as another option choice, for example as an
alternative to one or more Standard Grades.
4.23 The rationale for the courses is
outlined in
Annex C. These courses are new National Qualifications at
Scottish Credit and Qualification Framework (
SCQF) levels 2-6. (Access 2 through to
Higher). They will consist of 3
SQA National Units at levels 2 and 3,
and 4
SQA National Units at
SCQF levels 4-6. They will have the same
SCQF credit value as other National
Courses.
23 Each Unit will be assessed
on a pass/fail basis. The
SCQF is outlined in
Annex D.
4.24 These courses will be integral to the
school curriculum. They will not stand alone. Nor will they
be an add-on. It may be possible for some schools to
provide such courses, but many will be delivered in
partnership with colleges. We recognise that the success of
these courses will depend on the quality of the progression
routes they present to pupils, the extent to which the
qualifications are respected in the labour market and the
learning community, and how they improve job prospects and
career development. The
SQA will develop the courses, with
quality experiences at their core, in close partnership
with the education and training community and employers'
organisations (including small and medium-sized enterprises
24). The
SQA's review of National Courses will be
fully taken into account. The courses will be piloted
during the academic years 2005/06 and 2006/07 in order to
evaluate them, with a view to rolling them out nationally
in August 2007. The evaluation of the courses will fully
involve pupils, teachers, schools, colleges, local
authorities, employers and other stakeholders.
4.25 Courses for the first year of the
pilot are
Early Education and Childcare at levels
Intermediate 1 and Intermediate 2;
Construction Craft Skills at Intermediate
1 level;
Financial Services at Intermediate 2
level; and
Sport and Recreation at Intermediate 1
level.
The final course designs and associated materials will
be available later in May 2005 when the courses will be
launched.
4.26 In the same way that pupils studying
Geography or History at Standard Grade are not necessarily
expected to go on to become geographers or historians,
pupils undertaking the new skills for work courses will
have open choices to make about their future occupation.
The availability of the new National Qualifications will
provide a wider range of activities that constitute a
balanced education. For school age pupils, they will help
prepare pupils for the workplace - not for a particular
occupation (though there may properly be exceptions to this
in a student-centred approach to the assessment of
need).
4.27 The courses will be valuable whether
or not pupils wish to pursue a career in that subject area
in later life because at their heart will be core and
employability skills that are relevant to all, including
skills such as communication and team-working. For pupils
who do want to progress in their chosen field, the courses
will help give them a solid educational pathway that leads
to either further learning, training or employment.
4.28 Skills for work courses will provide
a greater range of learning opportunities for pupils
augmenting existing school/college activities. Scottish
Progression Awards (
SPAs), which the
SQA initially developed to meet an
immediate need from schools for a vocational qualification,
will continue to be a qualifications option, but because of
their course length they are better suited to older pupils
progressing on from the skills for work courses and adult
learners.
Articulation to Further Education Courses and
Other Programmes
4.29 There will be clear articulation of
progression opportunities from school/ college partnership
activity. Colleges already deal flexibly with prior
learning.
It is clearly important that pupils do not have to
tread water in programmes they undertake after school
because they covered the content while at school. We will
ensure that school/college partnership accredited courses
provide pupils with articulation to, and credit for,
post-school programmes where possible. This will be built
into the development of the new vocational qualifications.
The
SCQF presents the opportunity for pupils
to either:
- accelerate their programme of study (i.e. the
course could be shorter to reflect the work already
undertaken);
- study part time (where previously full-time study
may have been the norm); or
- study further units.
4.30 Sector Skills Bodies will be
encouraged to ensure that previous learning in their secor
is recognised to minimise duplication. They should work in
partnership with the Scottish Qualifications Authority so
that Modern Apprenticeships and Skillseekers frameworks
provide clear articulation and progression routes wherever
it is appropriate to do so and build on any accredited
learning. Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands
Enterprise will ensure that the 'Get Ready for Work'
programme takes cognisance of previous learning and has
appropriate progression opportunities available.
Partnership Performance
4.31 For school/college courses both
schools and colleges play a role in helping the pupil
achieve awards. For school year 2007/08 onwards, outcomes
arising from school/college partnership activity will be
included in each sectors'
SQA performance statistics. School
performance - like college certification - has been
reported since 2001 with reference to
SCQF levels.
4.32 As there are already performance
indicators for schools and for colleges, it is not
necessary to develop new
quantitative indicators specifically for
partnership. It is sufficient to consider separately the
contribution which partnership activities make to existing
indicators. In addition, school/college partnership will
impact on the performance indicators identified in our
lifelong learning strategy, including reducing the
proportion of 16-19 year olds not in education, employment
or training (
NEET). We will introduce
qualitative measures of success, which will be
monitored via returns from questionnaires and/or case
studies. These will focus on issues such as the percentage
of pupils who:
- found the course worthwhile;
- intend to go on to further learning;
- thought it enhanced their employment options;
and
- thought it prepared them well for the world of
work.
4.33 In 2007/08 we will repeat our
research into the attitudes of pupils to college learning
as part of their school curriculum.
4.34 In addition, the Scottish Further
Education Funding Council's
Survey of Student Experience will enable
the Funding Council in future to present separately the
views of pupils.
4.35 We will monitor through the
Scottish School Leavers Survey the
progression of pupils who have completed school/college
partnership courses leading to a recognised
qualification.
4.36 We will establish by the end of 2005
a standing stakeholder forum comprising representatives
from the Executive, the school and college sectors, pupil,
adult student and Trade Union interests to oversee the
national development of school/college partnership.
Evaluating School/College Partnership
4.37 This strategy for school and college
partnership will be implemented from academic year 2005/06
onwards. In 2008/09 we will evaluate its effectiveness by
obtaining answers to questions including:
- how well have school/college activities met the
rationale and purposes of partnership?
- what were the benefits to pupils of enabling them
to undertake college courses?
- which groups of pupils benefited particularly, i.e.
the ones who most needed this intervention? Was this as
envisaged?
- how did the benefits compare to the cost of
intervention?
- were the resources most effectively targeted in
order to achieve maximum net benefits for the
investment?
- what was the impact of school/college activities on
adult learners and school and college staff? and
- what was the economic and wider societal
impact?
« Previous | Contents | Next »