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The Scottish Government's response
Role of Scotland's Colleges
The Scottish Government's overall purpose is to focus government and public services on creating a more successful country, with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish, through increasing sustainable economic growth. Scotland's colleges have a crucial contribution to make to this because of the pivotal position they occupy in the delivery of skills and lifelong learning.
We have outlined five strategic objectives for the new government. These are to:
- create a Scotland which is wealthier and fairer;
- make Scotland smarter;
- build a healthier Scotland;
- develop a safer and stronger Scotland; and
- establish a greener Scotland.
These objectives are where our focus will lie and Scotland's colleges have an important role in the delivery of each of them.
The importance of colleges stems naturally from the nature of their core function - the delivery of vocational education and training and lifelong learning at all stages in life from school through to retirement. It is also due to the diversity of individuals they serve in communities across Scotland and the breadth of opportunities they provide.
Colleges will be key partners in delivering Skills for Scotland1, Scotland's lifelong skills strategy. As well as their central role in post-school education, training and workforce development, colleges are involved in the training of our early years workforce and in providing opportunities for pupils through school and college partnerships.
Colleges are central to our vision of a smarter Scotland that is wealthier and fairer. Scotland needs excellent colleges to unlock the full potential of our people and to maximise the contribution that colleges make to our economic success and to the creation of a safe and stronger, healthier and greener society. We want Scotland's colleges to inspire individuals to achieve vocational and academic excellence.
Colleges' key roles are to:
- provide vocational education and training related to employment in response to national, regional and local needs;
- provide positive and clear routes for learners into employment or into higher education institutions;
- support learners to develop their knowledge and skills so that they can feel confident in their work and in their lives; and
- encourage employer demand for skills and help employers better utilise the skills available to them, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises.
We are fortunate in Scotland to be building from a strong base. Our colleges already have a commendable record of attracting large numbers of individuals to learning year in, year out from a diverse range of backgrounds. On the whole we know that they deliver learning consistently well that meet the needs of individuals and employers.
Colleges can be rightly proud of the distinctive approach that they take to the delivery of learning and teaching in Scotland. They work in increasing close partnership with schools, community learning and development partnerships, higher education institutions and private training providers. These partnerships serve the needs of individuals well because of the different contribution each partner makes. Scotland's strength lies in the diversity of its learning provision. In pursuing parity of esteem between vocational skills and academic qualifications, we will celebrate and nourish institutional differences.
Review of Scotland's Colleges
The stakeholder-led Review of Scotland's Colleges ( RoSCo) took the closest ever look at the college sector since colleges' incorporation in 1993. The Review examined the difference that colleges make to individuals, the economy and wider society. It identified the potential for colleges to deliver much more. The Review also made a number of recommendations to raise college performance levels to those of the best. The remit of the Review is set out at Annex A. Other publications issued as part of the Review are outlined in Annex B.
The Cabinet Secretary's detailed response to each of the Review's recommendations is at Annex C. In Annexes D-F we group together the actions for individual organisations arising from the response.
We will publish our Strategic Spending Review shortly. It will set out our spending priorities and explain how the Government plans to invest its resources over the Parliamentary term to achieve our strategic objectives. The work of the RoSCo has helped inform that Spending Review.
Core Group
The Review was co-ordinated by a 'Core Group' of stakeholder representatives supported by Scottish Government officials. It comprised four workstreams, each led by different partners and drawing on input from a broad spectrum of relevant stakeholders.
Now that the Review itself has concluded we are keen not lose the experience and expertise of stakeholders as we move to the implementation phase of the Review's outcomes. We are pleased that the Group has accepted our invitation to continue to meet with a refreshed membership. In addition to taking forward the specific actions identified for it elsewhere in this response, the Group's role is to:
- oversee the implementation of the Review's outcomes and monitor progress, a key feature of which will be to identify clear reporting lines; and
- evaluate the effectiveness of the Review's outcomes, including assessing its impact on equality across six strands (race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, age and religion/faith).
Difference Colleges Make
We welcome the work the Review undertook to articulate what colleges deliver for Scotland. Given the wide range of learning opportunities that colleges offer - in terms of both subject matter and level - to a diverse range of individuals, it is not always easy for those unfamiliar with the sector to grasp fully the wide range of colleges' activities. Scotland's colleges in the 21st century are also very different in outlook and approach to colleges decades ago. We can help achieve parity of esteem between vocational skills and academic qualifications by providing an accurate picture of the work of colleges and of the value of accessing vocational learning opportunities. Colleges make a vital contribution to Scotland's success. This needs to be more widely known and recognised.
A key aspect of the Review was the economic analysis in the report Unlocking Opportunity2 that for the first time quantified some of the economic value of college activity. This analysis was based on the economic return of increasing qualification levels and showed that for every £1 invested in Scotland's colleges there is an economic return of at least £3.20. Placing a monetary value on the economic and social returns of public investment is not easy. We believe the ground breaking work carried out as part of the Review provides a solid platform upon which to build. As we look ahead to the 2009 Spending Review, we would like to see a wider range of college activities captured in an economic and social analysis. We have asked officials to look at the effectiveness of the public investment in Scotland's colleges to help inform our deliberations in the lead up to the next Spending Review. Alongside this we will be looking to the college sector to provide stronger evidence to better demonstrate the outcomes it delivers.
The diversity of college provision is a key strength of the sector. We support the diversity of learners that colleges serve and the range of learning opportunities that they provide.
The Review identified twelve areas in which colleges can build on existing activity and expertise. It is evident from these that colleges have an important role in the delivery of each of the Government's five strategic priorities. The areas identified were:
wealthier and fairer
- improving the flow of knowledge between colleges and business;
- nourishing Scotland's culture of enterprise and entrepreneurship;
smarter
- enhancing vocational education for Scotland's school pupils;
- addressing Scotland's 'not in education, employment or training' problem;
- building Scotland's skills base;
- addressing low levels of adult literacy and numeracy in Scotland;
- delivering English language training for Scotland's inward migrants;
healthier
- developing Scotland's care and health sector workforce;
safer and stronger
- addressing disadvantage in Scotland's most deprived communities;
- developing community hubs across Scotland;
- promoting volunteering activities in Scotland; and
greener
- developing and sustaining Scotland's remote and rural communities.
The identification of the 12 outcomes has helped inform our Spending Review.
The Review has also helped shape our lifelong skills strategy. That strategy outlines, among other things, our commitment to:
- encourage young people to stay in education and training post-16;
- provide increased opportunities to school pupils to access vocational learning by expanding school/college partnerships;
- improve how skills are used in the workplace;
- support the central role of colleges in developing skills;
- develop the skills of the public sector workforce;
- facilitate local design and delivery of learning for those who are furthest away from the labour market;
- address issues of rurality;
- examine access to quality courses in English for Speakers of Other Languages ( ESOL);
- complete the refresh of the Scottish Adult Literacy and Numeracy strategy;
- encourage employer demand for skills;
- maximise the impact of community-based learning; and
- support youth work and volunteering opportunities for young people.
We want to maximise the difference that colleges make to learners, the economy and wider society. One of the ways this can be achieved is by making our current significant investment work harder for us.
In the lifelong skills strategy we outline that we are looking to the Scottish Funding Council to "ensure that its review of funding methodology will:
- develop a tertiary education system which responds to the needs of learners and employers;
- deliver a step change in skills utilisation for individuals; and
- promote successful transition and progression for individuals with improved retention and attainment".
We look to our colleges to help deliver More Choices, More Chances3 for our young people through the delivery of pre-16 vocational education, by encouraging school leavers to stay in education after school and supporting young people in re-engaging with learning as a first step towards future employment. Part of this involves building on the many good examples of partnership between our schools and colleges to widen the choices available to young people and enrich their educational experience.
The Review identified as a key outcome "improving the flow of knowledge between colleges and business". This will be a key activity for colleges in delivering our lifelong skills strategy. Currently Scotland's strong performance on skills qualifications is not reflected in our productivity. We need ambitious and demanding employers who set themselves stretching targets and who can identify and recruit the right talent that they need to help them to reach their productivity goals. A key role of colleges is to encourage employer demand for skills and help employers better utilise the skills available to them, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises.
The Review focussed on delivering a smarter Scotland by identifying key areas where colleges can expand on their existing activity. While this is one way colleges can make a bigger difference, it is not the only. There are other important actions colleges can take. For example, individuals need the right essential skills to access and succeed at work. Colleges can embed these skills - literacy, numeracy and other core skills, personal and learning skills, skills for employability and other transferable skills - at all levels of post-compulsory learning. They can also become more flexible and responsive to the needs of individuals and employers.
Staffing, Learners and Learning Environments
Individuals need to be at the centre of learning and skills development. Colleges should therefore support the active involvement of individuals in shaping their own learning experience. Strong and effective student representation are important aspects of that.
As Scotland's demographic profile changes and as the needs and aspirations of future learners evolve, it is important that colleges serve the needs of all sections of society, including the needs of new Scots.
Key to this are the staff in our colleges. The skills, knowledge, enthusiasm and experience of college staff is a key influence on effective learning. Excellent colleges need highly skilled and motivated staff who can make full and productive use of their skills, including relevant teaching qualifications as appropriate. Given that learner support is integral to the delivery of learning in colleges, promoting excellence in colleges depends crucially on promoting excellence in the development and support of all staff in colleges, including ensuring that staff have sufficient opportunities to update regularly their own vocational and professional training.
Colleges need to ensure flexible provision which is responsive to the needs of individuals, the economy and wider society. Staff need to be deployed more flexibly to support this delivery. It is important therefore that staff have modern terms of contract to ensure this can be achieved.
A number of the Review's recommendations are concerned with improving the quality of statistical information available. It is important that our collection and dissemination procedures are designed to ensure we have effective lines of accountability. In common with other public bodies the Scottish Government, the Scottish Funding Council and colleges are under a statutory duty to promote race, disability and gender equality and to ensure that equality considerations are integrated into all their functions and policies. It is essential therefore that we can access, and colleges can make readily available, sufficient information about their activities and the profile of their staff and learners to enable progress on the impact of their processes on equality to be measured effectively over time.
More flexible college delivery can mean improved utilisation of college buildings in the evenings and weekends. Such greater use can better justify the significant capital investment in college estates that has been made over recent years. The Review found that this investment has begun to transform perceptions of colleges, as well as the learning and teaching they deliver. The evidence that has been provided on the benefits of investment has been extremely useful. It has helped inform the Spending Review. This is an area where we will wish to continue to evaluate the effectiveness of our capital investment in terms of student/staff recruitment, retention and outcomes, for example.
Accountability and Governance
Scotland's colleges are governed and led by people who exhibit, in the most tangible way, the very best of the age-old Scottish tradition of public-spiritedness and commitment to their communities. They provide strategic leadership and oversight in our colleges. We are grateful for what they contribute.
Colleges are part of a college sector and part of a lifelong learning system. We therefore look to college trustees to consider major issues and decisions from a sector and system wide perspective and to be better engaged with external and internal stakeholders in order to discharge their role effectively.
We want to build confidence in college governance arrangements. Although these arrangements work extremely well in almost all colleges, it is unfortunate that the reputation of the sector has been put at risk by the well publicised problems in a few isolated cases.
In promoting excellence in our colleges, we need to promote excellence in the bodies that govern them. We want to enhance the strategic leadership and oversight of college boards. We need to do more to support our local trustees and enhance the opportunities available to them to continue to develop their skills to govern, including providing better support to student and staff members to maximise the vital contribution they make to boards' deliberations.
There should be a culture of 'no surprises' and early intervention where necessary. When it looks like things may be going wrong, boards must not hesitate in seeking assistance. Similarly, if there are signs that there may be problems in a college, the Scottish Funding Council must move quickly to ensure the viability of the college. Colleges are independent bodies that are responsible for spending large sums of public funds. It is important that the right balance is struck between institutional autonomy and the need to safeguard the appropriate and effective use of taxpayers' money.
Colleges have a relatively good track record in the diversity of their trustees. We recognise that the challenge is not easy. That said, we look to colleges as we do with other public bodies to better reflect the diversity of their local communities.
A number of recommendations of the Review involve the preparation of guidance to members of college governing bodies. We look to the Association of Scotland's Colleges to work closely with the Scottish Government, the Scottish Funding Council, the Scottish Trades Union Congress and the National Union of Students Scotland in preparing this guidance.
Strategic Future of Colleges
The work of the Review has been helpful in focussing our attention on the five key areas it has identified: role and positioning; leadership; collaboration and partnership; responsiveness to learners and employers; and modernising learning and teaching.
We need colleges that are flexible enough to meet the needs of today and to respond to the demands of tomorrow. We know some of the key drivers of change - demographic change; economic, societal and technological change; and changes in approaches to learning and teaching. It is important that college leadership is developed to meet future challenges and opportunities, including the continual need to modernise learning and teaching.
We know that there is much more we need to do to ensure that college learning fits seamlessly within an overall single learning system and that provision is flexible and increasingly responsive to the needs of individuals, employers and the wider economy. We also recognise that colleges have an important role in encouraging employer demand for skills and helping employers utilise the skills available to them better, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises.
We must not stop looking to the future. The work produced to date should be the start of an ongoing process. To ensure that this work is taken forward we have organised a conference to coincide with the publication of this response to explore the actions that can be taken to help colleges excel in the Scotland of the future.
We look forward to considering further recommendations arising from the conference and other areas of activity flowing from the Review in due course.
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