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1 Introduction

This report summarises the main themes to emerge from a study commissioned by the Education, Information and Analytical Services Division, The Scottish Government to highlight good practice in flexible learning and support packages for groups requiring more choices and more chances. The findings were intended to inform a series of papers on Building the Curriculum being prepared as part of the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence ( CfE).

1. Policy context

The main focus of the More Choices, More Chances Strategy is to reduce the numbers of young people not in education, employment or training (Scottish Executive, 2006). The overarching aims of the strategy are to:

• Stem the flows into NEET - prevention, rather than cure.
• Have a system-wide (pre- and post-16) focus on, ambitions for, ownership of - and accountability for - young people needing more choices and chances.
• Prioritise education and training outcomes for these young people as a step towards lifelong employability, given their low attainment profile.
• Position NEET reduction as one of the key indicators for measuring the pre- and post-16 systems' success.

The strategy identified five key areas of activity as priorities for reducing the number of young people not in education, employment or training:

• Pre-16 (opportunities for young people of school age)
• Post-16 (post compulsory education and training)
• Financial incentives (education, employment and training as viable options)
• The right support (removing the barriers to accessing opportunities)
• Joint commitment and action (national and local leadership, planning and delivery).

There are around 32,000 young people between the ages of 16 and 19 in Scotland who are not in education, employment or training. A proportion of these will be able to access opportunities and positive destinations without a great deal of support. However, around 24,000 of these young people require additional support to access and sustain opportunities in the labour market and play a positive role in society. Key factors that can increase the risk of young people needing more choices and more chances overlap and are inter-related, but include: poverty, dissatisfaction with education and educational underachievement. In addition to those in poverty and those having low educational attainment, certain groups identified as being particularly at risk also include those whose life circumstances provide certain barriers to accessing opportunities; for example care leavers, young carers, teenage parents, offenders, those with physical and mental health problems, and those with chaotic lifestyles, such as drug and alcohol abusers.

While there are certain areas in Scotland that are seen as having higher proportions of young people who can be classified as needing more choices and more chances, the impact of being in this category for over six months include being out of work, having a criminal record, and increased likelihood of mental health problems.

The More Choices, More Chances Strategy stresses that action is needed 'across the education and wider children's services to improve the educational experience of all children, especially those most at risk of disaffection and under achievement and of leaving school with few or any qualifications'. Particular objectives to address young people's needs include:

• Transforming learning experiences to ensure they are tailored to individual needs and are designed to enable every child to develop their potential regardless of their personal circumstances.
• Transforming the learning environment and improving the quality of leadership at all levels in education, in line with delivering Curriculum for Excellence.
• Raising expectations of children and young people.
• Providing flexible personalised learning opportunities with 'appropriate recognition… to support schools in tailoring teaching and learning experiences to the needs of individuals, whatever their circumstances'. Closely linked to this is the need for recognition of wider achievement: giving credit to different skills, abilities and achievements.
• Providing support for learners including those who require additional support to benefit fully from education and wider children's services.
• Developing employability: to better prepare all young people for the world of work and improve school-leaver destinations.

Developing a focus on 'outcomes with a renewed emphasis on the responsibility of schools and local authorities to consider the outcomes for all children, including appropriate monitoring as part of performance management arrangements for schools and local authorities'.

Flexible learning and support for those requiring more choices and more chances sits within Curriculum for Excellence (Scottish Executive, 2004). This is a major programme of transformational change to ensure improved delivery of learning and teaching for all children and young people between the ages of 3 and 18, and that all young people, on leaving school, have acquired the relevant skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work. Curriculum for Excellence provides the framework for the values, purposes and principles of education in Scotland and aims to ensure that pupils become:

• Successful learners
• Confident individuals
• Responsible citizens
• Effective contributors

The aim of Curriculum for Excellence is, therefore, to help prepare all young people in Scotland to take their place in a modern society and economy. While Curriculum for Excellence aims to promote learning, attainment and achievement of young people, it stresses that pupils should 'achieve on a broad front, not just in terms of examinations'. This means supporting children and young people to acquire the ' full range of skills and abilities relevant to growing, living and working in the contemporary world'.

Curriculum for Excellence is about far more than just the content of the curriculum, and extends well beyond schools. Curriculum for Excellence must therefore deliver for all young people, including those in need of more choices and more chances, and also including those whose learning takes place both within and outwith school. The Scottish Government, local authorities, schools, colleges, employers, national bodies and the voluntary sector all need to work in partnership to deliver a better learning experience for each and every young person. Ensuring a quality learning experience from the early years will be vital, as will early intervention and integrated support if there are barriers to delivering that learning experience. The Getting it Right for Every Child Framework should work alongside Curriculum for Excellence to support services to come together at a local level to deliver a personalised, effective response to each young person. Children and young people are entitled to experience:

• A curriculum which is coherent from 3 to 18.
• A broad general education, including the experiences and outcomes well planned across all the curriculum areas, from early years through to S3.
• A senior phase of education after S3 which provides opportunity to obtain qualifications as well as to continue to develop the four capacities.
• Opportunities to develop skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work with a continuous focus on literacy, numeracy and health and well-being.
• Personal support to enable them to gain as much as possible from the opportunities which Curriculum for Excellence can provide.
• Support in moving into positive and sustained destinations beyond school.

These aims are relevant for all those involved in promoting effective learning for children and young people from 3 to 18. Curriculum for Excellence does not prescribe inputs, but provides the framework for planning learning and support which meets the needs of all children and young people aged 3-18, ensuring a focus on the four capacities at every stage. Curriculum for Excellence is not a top-down initiative It presents a challenge to all those working with children and young people. The experiences and outcomes offer opportunities for young people to learn in exciting and engaging ways, within and beyond schools. They also offer opportunities for teachers and other professionals to teach and work in new and engaging ways.

The Scottish Government is committed to providing all children and young people with opportunities to develop skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work through Curriculum for Excellence, and to giving them opportunities to apply these skills in the workplace. These skills should be embedded across all curriculum areas including more practical or applied learning and specific opportunities such as Skills for Work qualifications. In this report we have used the word 'vocational' to cover such learning opportunities because this is the phrase which is most often used by those delivering such learning. In this context the word covers the delivery of a range of skills which young people will need in their life and work, including the development of pre-vocational, enterprise and employability skills, personal skills, high levels of cognitive skills and the opportunity to put learning into a practical context.

The success of the education system will be judged on the extent to which it contributes to the national indicator on positive and sustained destinations. Skills for Scotland makes clear the Scottish Government's desire for all young people to stay in learning after 16. It makes a clear commitment to young people about the routes on offer to education, employment and training (and the support they can expect) and recognises the need to focus on particularly vulnerable groups of young people.

16+ Learning Choices is the new model for taking forward this commitment. The model will make sure there are clear, robust processes in place for ensuring that all young people completing compulsory education have an offer of a suitable place in post-16 learning, with a particular focus on providing more choices and more chances for those who need them. As such it will support the planning and delivery of a coherent and inclusive curriculum in the senior phase, irrespective of the setting.

The responsibility for delivering Curriculum for Excellence is a shared one. By signing the Concordat, the Scottish Government and Scotland's 32 local authorities have agreed to work in partnership to deliver improved outcomes for all our young people, ensuring that:

• Children have the best start in life and are ready to succeed.
• Young people are successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens, and effective contributors.
• There are improved life chances for children, young people and families at risk.

The new relationship or Concordat, between the Scottish Government and local government, which underpins the funding to be provided to local government over the period 2008-09 to 2010-11, has important implications for local authorities, schools and partner organisations. Rather than specific ring-fenced funding allocations being provided for particular education objectives, local government will contribute directly to the delivery of key commitments that relate to agreed National Outcomes. While the Scottish Government directs these National Outcomes, local authorities have greater autonomy in how they meet these outcomes and address local needs. Every council, therefore, has a Single Outcome Agreement ( SOA), based on the National Outcomes which have agreed national indicators.

This means that local authorities will have to ensure that funding and resources are in place to address the National Outcomes, which include specific reference to education, lifelong learning and skills development, and employment opportunities, and articulate well with the four capacities for individuals that underpin Curriculum of Excellence: successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens, and effective contributors.

The aim is to create freedom and power for individual learners, teachers, other professionals and communities to encourage innovation, creativity and confidence in the education system. Effective reform should come from local authorities taking control and working with schools, teachers and other partners. Teachers and others working directly with young people are best placed to meet the needs of individual learners, but they need time to reflect and to share new ideas and practice. Headteachers and local authorities have a responsibility to provide that support, to ensure strategic leadership and to build collegiate environments.

2. Research aims

The study had several key objectives:

• To identify a range of examples of good practice using electronic/literature searches, desktop research and exploratory discussions with key stakeholders including the Scottish Government ( TSG).
• To select a suitable number of good practice case studies from the range of identified candidates for further review. These covered a variety of different types of approaches to service provision.
• To gain a detailed understanding of the activities and achievements of the organisations, partnerships or programmes within the case studies under review.
• To identify the factors influencing success in each case study and assess how any challenges had been addressed.
• To write up the case studies in a format suitable to inform a series of papers on Building the Curriculum being prepared as part of the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence.
• Particular areas of interest within these objectives included:
• How stakeholders defined good practice in flexible learning and support packages for target groups requiring more choices more chances.
• Examining the contributions of partner agencies.
• Explaining why and how the case study examples were successful and the extent to which they are sustainable and transferable.

The case studies are not intended to be definitive or exhaustive; rather, they aim to be illuminative, highlighting examples of good practice to provide ideas and stimulate debate to help inform policy and practice. The research has highlighted a number of challenges facing provision for those requiring more choices and more chances. Where possible, this study has reported on how providers and their partners have addressed, or are striving to address, such challenges. It also highlights stakeholders' views on broader issues facing these types of provision.

3. Research approach

The study adopted a number of interlinked but largely concurrent strands. These were:

• Preparatory strand: Inception discussion with funder and scoping activity including interviews with limited number of key informants to identify good practice candidates and issues pertinent to the research objectives.
• Strand 1: Literature search/desk study to identify examples of good practice: a) vocational education and b) flexible learning and support packages aimed those who require more choices and more chances.
• Strand 2: Five in-depth case studies of identified good practice focussing on provision for those requiring more choices and more chances. The age range to be covered within the case studies extended across the 14-19 group to reflect good practice in working with those still in compulsory education. Each case study involved gathering sufficient information to address the research objectives and could involve: interviews with key provider and partner staff, focus groups with young people involved in the provision, observations of provision and, where feasible, parental interviews (telephone and face-to-face). Often providers' own monitoring and evaluation evidence was also utilised. Typically, providers and strategic stakeholders could draw on robust monitoring data and information on provision and outcomes. In addition, local authorities, colleges and schools had also conducted focused surveys of young people and parents to better assess needs and levels of satisfaction.
• Strand 3: Thematic analysis and reporting of qualitative material and synthesis of key themes concerning good practice.

Appendix 1 provides details of the case studies and key informants.

4. Structure of the report

The report is arranged into two main sections. The first includes a preface to the case studies, looking at some of the main themes and issues to emerge across the case studies that can inform practice, but also indicating areas that require consideration by practitioners and policy makers. This section also includes findings and insights that emerged from research literature and interviews with key informants conducted during the initial exploratory stage of the research. The main focus of the report is the presentation of five case studies selected to represent good practice in provision for those requiring more choices and more chances. Within each case study, the findings are arranged under headings reflecting key areas of interest to the study: the experience of pupils and outcomes, an overview of provision, factors influencing provision and finally, future developments and sustainability.

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