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Building the Foundations of A LIFELONG LEARNING SOCIETY

SECTION 3: PURPOSE OF SCHOOL/COLLEGE COLLABORATION

3.1 As the full title of the school/college review suggests, the Executive considers the overall purpose of collaboration between schools and further education colleges is to build the foundations to help realise its vision of a lifelong learning society in Scotland. In its lifelong learning strategy, the Executive articulated its vision and five people-centred goals:

"The best possible match between the learning opportunities open to people and the skills, knowledge, attitudes and behaviours which will strengthen Scotland's economy and society.

Five goals:

• A Scotland where people have the confidence, enterprise, knowledge, creativity and skills they need to participate in economic, social and civic life
• A Scotland where people demand and providers deliver a high quality learning experience
• A Scotland where people's knowledge and skills are recognised, used and developed to best effect in their workplace
• A Scotland where people are given the information, guidance and support they need to make effective learning decisions and transitions
• A Scotland where people have the chance to learn, irrespective of their background or current personal circumstances."

3.2 It is within this context that a joint schools/ FE strategy and implementation plan will be developed. The lifelong learning strategy gave the rationale for the strategy and plan - to ensure flexibility of delivery, so as to encourage locally relevant links between schools, FE colleges and local employers to ease school leavers' transitions into further learning, training or employment. As the Deputy Education Minister made clear in his speech to the conference, the Executive is looking for collaboration between the sectors to broaden and deepen school pupils' learning opportunities through a more flexible school-based curriculum, around a well-balanced core.

Existing College Provision

3.3 The current reasons for further education colleges offering courses to school pupils include:

• providing a curriculum for which schools do not have the relevant expertise (typically in vocational and non-traditional academic subjects) or the numbers of pupils to justify delivering the course themselves;
• providing an alternative for young people disaffected with traditional 'academic' subjects and thus improve achievement and employability;
• improving access to a wide range of education opportunities to develop social inclusion;
• encouraging young people to see the value of post-school education and understand the 'lifelong' nature of learning;
• improving retention rates at school and the acquisition of qualifications, both of which have a positive impact on pupils' lifetime earnings;
• promoting interest in a particular industry that faces skill shortages; and
• encouraging interest in sports, art, theatre and dance, partly consistent with a local focus on the development of the creative and cultural industries.

3.4 College provision to school pupils includes:

• vocational education;
• 'taster' courses;
• non-traditional National Qualifications;
• after-school clubs; and
• evening classes.

3.5 Recent developments, such as the introduction of National Qualifications, Integrated Community Schools and programmes for disaffected school pupils, have increased pupil enrolments in further education colleges. The range of courses offered includes academic subjects at Intermediate 2, Higher and Advanced Higher levels - for example, Psychology, Sociology or Politics - or vocational areas - such as Automotive Engineering, Biotechnology, Hairdressing, Social Care, or Hospitality.

3.6 Most of the programmes are delivered in college by college lecturers.

Differences between Schools and Further Education Colleges

3.7 We would suggest at this stage the following features of further education colleges that differ from the school environment:

• less direction and greater 'self-sufficiency' - 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 far greater age mix and students have a variety of motivations and reasons to be at college; 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.

Statistical Analysis of Existing Provision

3.8 According to the Scottish Further Education Funding Council (SFEFC) in the academic year 2001/02 there were 65,700 SFEFC-funded school enrolments in Scotland's FE colleges (53,889 enrolments for pupils under 16,⁷ and 11,811 enrolments for 16-17 year olds). Of the total, 20,712 enrolments were for 40 hours or more in the academic year.

3.9 School enrolments represented around 9% of SFFEC core-funded activity and 14% of the related enrolments. To put these figures into context, they are roughly equivalent to 6,700 full-time equivalent pupils and the September 2001 School Census showed 207,613 pupils in S3 and above.

3.10 The 65,700 enrolments were in the following subjects:

3.11 The 44,271 enrolments for pupils aged 14 or over were for the following qualifications:

3.12 The figures for school enrolments by age are at Annex E. Levels of engagement in further education colleges are compared at Annex F.

3.13 It is clear from these figures that there is already significant school/college collaboration. We are not starting from a zero knowledge base, and we are mindful that there is practice in schools and colleges which we can learn from.

Transitions

3.14 Preparation for the transition of young people to adult life is recognised to be a crucial role of educators, whether the transition involves aspirations for further or higher education or employment. There is a broad policy consensus that core skills for life and work must be developed and comprise key elements of enterprise and vocational learning. The role of further education colleges in delivering this curriculum is growing.

Determined to Succeed: Enterprise in Education

3.15 Two approaches to using curriculum flexibility in order to allow pupils in S3 and S4 to take part in work-based training and gain a relevant vocational qualification were highlighted during the Review of Enterprise in Education: one in direct collaboration with employers using work-based training, and one in collaboration with other existing providers which would include further education colleges. The first is exemplified by Glasgow's Schools Corporate Vocational Training Programme and the second by Dundee's Pre-apprenticeship programme. Most further education colleges already provide such opportunities for S3 and S4 pupils alongside their school-based studies.

3.16 Realising the full intention behind Recommendation 2 of the Determined to Succeed Report "that all pupils over the age of 14 must have an opportunity for work-based vocational learning linked to accompanying relevant qualifications" requires a major commitment from employers, local authorities and secondary schools. It is recognised that these delivery partners may not be able to provide the scope of on-and-off-the-job learning and underpinning knowledge that will be required and that there is a role for further education colleges and other providers in ensuring that adequate provision is available.

Curriculum Flexibility

3.17 The Scottish Executive and other agencies are developing arrangements for greater flexibility in education through initiatives such as the review of the curriculum and impending consultations on the future of Age and Stage Regulations, relationship between Standard Grade and New National Qualifications and reducing the amount of time spent on external exams. Further education colleges clearly have a significant role to play in delivering the necessary flexibility to ensure that learning opportunities are tailored to the needs of individual pupils.

3.18 That said, during the school/college conference we learned that there was some concern that centrally-imposed targets on the attainment of academic qualifications by school pupils may militate against the take-up of vocational options.

Community Planning

3.19 The community planning process ensures that public services provided in a local authority are provided and planned after consultation among all the public bodies responsible for providing those services and in on-going co-operation with the community. Community planning helps to ensure more joined up local services for communities using public services. It acts as a framework for making public services more responsive to and organised around the needs of communities. It makes sure that the people and communities are genuinely engaged in the decisions made on public services which affect them and ensures that organisations work together in providing better public services.

3.20 The community planning partnerships bring together key participants - including the public, private, voluntary and community bodies in its area. The partnership develops and sets out a joint vision with agreed objectives for the area, normally in the form of a community plan. It sets out challenging outcomes of performance for the community planning partnership and the contribution expected from individual participants in the partnership through delivering those key outcomes.

Community Learning and Development

3.21 Within the community planning framework Community Learning Partnerships co-ordinate local delivery of Community Learning and Development (CLD) in each local authority area. These Partnerships in which the further education sector is represented, can assist in ensuring that school/college collaboration helps develop social inclusion. The Executive's lifelong learning strategy emphasises the importance of CLD as a means of widening participation in learning. The Executive's Community Regeneration Statement Better Communities in Scotland - Closing the Gap⁸ highlights its role in building skills, confidence, networks and resources in excluded communities. The Executive plans to develop a national youth work strategy that emphasises the importance of the role of CLD in supporting the development of young people. Community Learning Partnerships will develop new strategies and action plans following the issue of new guidance by the Executive.

Q2. How should the joint schools/FE strategy articulate the purposes and scope of school pupil participation in college?

Q3. Where should school/college collaboration sit alongside other further education priorities and college programmes?

Q4. How can we enhance the value placed by pupils and parents on vocational subjects to achieve parity of esteem across vocational and academic learning?

Q5. How best should school/college collaboration engage with the delivery of joined-up services through the community planning process and Community Learning and Development?

Powers of Further Education Colleges

3.22 The Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 1992 Amendment Order 2003 (SSI 2003/487)⁹ gives incorporated further education colleges an explicit discretionary power to "provide part-time and full-time courses of instruction for persons of school age". School age is essentially between the ages of 5 and 15 inclusive. It was made to dispel any doubt about the powers of colleges to undertake existing work; their powers to educate persons over school age (essentially 16 and over) were already fully clear. As far as the four non-incorporated colleges are concerned, given that Orkney College and Shetland College are, in legal terms, part of their respective Councils, they have clear powers to provide education to school-age pupils. Newbattle Abbey College was specifically set up by Trust as an adult residential college. As such the terms of the Trust preclude the education of under 18 year olds. As we explained earlier, this college is not expected to help deliver the Executive's policy on collaboration between schools and colleges. The powers of Sabhal Mòr Ostaig College are less prescriptive and it has clear powers to instruct school age pupils. Any new arrangements will take full account of the funding needs of incorporated and non-incorporated further education colleges.

3.23 Having clarified the legal position, the Deputy First Minister has subsequently issued guidance to the Scottish Further Education Funding Council (SFEFC) to ensure that there is no overall increase in the level of SFEFC-funded activity for persons of school age, pending the outcome of the review. The guidance does not affect school/college activities funded from other sources such as, Determined to Succeed, European Social Fund and colleges and schools themselves.

Q6. Should the nature of collaboration be different for distinct cohorts of pupils, including different age groups, for example:

• Primary children;
• 12-14 years;
• 14-16 years;
• 16+;
• 'winter leavers'?

If so, what should those differences be?

Q7. Should the powers of colleges to engage with various age groups of school pupils differ (and if so, how should they differ)?

Q8. Are the existing further education curriculum choices available to school pupils sufficient to meet the purposes of school/college collaboration? If not, what additional support (if any) should we be giving to the Scottish Qualifications Authority and Learning and Teaching Scotland to develop them further?

Performance Indicators

3.24 The lifelong learning strategy identified six high-level indicators to assess progress towards the Executive's vision of a lifelong learning society in Scotland. These are to:

1) reduce the proportion of 16-19 year olds not in education, employment or training (NEET);

2) increase support to 16-19 year olds from low-income families to stay on at school and/or FE college, thereby raising the participation and retention rates of this group;

3) increase graduates as a proportion of the workforce;

4) reduce the proportion of working-age adults whose higher qualification is below level 5 of the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) - equivalent to Intermediate 2/Credit Standard Grade or Scottish Vocational Qualification (SVQ) 2;

5) reduce the proportion of 18-29 year olds whose highest qualification is below SCQF Level 6 - equivalent to Higher Grade or SVQ3; and

6) increase the proportion of people in employment undertaking training.

3.25 The views of the syndicate groups at the school/college conference that considered performance indicators were mixed. While one syndicate considered that the NEET indicator in particular could be useful, there was a view that the monitoring of outputs and outcomes may give a more meaningful evaluation of the success of collaboration, both in terms of quantitative measurement and feedback from pupils and employers.

Q9. Should we develop, in addition to the lifelong learning strategy indicators, specific indicators for school/college collaboration? If so, how should the success of collaboration be measured?

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