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14-19 qualifications are undergoing major reform. While strengthening the existing system of the general route (GCSEs and A-Levels) and apprenticeships, the Government is also creating two new qualification tiers – the Diploma and the Foundation Learning Tier.
The Diploma is currently being taught for the first time since September 2008 to 20,000 students across the country in Construction and the Built Environment; Creative and Media; Engineering; Information Technology; and Society, Health and Development. Although the roll-out is limited, it is also nationwide, as most areas will have a school or college that is teaching the qualification. Further lines will be added year by year originally until 2011, but the government recently announced that the Science Diploma would be delayed by a year to 2012, when there will be 17 lines available, including Science, Humanities and Languages. There will be a qualifications review in 2013.
The government has now legislated to raise the compulsory participation age from 16 to 18 by 2013. This will mean that young people will have to stay on at school or college or go into employment where they will receive formal training. Any employer taking on a 16 or 17 year-old for more than 20 hours a week will have to commit to training them and allowing them time out of the workplace to attend college.
The government introduced the Apprenticeship, Children, Schools and Learning Bill into parliamentary in February. The bill includes both 14-19 and Further Education issues (the latter of which is covered overleaf). It concerns the plans laid out in the government’s Machinery of Government proposals, which propose to make changes in the provision of education and training for young people and for adults. Responsibility for 16-19 funding will transfer to Local Authorities who will be able to commission provision to meet demand. Local Authorities will be expected to cluster together at a sub-regional level, while a new agency (the Young Persons Learning Agency) will have budgetary control and will be responsible for securing coherence if agreement is not reached locally. The Bill will also seek to create a statutory framework for apprenticeships for the first time. A National Apprenticeship Service will be created to help match up employers and potential apprentices, and schools and colleges will be obliged to promote apprenticeships as a realistic option for young people. The report should pass all its stages by the summer recess.
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Young Chamber scheme
The Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce Group is working with various schools on the Young Chamber Project.
The objective of this initiative is to contribute to the skills development of young people in the local area by encouraging them to explore the wide range of career opportunities available, and to raise awareness of Chamber values…more
