Gwennan Jones is an early success story of the 14-19 Learning Pathways. The 15-year-old pupil of Bro Myrddin Comprehensive School in Carmarthen has been showcased by the Assembly Government as an example of best practice under the vocationally led curriculum.
The teenager is following her ambitions to become a top designer under the local network’s new Fashion Pathways. Gwennan travels to FE College Coleg Sir Gar to learn about her intended trade and she has undertaken a work placement at Costumes to Go - a supplier of theatrical dress for “budding stars” - in Llanelli.
“Everyone is there (on the course) because they are interested in fashion. They want to learn and work hard”, says the youngster.
The new Fashion Pathways is equivalent to a level 2 or two GCSEs at A*-C although Gwennan must also take the National Curriculum core subjects - English, Welsh, maths and science - at school.
The schoolgirl is one of thousands so Year 10 and 11s across reported to be enjoying their Pathways "adventure" that takes them outside school and into the local community.
The Pathways is aimed at preventing teenagers dropping out of school and becoming lost to the education system. The London School of Economics estimates the cost of one person alone becoming a NEET (not in education, employment and training) to be £97,000 over a lifetime.
From September it will become statutory for all schools in Wales to provide a minimum number of courses to students aged 14 to 16. In 2012, it will become a legal entitlement for all young people up to 19 to have a choice of at least 30 course choices - five of which must be vocational.
Concerns over the practicalities
But while the NAHT Cymru has discovered many students are enthusiastically embracing new courses and are reportedly happier, there are still concerns over the practicalities, travel costs and legal requirements of implementing the Pathways for increasingly cash strapped schools.
Last year there was an uneasy forging of the Learning and Skills Measure between the Assembly Government and headteacher unions. Heads across Wales were concerned that they were being forced into statutory collaboration to ensure learner choice too early and without adequate funding.
Despite the dissent, the Assembly Government has revealed that over 90 per cent of schools have already adhered to their banding requirements for minimum course entitlement “in a state of readiness” for September.
Those who don’t are just 0.5 or 1 choice short of meeting the minimum requirement.
“This (the number of schools meeting minimum requirements) is excellent and shows the commitment of schools and networks to the 14-19 agenda”, said the Assembly Government spokesperson who added there had been considerable investment into the Pathways with an additional £32.5 million pumped in this year alone on top of funding given to local authorities and FE institutions.
All heads spoken to by the NAHT Cymru said the introduction of the Pathways had been a positive experience for their students who had welcomed the opportunity to meet new friends and develop broader social networks.
Some heads said initial fears of bad behavior had not materialised because pupils were happier "following a vocation".
Although a minority of pupils has complained about travelling to another provider during their own time, they said this was easily overcome and solutions had been found.
But according to the heads questioned excessive transport costs, combined with the need of staff to chaperone pupils on bus trips, was proving to be a huge drain on resources.
At Pembroke School, Pembrokeshire, the cost of taxi travel alone is £10,000 per year. The pupils travel either eight or 10 miles to take up courses outside school - about a 25 minute journey one way.
Head teacher Frank Ciccotti said the cost of travel was his major concern.
“I have to offset the cost of transport against providing courses at the school or with another provider, he said. “This has been the case in music. I had to decide whether it is better to staff the courses at the school with small numbers or send the pupils elsewhere. The pupils travel for the music course but it’s still expensive”.
'Post code lottery'
Across Wales local authority school modernisation plans are being targeted to meet the needs of the Pathways curriculum and aid the harmonisation of timetables.
However some authorities are further ahead in their plans than others making for a "post code lottery".
Emotive issues of schools closures, mergers and fears of teacher redundancies have all taken their toll in local democracies where there has been fervent opposition, including Cardiff.
In Carmarthenshire, regarded as being ahead the game in their modernisation plans, the 14-19 network is looking at how to reduce travel costs in the context of their ambitious school reorganisation plan.
Under Assembly Government backed proposals, five secondary schools in the mostly semi rural Dinefwr area of Carmarthenshire will be replaced with 3 learning centres offering a mix of vocational and academic learning.
Members of the network say additional funding support from WAG has helped them overcome barriers associated with transport and timetabling that could otherwise have “prohibited effective partnership working”, but this is not the case with other authorities whose capital funding programmes are in the red.
Last month the Welsh Schools 21st Century Schools Programme was launched by the Assembly Government and the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) with the aim of creating “world class environments for teachers and pupils to learn in fully supported by ICT” to back up the Pathways. A spokesperson confirmed that to date:
But Pete Spencer, head of Coedcae Comprehensive School in Llanelli explains that capital funding is still a major concern.
He believes the 14-19 Learning Pathways is being held back by a general lack of capital investment and there is a real need for improved facilities now - not later.
Mr Spencer also says there must be more money to increase virtual learning opportunities to encourage “effective collaborative learning”.
“In Wales we simply do not possess the same level of ICT funding and special resources as England to develop virtual learning for cross school provision,” he said.
The head also said vocational course placements do not always match pupils’ expectation - especially for the younger pupils.
But it is also unclear to heads how much the proposed National Assembly for Wales (legislative competence) (Education) Order 2010, which would transfer power over school governance from London to Wales, will have over collaboration matters under the Pathways.
More clarity needed
Most heads said there is a need for more clarity on the proposed LCO, a view echoed by Governors Wales this week. In their draft consultation response the organisation acknowledges the Pathways, along with other skills led initiatives, will have a huge bearing.
“The transfer of power to introduce legislation on school governance could dramatically change the way schools and governing bodies operate,” says the draft response as Governors Wales renews calls for more training and funding as their role increases.
But while most heads believe the problems of the Pathways lies in the practicalities, funding and law surrounding the Pathways - not the policy - a leading academic is saying the Pathways itself does not go far enough to attack pupil disaffection that has led so many teenagers be “stressed, burnt out and dropping out”.
David Egan, Director of Applied Education Research at UWIC, says the aims of the Pathways initiative has more chance of succeeding if GCSE, AS and A levels are ditched. In the winter edition of agenda, a publication by the Institute of Welsh Affairs, the academic blamed the lack of vocational opportunities for one-fifth of the 2006-7 GCSE cohort not achieving the outcomes they were capable of.
But other heads who have spoken to NAHT Cymru anonymously said student drop out at KS 4 over the past decade has been down to inadequacies in the KS 3 curriculum. They believe the introduction of the skills led curriculum will make education "sufficiently engaging" without a complete overhaul. Some heads also believe making the Pathways statutory in Key Stage 4 wasn't necessary and the Welsh Baccalaureate Qualification (WBQ) is enough alone to fulfill the requirements of a vocationally led curriculum for the majority of pupils.
Anna Brychan, director of the NAHT Cymru said: ‘School leaders have made tremendous efforts to get Learning Pathways off the ground despite significant challenges such as funding levels, travel and timetabling difficulties, and concerns about the sustainability of the curriculum offer made by collaborating institutions.
Our focus is now the proposed changes to governance which could herald entirely new arrangements for schools and FE Colleges. We remain to be convinced that tightly prescribed legislation really is the best way to encourage new and innovative ways of working between schools and colleges.’
