Room at the Top Improving outcomes for disadvantaged young people

1. Room at the TopImproving outcomes fordisadvantaged young people • Gareth Griffiths • Head of Curriculum and Qualifications Policy • Young People’s Learning Agency Championing Young People’s Learning

2. ‘14-19’: How it is Championing Young People’s Learning

3. ‘14-19’: the landscape Government policy: Freedom, fairness, responsibility Vocational learning Literacy and numeracy Budget deficit An appropriate role for Government Closing the attainment gap

4. Cutting the budget deficit ‘Contributing to the reduction in the budget deficit and spending less public money on curriculum support.’ June 2010 £6bn savings across Government £670m from education; £60m from 14-19 QCDA, Becta, GTC to cease over time £1.16bn from local government; £311m from ABG Connexions; 14-19 CSR: 0.1% increase for schools; pupil premium; EMA; reduction in DfE budget; RPA; Schools White paper Championing Young People’s Learning Championing Young People’s Learning

5. An appropriate role for Government ‘It’s not for Government to decide which qualifications pupils should take, or to force the development of new qualifications … Instead, we will devote our efforts to making sure our existing qualifications are rigorous, challenging and properly prepare our young people for life, work and study’ No central Government or agency role to develop qualifications Freedom for schools, colleges to choose quals and determine the curriculum iGCSEs to be available in schools Extended Diploma, Gateway, Diploma entitlement, collaboration no longer required English baccalaureate.

6. Vocational education ‘We will improve the quality of vocational education, including increasing flexibility for 14–19 year olds and creating new Technical Academies as part of our plans to diversify schools provision.’ Coalition Agreement Foundation Learning Advanced Apprenticeships, ‘pre-apprenticeship’ Wolf Review (to report April 2011) How can we improve the organisation of vocational education for 14-19 year olds? What is the appropriate target audience for a vocational education offer? What principles should underpin content, structure and teaching methods? How can we improve progression from vocational education to positive destinations?

7. Closing the Gap ‘The ethical imperative of our education policy is quite simple - we have to make opportunity more equal. We have to overcome the deep, historically entrenched, factors which keep so many in poverty, which deprive so many of the chance to shape their own destiny, … It is a unique sadness of our times that we have one of the most stratified and segregated school systems in the developed world.’ Michael Gove

8. The Context for Disadvantage Championing Young People’s Learning

9. Room at the Top ‘You’re the sort of young man we want. There’s always room at the top.’ Britain’s got talent – lots of it. It is not ability that is unevenly distributed in our society. It is opportunity. Alan Milburn

10. The Road Map i

11. The Road Map ii

12. 100% for 100%?

13. Opportunity hoarding A typical doctor or lawyer of the future is growing up in a family that is better off than five in six of all families. A typical engineer or teacher of tomorrow is growing up in a family that is more affluent than two in three families. 7 per cent of the population attend private schools yet … 75 per cent of judges 70 per cent of finance directors 45 per cent of top civil servants 32 per cent of MPs … are privately educated.

14. Literacy and numeracy ‘The biggest obstacle for white working class boys, and to a lesser extent, girls, is their lack of literacy skills’ EHRC 2009 Poor reading and writing scores translate into low achievement during adolescence with subsequent lack of motivation Low ability in reading is one of the key reasons for disengagement Advanced Bridging Courses: post-16 Functional skills.

15. Level 3 Achievement: English/maths 2009

16. Meeting the challenges and improving outcomes • Developing a learning programme that is responsive and supports progression • Giving learners the right information, advice, guidance and individual support • Making learning relevant to the workplace • Ensuring a good level of literacy and numeracy • Raising aspirations and engaging learners • Establishing a culture of continuous improvement through consistency, monitoring and professional development. Ofsted 2010

17. Room at the Top: Take five Championing Young People’s Learning

18. And why?Talking of opportunity ‘The best providers use new qualifications and learning routes to allow learners to work at a pace and level that suit them’ Ofsted 2010 ‘Increased opportunities for work-based and practical learning may improve young people’s engagement with more formal learning. The suggestion of creating pre-apprenticeships and bite-size vocational qualifications was suggested by several stakeholders in the review.’ EHRC 2009 Championing Young People’s Learning

19. And why?Learn from history • ‘In colleges, the highest-attaining students are the most consistently well served. Advanced-level students in sixth form colleges receive teaching that is almost always at least satisfactory. As a result, they achieve well. Some of the most vulnerable young people need to be better served.’ • Ofsted 2005 Championing Young People’s Learning

20. And why? Much excellence … less equity • In 2008/09, 33.3 % of pupils in the most deprived 10% of areas achieved 5 or more GCSEs at grades A*-C or equivalent including English and maths, compared with 72.2 %in the least deprived 10% of areas. • Nearly half of NEET young people come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, compared with less than a quarter of university students • One in seven on FSM leave without a GCSE pass at 16, compared to 2 per cent of all pupils • Across a range of countries, the impact of family background on maths results was highest in the UK.

21. And why?The numbers ‘… the gap in attainment opens by 22 months and an FSM child has around 3 times worse odds of achieving good school outcomes than a non-FSM child at every point in their education after age 5’ (DCSF March 09 p15)

22. And why?Half our future…still! ‘Despite some splendid achievements … there is still much unrealised talent especially among boys and girls whose potential is masked by … the limitations of home background. The country cannot afford this wastage, humanly or economically speaking. The schools will need to present education in terms more acceptable to the pupils and to their parents, by relating more directly to adult life, and especially by taking a proper account of vocational interests’ Half our Future 1963

23. Room at the TopImproving outcomes for disadvantaged young people • Gareth Griffiths • Gareth.Griffiths@ypla.gov.uk Championing Young People’s Learning