Transcript Document

Cynhadledd Genedlaethol
ar Gymwysterau
National Conference
on Qualifications
Sylwadau agoriadol
Opening remarks
Mark Jones
Uwch-Ddirprwy Gadeirydd, ColegauCymru
Senior Vice-Chair, ColegauCymru
Adolygiad Cymwysterau: yr her
Review of Qualifications: the challenge
Jeff Cuthbert AC/AM
Dirprwy Weinidog dros Sgiliau
Deputy Minister for Skills
Adolygiad Lloegr o Gymwysterau
Galwedigaethol
Review of Qualifications in England
Yr Athro / Professor Alison Wolf
Professor of Public Sector Management
Kings College, London
Review commissioned by England’s
Secretary of State for Education,
Michael Gove MP
September 2010 - March 2011
To consider how we can improve
vocational education for 14-19
year olds and thereby promote
successful progression into the
labour market and into higher
level education and training
routes.
Government Response: May
2011
All recommendations accepted
A little history…
• Constant reviews of technical and vocational education
from 1868 onwards
• Under recent Labour administrations, major Skills
Commission reports for Education/Employment Dept
superseded 5 years later by Leitch Review/Report for
Treasury
• Effective nationalisation of vocational qualifications in
late 80s/early 90s
• Formal vocational and quasi-vocational education in
school sixth forms with GNVQs, in KS4 (or even younger)
much more recently
Social and economic change (1)
• Rise in educational participation post-16
• Increase in numbers entering HE and in
numbers aspiring to it
• Collapse of youth labour market
16-17 unemployment
40
ILO Unemployment Rate
ILO Unemployment as a proportion of age group
35
30
Per cent
25
20
15
10
5
0
1992
1993
Source: ONS
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
16-17 employment
80
Employment rate for those not in Full Time Education
Employment rate as a proportion of age group
70
60
Per cent
50
40
30
20
10
0
1992
1993
Source: ONS
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
Social and economic change(2)
• Belief in ever-increasing demand for ‘skills’ and in
number of highly skilled jobs.
• Reality of ‘hour-glass’ economy and decline in midlevel skilled occupations
• Reality of a society in which certain formal
qualifications are critically important for educational
and occupational success
• Belief that all qualifications can be/be made valuable
by government action
Policy pre-2011
• Recent reforms focused heavily on qualifications – NVQs,
GNVQs, Vocational GCSEs and A levels, Diploma
• Central accountability regime: behaviour of schools
driven by KS4 league tables
• ‘Equivalences’ and Qualification and Credit Framework
reforms: qualifications placed on modular basis, all
entitled to values based on level and ‘guided learning
hours’
• Post-16 funding by qualification with strong element of
payment-by-results. (Pre-16 essentially per-pupil.)
Growth in ‘GCSE’ equivalent qualifications
• 2004 - a total of 15,000 achieved by 15/16
year olds in England
• 2010 – a total of 575,000 achieved by 15/16
year olds in England
Key Research (1)
•
•
•
•
•
Very low average returns to NVQs
High returns to apprenticeships
High returns to English and Maths
High returns to employment
Motivation is crucial - effective learning
requires it
Key Research (2)
• Young people change jobs, occupations and
sectors very frequently.
• Among lower-achieving students there is a great
deal of ‘churn’ post-GCSE, in and out of education
and employment. Very few are ‘NEET’ for a year
or more.
• There is no clear or conclusive evidence to
support the idea that practical and vocational
courses are inherently more motivating for
lower-attaining or disengaged students.
Key research (3)
• The courses which schools and colleges offer,
and the steer they give to young people, are
driven to a significant degree by league table
and funding pressures, and not only by
students’ best interests.
Key Research (4)
• Employers do not keep up with successive
reforms, and indeed quite consciously choose
not to
• A few qualifications have recognition and
value, others are ignored
• Some specific well-established vocational
awards have value: otherwise, English and
Maths, A levels, degrees.
Focus of review and
recommendations:
setting ground rules
simplification
decentralisation
Underlying assumptions (1)
• Early specialisation is undesirable. 14-16 year
olds should all follow a broad and largely
common curriculum which does not pre-empt
later choices. (This implies changes to the ‘four
pathways’ approach inherited from the last
government.)
• Achieving Maths and English at C and above
should be given priority post-16 as well as pre-16
because of their central and increasing
importance.
Underlying assumptions (2)
• “Forced’ equivalences (and speeches about
‘parity of esteem’) do nothing positive for the
respect in which different qualifications and skills
are held.
• Courses which are ‘non-academic’ or ‘vocational’
gain respect when and because they teach
difficult and valued skills to a high level, lead onto
desirable future opportunities or both. So that is
what we should encourage and aim at.
Underlying assumptions (3)
• Vocational and practical programmes need to be
taught by genuine experts.
• Competition between institutions can be
extremely valuable provided the underlying
incentives encourage competition on quality and
provided students and their families are given
good and accurate information.
• Most 16-19 year old students, and the families of
most 14-19 year olds, can and do make use of
information in a sophisticated way.
Over-arching conclusions
• Back away from qualification reform as the main
(almost the only) policy instrument
• Stop the obsession with qualification numbers
• Recognise the difference between full time
education for the young and specific training: - the
QCF is an unsuitable foundation for young people’s
education and qualifications
• Refocus on programmes of study – but not through
more qualifications, through general guidelines for
institutions
Conceptualising 14-19 Education:
Recommendations 1 -10
• Moving conceptualisation and control of
qualifications away from centralised quangoes
• Opening up pathways – improving and increasing
the general education component in vocational
programmes
• Developing programmes post-16, not
accumulations of separate qualifications: but
allowing this to happen bottom-up, not through
yet another centralised development of new
qualifications
Key recommendations relating to
qualifications
Accepted and being
implemented
Recommendation 1
The DfE should distinguish clearly between
those qualifications, both vocational and
academic, which can contribute to performance
indicators at Key Stage 4, and those
which cannot. The decision criteria should be
explicit and public. They will include
considerations of depth and breadth (including
consultation with/endorsement by
relevant outside bodies), but also assessment
and verification arrangements which ensure
that national standards are applied to all
candidates.
Recommendation 2
At Key Stage 4, schools should be
free to offer any qualifications they
wish from a regulated Awarding
Body whether or not these are
approved for performance
measurement purposes, subject to
statutory/health and safety
requirements.
Recommendation 3
Non-GCSE/iGCSE qualifications from the approved list
(recommendation 1 above) should make a limited contribution
to an individual student’s score on any performance measures
that use accumulated and averaged point scores. This will
safeguard pupils’ access to a common general core as a
basis for progression.
At the same time, any point based measures should also be
structured so that schools do not have a strong incentive
to pile up huge numbers of qualifications per student, and
therefore are free to offer all students practical and vocational
courses as part of their programme.
Recommendation 5
The overall study programmes of all 16-18 year
olds in ‘vocational’ programmes ….should be
governed by a set of general principles relating
primarily to content, general structure,
assessment arrangements and contact time.
Provided these are met …. institutions should be
free to offer any qualifications they please from a
recognised (i.e. regulated) awarding body, and
encouraged to include non-qualifications-based
activity.
Recommendation 6
16-19 year old students pursuing full time courses of
study should not follow a programme which is entirely
‘occupational’, or based solely on courses which
directly reflect, and do not go beyond, the content of
National Occupational Standards. Their programmes
should also include at least one qualification of
substantial size (in terms of teaching time) which
offers clear potential for progression either in
education or into skilled employment.
Recommendation 9
Students who are under 19 and do not have
GCSE A*-C in English and/or Maths should
be required, as part of their programme, to
pursue a course which either leads directly to
these qualifications, or which provide
significant progress towards future GCSE
entry and success.
Gweithdai: trafod ac adnabod
prif bwyntiau polisi
Workshops and discussions to identify
the key policy points
Adolygiad Cymwysterau:
cwestiynau allweddol
Review of Qualifications: key questions
Huw Evans OBE
Cadeirydd yr Adolygiad
Chair of the Review
Gweledigaeth newydd A new vision for
qualifications in
i gymwysterau yng
Wales
Nghymru
Y weledigaeth yw
cael cymwysterau a
gaiff eu deall a’u
gwerthfawrogi ac
sy’n diwallu
anghenion ein pobl
ifanc ac economi
Cymru.
The vision is to have
qualifications that
are understood and
valued and meet the
needs of our young
people and the Welsh
economy.
Y dull o Adolygu
Cymwysterau
The Qualifications
Review methodology
 Cadeirydd a Bwrdd
Adolygu Annibynnol
 Independent Chair
and Review Board
 Yn Atebol i’r
Dirprwy Weinidog
Addusg
 Accountability to the
Deputy Minister for
Education
 Cylch Gwaith a
Chwmpas Pendant
 Focused Remit and
Scope
 Adolygiad seiliedig
ar dystiolaeth
 Evidence-based
review
Y dull o Adolygu
Cymwysterau
The Qualifications
Review methodology
 Ffrydiau Gwaith
Mewnol
 Internal Work
Streams
 Cynllun ymgysylltu â
rhanddeiliaid
cynhwysol
 Inclusive stakeholder
engagement plan
 Argymhellion ar sail
risgiau a aseswyd
 Datblygu polisi
cynaliadwy
 Risk assessed
recommendations
 Development of a
sustainable policy
Llinellau amser yr
Adolygiad o
Gymwysterau
The Qualifications
Review
timelines
 Cam 1
Tystiolaeth/Ymgysylltu
Tachwedd 2011 - Mai
2012
 Phase 1
Evidence/Engagement
November 2011 – May
2012
 Cam 2
Ymgynghoriad ffurfiol
Mehefin 2012 – Awst
2012
 Phase 2
Formal consultation
June 2012 – August
2012
Llinellau amser yr
Adolygiad o
Gymwysterau
The Qualifications
Review
timelines
 Cam 3
Drafftio/Adroddiad
Terfynol
Medi 2012 – Tachwedd
2012
 Phase 3
Drafting/Final Report
September 2012 –
November 2012
 Cam 4
Llunio Polisi
Tachwedd 2012+
 Phase 4
Policy formulation
November 2012+
Themâu sy’n dod i’r
amlwg o Fforwm Trafod
ColegauCymru
Gwerth
cymwysterau
 Yr angen am ddimensiwn
Cymreig yng nghyd-destun y
DU
 Cydnabod bod yn rhaid i
gymwysterau arwain at
gyflogadwyedd
 Yr angen i ddatblygu
fframwaith hyblyg
 Anawsterau o ran dehongli
gwerth
Emerging themes
from the ColegauCymru
Discussion Forum
Value and worth of
qualifications
 The need for a Wales
dimension in a UK context
 Recognition that
qualifications must lead to
employability
 A need to develop a flexible
framework
 Difficulties in interpreting
value and worth
Themâu sy’n dod i’r
amlwg o Fforwm Trafod
ColegauCymru
Gwerth
cymwysterau
Emerging themes
from the ColegauCymru
Discussion Forum
Value and worth of
qualifications
 Cydberthnasau rhwng sgiliau
swyddogaethol, cymwysterau
a sgiliau cyflogadwyedd
 Relationships between
functional skills, qualifications
and employability skills
 Amrywiaeth o faterion sy’n
ymwneud â’r sgiliau
allweddol/sgiliau hanfodol
ehangach
 A range of issues related to the
wider key skills/essential skills
 Dim barn gyson ar werth
cymwysterau prif ffrwd
 No consistent view of the value
of mainstream qualifications
Themâu sy’n dod i’r
amlwg o Fforwm Trafod
ColegauCymru
Gwerth
cymwysterau
Emerging themes
from the ColegauCymru
Discussion Forum
Value and worth of
qualifications
 Cydnabod pwysigrwydd
addysg gyffredinol 14-16,
gan ymgorffori opsiynau
galwedigaethol
 Recognition of the importance
of general education, 14-16,
incorporating vocational
options
 Prinder data ar ddilyniant
 Lack of progression data
Themâu sy’n dod i’r
amlwg o Fforwm Trafod
ColegauCymru
Asesiad
Emerging themes
from the ColegauCymru
Discussion Forum
Assessment
 Cefnogaeth gyffredinol i fwy
o asesiadau allanol
 General support for enhanced
external assessment
 Cefnogaeth i raddio o fewn
Bagloriaeth Cymru
 Support for grading within the
Welsh Baccalaureate
 Gwerth dull cytbwys o
gefnogi’r agenda gynhwysiant
 The value of a balanced
approach to support the
inclusion agenda
 Nifer y bobl sy’n cyflawni
graddau TGAU A*-C peri
pryder
 Achievement of A*-C in GCSEs
- a cause for concern
Themâu sy’n dod i’r
amlwg o Fforwm Trafod
ColegauCymru
Llythrennedd/Rhifedd
Emerging themes
from the ColegauCymru
Discussion Forum
Literacy/Numeracy
 Rhoi mwy o bwyslais ar
lythrennedd/rhifedd yn
Saesneg/Mathemateg TGAU
 Greater emphasis placed on
literacy/numeracy within GCSE
English/Maths
 System unedig o brofi sgiliau
sylfaenol drwy’r cyfnodau
allweddol ym myd addysg
 Unified system of basic skills
testing throughout the key
phases of education
 Egluro’r gydberthynas rhwng
Saesneg/Mathemateg TGAU a
sgiliau hanfodol
 Clarify the relationship between
GCSE English/Maths and
essential skills
Themâu sy’n dod i’r
amlwg o Fforwm Trafod
ColegauCymru
Bagloriaeth Cymru
 Cyfle i ailddiffinio ac ymestyn
angen gwerthuso hygrededd
Emerging themes
from the ColegauCymru
Discussion Forum
Welsh Baccalaureate
 An opportunity to redefine and
extend credibility needs to be
evaluated
Themâu sy’n dod i’r
amlwg o Fforwm Trafod
ColegauCymru
Cyllid
 Cyllid ar sail rhaglen
myfyrwyr, nid cymwysterau
 Mwy ymatebol i anghenion
lleol
Emerging themes
from the ColegauCymru
Discussion Forum
Funding
 Funding to be on a student
programme basis, not
qualification
 More responsive to local needs
Themâu sy’n dod i’r
amlwg o Fforwm Trafod
ColegauCymru
Materion eraill
Emerging themes
from the ColegauCymru
Discussion Forum
Other issues
 Arweiniad – pwysigrwydd
cyngor diduedd
 Guidance – the importance of
impartial advice
 Cyflogwyr – dim barn
bendant na chyson
 Employers – no defined and
consistent view
 Cyfrwng Cymraeg – nis
amlygir fel mater penodol
 Welsh Medium – not highlighted
as a specific issue
 Darpariaeth i fyfyrwyr
llwyddiannus
 Provision for high achievers
Themâu sy’n dod i’r
amlwg o’r adolygiad o
Gymwysterau 14-19
Emerging themes
from 14-19 Qualification
Review
 Effaith dargyfeirio o weddill y
DU
 Impact of divergence from rest
of the UK
 Agenda Lloegr – effaith
donnog
 The England agenda – ripple
effect
 Cymwysterau i Gymru
 Qualifications for Wales
 Ymateb i newidiadau yn yr
economi
 Responding to changes in the
economy
 Modelu ar sail gwlad
 Country based modelling
 Diffiniad o 14-19
 Definition of 14-19
Themâu sy’n dod i’r
amlwg o’r adolygiad o
Gymwysterau 14-19
Emerging themes
from 14-19 Qualification
Review
 Hyder y cyhoedd yn y system
gymwysterau
 Public confidence in the
qualification system
 Swyddogaeth a diben
cymwysterau
 The function and purpose of
qualifications
 Ffactorau sy’n effeithio ar y
dewis o gymwysterau
 Factors impacting on the choice
of qualifications
 Cadernid v cynhwysiant
 Robustness v inclusion
 Rheoleiddio a’r farchnad
arholiadau
 Regulation and the examinations
market place
Casgliadau
Ein gweledigaeth yw cael
cymwysterau a gaiff eu deall a’u
gwerthfawrogi ac sy’n diwallu
anghenion ein pobl ifanc ac
economi Cymru. Felly mae
angen system gymwysterau
arnom sy’n:
 berthnasol i anghenion Cymru
Conclusions
Our vision is to have
qualifications that are
understood and valued and
meet the needs of our young
people and the Welsh economy.
We therefore need a
qualification system that:
 is relevant to the needs of
Wales
 cyfrannu’n uniongyrchol at allu’r
genedl
 directly contributes to the
capability of the nation
 darparu cyfleoedd datblygu da y
gellir eu mesur
 provides good progression
opportunities which can be
measured
Casgliadau
Ein gweledigaeth yw cael
cymwysterau a gaiff eu deall a’u
gwerthfawrogi ac sy’n diwallu
anghenion ein pobl ifanc ac
economi Cymru. Felly mae
angen system gymwysterau
arnom sy’n:
 bodloni gofynion trylwyredd
mewn amgylchedd cynhwysol
Conclusions
Our vision is to have
qualifications that are
understood and valued and
meet the needs of our young
people and the Welsh economy.
We therefore need a
qualification system that:
 satisfies the requirements of
rigour in an inclusive
environment
 sicrhau parch cydradd ar gyfer
addysg alwedigaethol ac addysg  provides parity of esteem for
gyffredinol
vocational and general
education
Gweithdai – ymateb i’r cwestiynau
allweddol
Workshops – responding to the
key questions
Gweithdai:
dewsiwch un
Workshops:
choose one
1. Perthnasedd
1. Relevance
2. Mesur Perfformiad
2. Measuring Performance
3. Sgiliau Hanfodol
3. Essential Skills
4. Cymhwyster Bagloriaeth
Cymru
4. Welsh Baccalaureate
5. Asesiad
5. Assessment
Crynhoi a’r ffordd ymlaen
Summary and next steps
Dr John Graystone
Prif Weithredwr, ColegauCymru
Chief Executive, ColegauCymru
Cynhadledd Genedlaethol
ar Gymwysterau
National Conference
on Qualifications