Collaborative Approaches to 14-19 Provision - Communities and ...

14-19 PATHFINDERS: THE SECOND YEARhospitality & catering and leisure & tourism has been taken on jointly by Sheffield College,the local education-business partnership and the Employers’ Forum who organised a series ofsector specific events for employers. The work of the intermediaries is still at a relativelyearly stage and it is too early to judge which of the various approaches is most effective.While the broad objectives of the role are clear the ways in which these are worked out inrelation to specific employers and schools needs to be interpreted flexibly 7 .466. One innovative development has been the introduction of an acceleratedapprenticeship route. This is operated through a partnership between two schools and atraining provider. Students drawn from the two schools are studying for a GCSE in Health &Social Care. Alongside this they are able to study for some units of an apprenticeship. Thiswill facilitate progression to an apprenticeship post-16. The course is taught by trainingprovider staff mainly in the schools, but with some sessions at the training provider premises.A range of visits to health and social care establishments is also an integral part of the course.This initiative is also linked to two LSDA-funded development projects and has excitedconsiderable interest in the possibilities of combining GCSE study with acceleratedapprenticeship training.467. During our visit we met a group of students undertaking the course. They were veryenthusiastic about the course so far, particularly their relationships with training providerstaff, the visits which they had undertaken and the adults other than teachers who had beeninvolved in the course. Feedback from schools and the training provider staff was alsopositive and the early indications are that the students are on course to achieve both GCSEand apprenticeship qualifications.468. This example draws attention to the role of training providers within the pathfinder.As noted above the AWI had been critical of several aspects of work-based learning andtherefore the pathfinder has tended to be cautious in its use of training providers in order toensure quality provision.7 We intend to carry out additional research into the work of the sector intermediaries and will be able to reportfurther on their work in our February 2005 report.139