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

14-19 PATHFINDERS: THE SECOND YEARGeography from September 2003. It is intended that more schools will offer this opportunityfrom September 2004.517. Progression was also emphasised within structured training in advice and guidancefor school staff provided by the LEA. Individual schools had supplemented this through inhousestaff development. One feature of the Pathfinder is that it has strengthened linksbetween colleges and schools and raised the profile of progression post-16. Despite this onecollege principal argued that some schools continue to give insufficient attention to post-16progression since this is not included in the measures for which they are held accountable.Key issues from the Pathfinder518. The development of the Course Menu was recognised within the Pathfinder as animportant step forward in collaboration and through that the broadening of access andwidening of provision. It was acknowledged that both the processes through which theCourse Menu was produced and the product itself would benefit from further honing andthere was confidence that the menu for 2005/6 would be a significant advance on that for2004/5.519. However, the development of the Course Menu raised the issue of student entitlement.In this Pathfinder there was no intention, at this stage, that all students should, in principle, beable to choose from all options and it was accepted that home schools would act asgatekeepers in communicating the options to the students.520. Leadership in this Pathfinder was firmly located with the LEA, schools and colleges.The roles played by training providers and employers were somewhat limited, althoughwork-related learning was promoted through the Education Business Partnership andexamples were given of various activities in schools. The EBP has also recruited businessmentors to work in schools. However, it was accepted that there was scope to increase theinvolvement of employers and training providers and to raise the profile of work-basedlearning.152