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

14-19 PATHFINDERS: THE SECOND YEARtimetabling to ensure that students were able to access the core curriculum during their timein school.116. A few pathfinders had gone further than this and established entirely discreteprovision for smaller groups of the most disengaged learners who were on the brink ofexclusion or were thought likely to drop-out of school (see Knowsley case study). Theseprogrammes employed a mix of college, training provider and employer placements andcombine this vocational work with key skills study.117. A fourth form of broadening of the 14-16 curriculum was the early introduction ofAS-levels. As indicated at paragraph 154 this option was pursued by a minority ofpathfinders. It will be described in more detail below.118. While the main focus on broadening the curriculum and developing work-relatedlearning took place at 14-16, there were a number of pathfinders which also focused stronglyon post-16. In these cases collaboration was used to expand the range of both academic andvocational options open to post-16 learners. For example, the development of CG6 inGateshead involving several schools and the college opened up a wider range of AS/A2 andAVCE courses. There was evidence that this collaborative approach was beginning to impactupon full-time staying on rates in the inner city area of Gateshead. In Norfolk a new one-yearLeadership and Management course had been developed in collaboration with a localcompany and council. In Coventry there was a particular emphasis on developing level 2post-16 courses which combined BTEC First with NVQs and involved collaborative workingbetween schools, colleges and training providers (see case studies for more details on theseexamples).119. A number of barriers to the broadening of the curriculum and the development ofwork-related learning were identified. Some of these were highly localised but severalemerged as common to a number of pathfinders.120. The first of these concerned the capacity of colleges and training providers to providesufficient vocational opportunities. This was partly because of pressure on specialisedfacilities, such as hairdressing salons and motor vehicle workshops. Some colleges had40