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

14-19 PATHFINDERS: THE SECOND YEARwhich have taken place in each of the five consortia areas. These predated the more wideranging LSC Strategic Area Review currently being conducted. In addition, as a result ofan Ofsted Area Wide Inspection of 16-19 provision that was undertaken in the Spring of2003, there is a detailed West Cumbria Action Plan which acknowledges that plans forPathfinder and post- inspection ‘complement and enhance each other’ and that ‘Theachievement of the Pathfinder aims will effectively address most of the 14 issues forattention identified in the Area Wide Inspection report’.246. Personnel also have dual roles. For example, the area Pathfinder coordinatorfor South Lakes is also responsible for the South Lakes Action Plan and the WestCumbria coordinator is also employed by the LSC and spends half of her time withresponsibility for the implementation of the West Cumbria Action Plan.247. These high levels of strategic integration are probably helped by the fact thatthe LEA and local LSC boundaries are contiguous and there are good workingrelationships between the two organisations.248. Among the county-wide objectives there have been significant developmentsin e-learning. These have been facilitated by the appointment of a consultant.249. The focus has been on interactive teaching and learning which has beenencouraged by 11-19 schools in Cumbria piloting Herriot Watt’s Scholar software. Thisis a series of interactive learning packages to support A level Physics, Chemistry, Maths,Biology. It has been used as an example of how learning might be helped using ICT. Inaddition there have been some CPD courses to encourage teachers to develop their owncurriculum materials. This has led, for example, to a teachers group working together todevelop GCSE engineering materials. To support these developments the consultant hasbeen researching appropriate virtual learning environment (VLE) packages which can beused to publish and access the learning materials created by teachers in Cumbria. It hasbeen recognised that there is a need for a robust platform which can also link to the SIMSmanagement system used in the schools. Recently an agreement has been made toundertake a pilot scheme to test a commercially developed VLE system which, it isanticipated, will provide a sound basis for further development.80