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

14-19 PATHFINDERS: THE SECOND YEAR258. For the future, nuclear decommissioning will change employment and skillneeds and, through the West Cumbria 14-19 strategy, plans are being developed torespond to these changes.Key issues from the Pathfinder259. One of the key issues concerned the balance of priorities between the countywideobjectives and the consortia objectives and the resources deployed to support each.This was particularly pertinent given the geographical extent of the Pathfinder, thenumber of institutions involved, especially schools, and the high degrees of autonomyexercised by the schools. These factors, together with the patchy provision of furthereducation and work-based learning across Cumbria made the strategic management ofthe Pathfinder and 14-19 developments particularly complex.260. There is concern within the Pathfinder about the high costs of collaboration. Agroup of heads, principals, LEA and LSC staff are working to specify these costs andproduce proposals for ways in which they may be met. Some of these costs are investedin staff appointments and the Pathfinder coordinator estimated that a minimum of £250kper annum in staff appointments is needed to make collaboration work. Since our firstvisit in 2003 the management of the Pathfinder had been strengthened through theappointment of consortia coordinators on fixed term contracts working 50% on Pathfinderactivities. We have also noted the use of consultants to drive the work forward in otherareas.261. Travel is another source of costs although there seemed to be no overallapproach to paying for student transport between institutions and practice appeared tovary across and within consortia. This issue is acknowledged and there are plans to bringthe various transport related activities in the five areas together under one co-ordinatingplan, driven by the county Transport (Education) Forum.83