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

14-19 PATHFINDERS: THE SECOND YEARGATESHEAD PATHFINDERThe local context262. The Gateshead Pathfinder contains eleven secondary schools, four specialschools and one further education college. The Pathfinder project reports to the local 14-19 Task group which is an important component of the Lifelong Learning Partnership.263. The area encompasses considerable diversity. There is deprivation anddisadvantage in the central Gateshead area, while some of the suburban areas are moreaffluent. The western part of the area is relatively rural and contains some former miningareas as well as small commuting towns. There are significant pockets of deprivation inthese former mining communities.264. Gateshead schools reflect this diversity with wide differences in attainmentlevels at 16 and 18, although overall performance at 16 is better than the average forEngland. Participation rates in full-time and part-time education and training at 16 and 17are slightly below the England average. There are also opportunities for students to studyoutside Gateshead, especially across the Tyne in Newcastle, and in some areas transportroutes to Newcastle are better than those to central Gateshead.265. Economically, Gateshead has benefited from the wider regeneration of theTyne and Wear area which has brought about shifts in the labour market, which as weshall see, the Pathfinder is aiming to respond to.Focus of the Pathfinder266. The Pathfinder objectives include: building a new post-16 curriculum incentral Gateshead, enhancing and developing the range and scope of the 14-19 curriculumin the rural west, developing new vocational pathways and new concepts in enterpriseeducation.84