BUILDING THE FUTURE OF 14-19 EDUCATION
What does teaching and learning in 14-19 education look like and how is it best moved forward?
14-19 education in England is to be transformed by 2013, with innovative provision for academic and vocational learning. members of CfLaT - Ann Briggs and Ian Hall have been involved in projects exploring existing provision and what this innovation might look like. They have mapped young people’s perceptions of their current learning experience, the range, equity and perceived effectiveness of provision, ways in which student achievement is valued, and young people’s aspirations for future education and employment. They are also working with 14-19 providers to innovate and move provision forwards.
How are effective partnerships in 14-19 education led?
Schools, colleges, training providers and other agencies must collaborate to offer the full new range of 14-19 education. How are these partnerships to be led? How can institutions work collaboratively when they are evaluated individually? How may a range of subjects be offered and learners supported across each locality? CfLaT / North Leadership Centre research has investigated and modelled this innovative process.
What can we learn from locally managed provision?
CfLaT evaluations - involving Jill Clark, Ulrike Thomas, Colleen Cummings and Ann Briggs - of local specialised provision for disengaged learners gives insight into how local management of flexible supportive programmes can motivate reluctant 14-16 learners. The success of individualised support and programmes which foster achievement in learning new skills has strong relevance for the wider 14-19 programme.
“They need to feel that they can be going places and doing things with their life that may be entirely different from what their families have done, and they can be confident that they can do things like that.”
“I like to understand things thoroughly and not just for exams. It is most rewarding for me to know that I actually understand something.”
(Respondent voices from 14-19 research)
To download a full report of this recent evaluation, please click here.
To download a poster detailing our current theme, please click here.
Ann Briggs recently presented a paper entitled: 'Educational leaders as partners: new models of leadership?' at the CCEAM Conference in Durban, South Africa. To download a copy of this paper, please click here. To download the PowerPoint presentation, please click here.
More recently, Ann Briggs, Jill Clark and Ian Hall have been awarded funds through the University Strategic Fund to explore the theme of 'transition' between schools and colleges and the University. The project is to learn about student transition from Secondary to Higher Education. The aim is to find out about the experience of transition for those planning to go to university and those already in their first year of university life and whether improvements to the process can be made. This will be achieved by gathering evidence from a range of stakeholders including teachers, lecturers, Local Authority staff and students currently in secondary education and those students in their first year of university education. The project addresses the following criteria:
• Increased knowledge of the secondary and higher education environment and better knowledge of what student expectations are (e.g. study into pre-entry expectations; opportunities for Newcastle staff to meet secondary school teachers and share knowledge)
• Increased knowledge of both how school students learn and what they learn (curriculum).
A significant element of the project will be the synthesis of knowledge already held about students in transition, and the impact of programmes to support them. Fresh data will be collected from Northumberland school applicants, from applicants in North East (NE) colleges and from students post-entry who have experienced pre-entry programmes, to increase our knowledge of student expectations and experiences. The outputs will be in a range of communication media, to suit specific purposes.
If you would like to commission similar research, or find out more about our current projects in this area, please contact Jill Clark