Post-16 Partnerships

estyn.llyw.cymru estyn.gov.wales Post-16 partnerships Shared planning and provision between schools, and between schools and colleges January 2021 The purpose of Estyn is to inspect quality and standards in education and training in Wales. Estyn is responsible for inspecting: nursery schools and settings that are maintained by, or receive funding from, local authorities primary schools secondary schools special schools pupil referral units all-age schools independent schools further education independent specialist colleges adult community learning local authority education services for children and young people teacher education and training Welsh for adults work-based learning learning in the justice sector Estyn also: reports to Senedd Cymru and provides advice on quality and standards in education and training in Wales to the Welsh Government and others makes public good practice based on inspection evidence Every possible care has been taken to ensure that the information in this document is accurate at the time of going to press. Any enquiries or comments regarding this document/publication should be addressed to: Publication Section Estyn Anchor Court Keen Road Cardiff CF24 5JW or by email to [email protected] This and other Estyn publications are available on our website: www.estyn.gov.wales This document has been translated by Trosol (English to Welsh). © Crown Copyright 2021: This report may be re-used free of charge in any format or medium provided that it is re-used accurately and not used in a misleading context. The material must be acknowledged as Crown copyright and the title of the document/publication specified. Contents Page Introduction 1 Background 1 Main findings 9 Strategic planning and leadership 9 Partnership working 10 Supporting learner transition to post-16 education 11 Recommendations 12 Strategic planning and leadership 13 Local curriculum planning 13 Leadership and management of shared provision partnerships 16 Funding 17 Quality improvement 18 Strategic planning to support Welsh-medium provision 20 Partnership working 23 Partnership types 23 Shared post-16 provision 24 Professional learning 27 Supporting learner transition to post-16 education 29 Advice and guidance for learners 29 Learner information sharing 32 Appendix 1: Evidence base 34 Appendix 2: Models of shared provision partnerships 36 Appendix 3: Supporting information 38 Glossary 41 References 43 Post-16 partnerships Introduction This report is written in response to a request for advice in the Minister for Education’s annual remit letter to Estyn for 2019-2020. It reports on strategic planning and partnership working for the education of 16 to 19-year-olds in school sixth forms and further education colleges. It provides an overview of the way that mainstream school sixth forms work with each other and with further education colleges, to support learners to study the post-16 courses that best meet their needs and abilities. This scope of this work does not include partnerships between special schools and mainstream schools and colleges. This report aims to contribute to the development of a shared understanding of partnerships at post-16, and to support the Welsh Government, regional consortia, local authorities and providers themselves in their work to improve post-16 provision. It is the latest in a series of Estyn thematic reviews on 16-19 provision in school sixth forms and further education colleges, intended to help inform improvement work and planned reforms to post-compulsory education. Previous reports have focused on A levels (Estyn, 2018), A level Welsh language (Estyn, 2020a), and Business and social studies at A level (Estyn, 2020b). The intended audience for this report is the Welsh Government, school headteachers, college chief executives and principals, teachers in secondary schools and colleges, local authority officers and regional consortia officers. The report draws on evidence from visits to 17 secondary schools and five colleges. Nearly all the thematic activity undertaken as part of this review was conducted prior to the disruption to education caused by the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. As a result, unless specifically stated, this report does not refer to changes made by providers since March 2020 in response to the pandemic. Background Effective partnerships Effective partnerships between schools1 and further or higher education institutions can be defined in terms of seven key characteristics (Essex, 2001). A partnership should: • have a clearly defined purpose and direction • be endorsed by leaders 1 The term ‘school’ is used throughout this report to refer exclusively to a publicly funded provider of mainstream secondary education that encompasses key stage 4 provision. This includes secondary and all-age schools. It does not refer to independent schools or special schools. 1 Post-16 partnerships • involve trust • adopt open communication • involve mutual respect • provide tangible benefits • have mechanisms to assess progress. The development of incentives by external policymakers to encourage collaboration rather than competition is noted as an effective catalyst for improved partnership working (Boswell, 2000). Factors impeding collaboration have previously been identified as initial resistance, communication difficulties, lack of funding and resource, and unclear leadership responsibilities (Nunley et al., 2000). Shared provision partnerships can benefit learners directly by broadening the range of courses available to them. Providers are able to improve the viability of otherwise small teaching groups by sharing their provision and resources. Where partnership work encompasses professional learning activities, teachers and middle leaders are able to learn from, and support, the work of their peers at partner providers. Senior leaders can benefit from valuable contributions into quality improvement processes by colleagues from partner providers. This, together with the ability to draw on subject teaching expertise at partner providers, can help to improve the quality of teaching that learners experience. In addition, sound relationships between different providers often facilitate the smooth transition of learners if they leave one provider to enrol at another. Research suggests that the degree of collaboration between providers is, in general, affected by policy drivers and levers, local context, and institutional positioning and cultures (Higham and Yeomans, 2010). These encompass several factors including the degree of overlap in provision between providers, the geographical nature of the local areas, perceptions of the quality of provision and the quality of care, as well as local and national politics. The local curriculum Several legislative drivers have been used to support and encourage collaboration between providers of education for 16 to 19-year-olds in Wales.2 The Learning and Skills Act 2000 (Great Britain, 2000) led to the establishment of local curricula for learners aged 16 to 19 within each local authority. It specified that a local curriculum should be comprised of courses of study within five learning domains: • mathematics, science and technology • business, administration and law • services for people • arts, media, culture and languages • humanities, social sciences and preparation for life and work The act stipulated the promotion of access to courses taught through the medium of Welsh as part of each local curriculum. It required local authorities, maintained 2 Different pieces of legislation and guidance refer to different but overlapping age ranges; typically 16- 18, 14-19 or 16-19 year-old learners. 2 Post-16 partnerships schools and further education (FE) colleges to assist in planning the local curriculum and placed a duty on these parties to collaborate in joint working. The Learning Pathways 14-19 guidance (National Assembly for Wales 2004, 2006) outlined how local 14-19 Networks should be established to involve learning providers and strategic organisations within each local authority. These networks were tasked with securing continuity, coherence and progression across a wide range of vocational and academic study programmes to meet the needs of 14 to 19-year-old learners. This required co-operation and collaboration between all learning providers and supporting organisations operating within each local area. The ‘Learning Country: Vision into Action’ publication (Welsh Government, 2006) outlined the Welsh Government’s commitment to transform the provision for 14 to 19-year-olds in Wales. As part of this, the Learning Pathways 14-19 initiative aimed to encourage more young people to achieve their potential to be equipped better for the world of work, and to be better informed, more active citizens. The aim was to increase the proportion of 16-year-olds gaining worthwhile qualifications and progressing to further learning in education or training, as well as widening the choice of courses and improving equality of opportunity. Schools, FE colleges and training providers were to work together to provide the learning pathways through a local 14-19 network. To form the pathways, the partners in each local 14-19 network were expected to set out the full range of courses available to learners in the area via an options menu. These menus were to be innovative and collaborative, giving learners opportunities to study across the domains of learning with increased choice, particularly of practical, applied and vocational courses, as well as avoiding

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