'Home International' Comparative Research Programme for Post
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LSRC research report Establishing a UK ‘Home International’ comparative research programme for post-compulsory learning Establishing a UK ‘Home International’ comparative research programme for post-compulsory learning post-compulsory for programme research International’ comparative a UK ‘Home Establishing reportresearch LSRC Although devolution is leading to growing divergence in education policy, the four countries of the UK still share a substantially common cultural heritage and a similar social context. For this reason researchers and policy analysts may find that comparative studies of practice in the home nations provide more illuminating insights than studies which focus on more exotic or distant locations. This timely piece of research, carried out for LSRC by David Raffe and colleagues at Edinburgh University, provides a convenient summary of the different policy agendas in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and suggests a number of themes which would benefit from researchers’ attention. LSRC research report Establishing a UK ‘Home International’ comparative research programme for post-compulsory learning Establishing a UK ‘Home International’ comparative research programme for post-compulsory learning post-compulsory for programme research International’ comparative a UK ‘Home Establishing reportresearch LSRC Although devolution is leading to growing divergence in education policy, the four countries of the UK still share a substantially common cultural heritage and a similar social context. For this reason researchers and policy analysts may find that comparative studies of practice in the home nations provide more illuminating insights than studies which focus on more exotic or distant locations. This timely piece of research, carried out for LSRC by David Raffe and colleagues at Edinburgh University, provides a convenient summary of the different policy agendas in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and suggests a number of themes which would benefit from researchers’ attention. LSRC research report Section Establishing a UK ‘Home International’ comparative research programme for post-compulsory learning Delma Byrne David Raffe Centre for Educational Sociology University of Edinburgh The Learning and Skills Research Centre is supported by the Learning and Skills Council and the Department for Education and Skills. It is managed by the Learning and Skills Development Agency Published by the Learning and Skills Research Centre www.LSRC.ac.uk Feedback should be sent to: Mick Fletcher Research Manager Learning and Skills Research Centre Learning and Skills Development Agency Regent Arcade House 19–25 Argyll Street London W1F 7LS Tel 01823 446035 [email protected] Copyedited by Nick Sweeney Designed by sans+baum Printed by Blackmore Ltd Shaftesbury, Dorset 051992RS/05/05/1500 ISBN 1 84572 175 6 © Learning and Skills Development Agency 2005 All rights reserved Registered with the Charity Commissioners You are welcome to copy this publication for internal use within your organisation. Otherwise, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrical, chemical, optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the copyright owner. LSRC researchLSRC report research report Contents Acknowledgements Executive summary 1 Section 1 Introduction 1.1 Context 1.2 Scope of the study 1.3 Outline of report 3 Section 2 Home international comparisons 2.1 Context 2.2 Purposes 2.3 Existing research 9 Section 3 Methods 11 Section 4 Current policy issues in the four home countries 4.1 Introduction 4.2 England 4.3 Northern Ireland 4.4 Scotland 4.5 Wales 4.6 Republic of Ireland 4.7 International perspectives 4.8 Discussion 35 Section 5 Selecting issues for comparison 5.1 Introduction 5.2 The current influence of home international comparisons 5.3 Interviewees’ suggestions 5.4 International perspectives 5.5 Proposed topics 41 Section 6 Proposed issues for comparative study 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Approaches to a unified curriculum and qualifications framework for 14–19 year olds 6.3 Apprenticeship and work-based training for young people 6.4 Foundation degrees, HNCs and HNDs 6.5 ‘Threshold skills’ for adults 6.6 Credit frameworks 6.7 Employer engagement in planning and funding 67 Section7 Concluding comments 69 Appendix Acronyms 73 Bibliography Tables 35 1 Issues where cross-border comparisons had been influential in the past (interviewee suggestions) 37 2 Interviewees’ suggested topics for future cross-border research LSRC research report Acknowledgements We would like to thank the many individuals who contributed to this report. Michael Frearson and subsequently Mick Fletcher, our main contacts at the LSDA, were unfailing in their support and enthusiasm for the project. Our project steering group – also including Trevor Carson, Rhys Davies, Peter Grigg, Sonia Reynolds, John McCann and Tom Leney – helped us to scope the areas of study, identified policy documents, other literature and key informants, and provided useful feedback on earlier drafts. We also benefited from the useful feedback from John Hart, Bob Osborne and Marie Thompson. Our colleagues Cathy Howieson and Jenny Ozga were members of the project team and gave help and advice at all stages of the study. Finally, thanks to our interviewees for responding to our questions and, in many cases, giving continued support through follow-on conversations and communications. Conventions of confidentiality prevent us from naming them, but we are grateful for their help. The errors and omissions remain the sole responsibility of the authors. LSRC research report AExecutive head summary Section 1 Introduction This report makes recommendations for a programme of ‘home international’ comparative research into post-compulsory learning, comparing the four home countries of the UK. Such a programme would be timely because the political devolution of 1999 has increased the differences between the post-compulsory learning systems of the four countries. A programme of home international comparative research could help policy makers, learners, practitioners and other stakeholders to understand these differences. It could also exploit the potential for policy learning by comparing the different policy approaches followed in the four home countries. We define ‘post-compulsory learning’ to cover further education, school education beyond 16, work-based learning and adult and continuing education, and to include the interfaces with other sectors. We place our study in the context of wider international comparisons. Section 2 Home international comparisons Distinctive post-compulsory learning systems in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have developed in three phases: the establishment of national systems with (in varying degrees) distinctive characteristics; the devolution of administrative responsibilities to territorial departments of the UK government before 1999; and the political devolution of 1999. In many areas of post-compulsory learning, the devolved administrations have followed different policies and approaches from England. These differences are a potential resource for policy-relevant research, and comparisons of the current and emerging differences among the home countries may have value both for scientific understanding and for policy learning. This is partly because contextual factors, which often confound other international comparisons, vary less across the home countries. Home international comparisons are not a qualitatively distinct type of research; they can be seen as part of a spectrum of cross-national comparative studies. While a programme of home international research might serve any of the purposes served by other comparative research, it is likely to have two particular strengths. It has more potential to support policy learning, and it may provide information of practical value to policy makers and other stakeholders. Section 3 Methods We designed the study in three stages, which correspond to Sections 4, 5 and 6. These respectively reviewed policy issues and developments in each home country, selected the issues that would be most profitable for home international comparative research, and spelt out the context and rationale for each of these issues. Our sources of data were a review of policy documents, policy analyses, commentaries and selected research; 25 interviews with policy makers, members of public agencies, policy analysts, academics and members of international organisations; and less formal communications with contacts across the UK and Europe. Section 4 Current policy issues in the four home countries The key policy documents for post-compulsory learning in England include Success for All, published in 2002, which introduced a strategy for reforming further education; the Skills Strategy of 2003, the 2003 White Paper on The Future of Higher Education, the 2004 Tomlinson Report on 14–19 education, and the DfES’ Five Year Strategy also published in 2004. Many of the issues covered by these documents have been the subject of more specific policy statements or reports. Our interviewees considered a key issue on the current agenda to be the reform of arrangements for planning, funding, regulation, quality assurance and performance management; this was a condition for the success of other key reforms, among which the reform of 14–19 education was also mentioned as a key issue. Other current issues include