Youth and literacy update

Fall in school-leavers working or training

The Telegraph has reported on new figures from the DfES which have shown that more than one in 10 young people in England are not in education, employment or training. This represents 206,000 16 to 18-year-olds and has risen from about one in 12 of the same group in 1997. Critics said that it reflected Tony Blair’s real education legacy, while the Tories insisted that 1.25 million 16 to 24-year-olds were officially inactive.

(Telegraph, 27 June 2007)

One in 10 fails in basic education

A tenth of 16-year-olds left school in 2005 with poor literacy or numeracy skills. Official figures show that about 60,000 16-year-olds did not pass GCSE English or maths. And one in 20, almost 32,000 teenagers, failed to gain a GCSE in both subjects.

More than 35,000 pupils did not sit GCSE English, and 27,000 did not take maths. Critics said the results, published by the Department for Education and Skills, showed that millions of pounds spent by the Government had failed to deliver the promise of literacy and numeracy for all.

The Confederation of British Industry said employers were increasingly worried about young people's lack of basic skills. The results showed boys are more likely than girls to fail both English and maths, with 9% failing to get a GCSE in each subject. A total of 5% of girls failed English and 6% failed maths. Overall, 47,000 school-leavers do not have maths GCSE; 45,000 do not have English and one in 10 failed to gain a GCSE in any science.

The statistics also reveal that the numbers of pupils without basic literacy and numeracy qualifications has fallen since Labour came to power. The proportion of pupils gaining at least five A*-G grade GCSEs, including English and maths, increased from 83.9% in 1996-7 to 88% in 2005. Pupils who sat their GCSEs last year were in primary school when Tony Blair came to power.

(TES, 9 June 2006)

Linking 3Rs to jobs produces 'startling' results

New research suggests that making literacy and numeracy classes relevant to students' chosen careers produces dramatic improvements in basic skills. The research team tracked 2,000 students on courses at level 2 (GCSE-equivalent) and below to investigate whether literacy and numeracy improved more quickly if they were taught in a more co-ordinated way alongside vocational subjects.

This involved encouraging key skills lecturers to look at the jobs in which their students' literacy and numeracy skills will be used. The results were "startling", according to the National Research and Development Centre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy. Helen Casey, director of the NRDC project, said: "Our study shows that, if the vocational relevance of literacy and numeracy is made clear to learners, their attitudes can be transformed."

At Wirral Metropolitan college, information about individual students and courses is shared by vocational trainers and key skills tutors on a computer system. This way, both gain a better insight into their students' needs. They also learn about each other's teaching disciplines. The research found that 93% of literacy students gained key skills qualifications on such so-called "embedded" courses, compared with just 50% elsewhere.

The survey found a joined-up approach between two sets of tutors was more effective than expecting individual lecturers to provide both key skills and vocational training. Ms Casey said: "It's asking too much. Vocational teachers prefer, understandably, to teach in their areas of expertise."

(TES, 19 May 2006)

A-level fees scrapped for under-25s

Young people will be able to sit A-levels up to the ages of 25 for free as a result of the Budget. The move, costing £25m, is designed to give all those who struggle at school a "second chance" to boost their education. Earlier this week a think-tank report revealed that the number of youngsters dropping out of full-time education or training at age 16 had soared by a third in the past decade.

Around 12.6% of the age group now quit school, make the picture even bleaker than when the UK came 27th out of 29 industrialised countries in a survey of staying-on rates.

Under Chancellor Gordon Brown's plans they will all be entitled to sign up for free courses, up to the A-level standard. At present, they have to pay fees after they reach the age of 19. It would be paid for by a cash boost to further education colleges, and extra grants to pay for their living costs.

(Independent, 23 March 2006)

Education for children of all abilities and backgrounds must become more relevant to the world of work and offer a "balanced diet" of academic and vocational learning, the Chief Inspector of Schools has said. David Bell, head of the Office for Standards in Education, said in an interview that vocational education and teaching which developed the skills for the workplace should not just be aimed at children turned off by traditional lessons. "It's really important that we move on from thinking "what can we do for the children who are disaffected", the chief inspector said. "This is not just an issue for one section of the economy or of the education system."

Publishing a set of reports today on the state of vocational education, Mr Bell said he hoped proposals for A-level candidates to undertake a project or important piece of work as part of their course would help academically able youngsters develop more of the skills employers say are lacking even among graduates. But the real "sea change" in making education more relevant to later life would come when the current pilot programmes giving 14 to 16-year-olds work experience and work-related learning at further education colleges became part of the mainstream, he added.

(Financial Times, 13 June 2005)

The Department for Education and Skills has published 'Evaluation of Increased Flexibility for 14-16 year olds Programme: the Second Year'. Researchers examined the progress and outcomes of the 'Increased Flexibilities Programme', which DfES launched in 2002. The programme aimed to create enhanced vocational and work-related training opportunities for teenagers, through means such as school/college partnerships. The study concluded that student participants improved their social, communication and problem-solving skills, and enhanced their employability. A summary version of the evaluation report is available online as a PDF.

www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RB609.pdf (PDF)

(NGfL, 7 February 2005)

A new type of vocational schools should be created as schools and colleges are not up to teaching work-related courses to teenagers the Chief Inspector, David Bell, believes. Mr Bell is expected to use a keynote speech to call for dedicated vocational centres of excellence for 14 to 16-year-olds. Critics will accuse him of putting back the clock more than half a century to the 1944 Education Act which separated children into technical, secondary modern and grammar schools. But Mr Bell will argue that pupils are being short-changed by schools and further education colleges because they do not have the skills or resources to provide good vocational education.

And while colleges may succeed in re-engaging disaffected pupils, he questions whether they can cope with large numbers of 14 to 16-year-olds. He is expected to say that different institutions, including new vocational centres, should work together to provide pupils with a range of options which they could study on different sites. Mr Bell will use his speech to set out the Office for Standards in Education's view of 14 to 19 education in the context of the reforms proposed by Mike Tomlinson, Mr Bell's predecessor.

(TES, 7 January 2005)

The suggested reforms have sparked a row with colleges. They have accused Mr Bell of failing to fully understand Government initiatives already in place to get more pupils onto college courses and workplace training from 14, as part of a wider shared school programme.

(TES, 7 January 2005)

Children may be able to go to college at 14

Children may be able to quit school for good at 14 and learn a trade under a planned government shake-up of the education system. Instead of school, they will be able to study at college full-time - and take up a trade such as plumbing or engineering under a "young apprenticeship" scheme for 14 to 16-year-olds. The plan involves a massive expansion of the current scheme whereby pupils put off by the academic curriculum can spend up to three days a week at college or on work experience. Ministers want to devise what they call a "personalised learning" plan to meet the needs of all - and admit some will be put off the idea of school by the age of 14.

The scheme will build on a successful experiment whereby about 120,000 pupils have taken advantage of being allowed two to three days a week out of school to study for vocational qualifications. Colleges have said that they would like to offer full-time education to children from the age of 14, and that pupils are now queuing up to take advantage of the scheme. Ministers insist that their plans do not mean a lowering of the school-leaving age to 14 - every child will still have to stay in full-time education until their 16th birthday. They hope most will continue in education or training until they are 19.

However, Ivan Lewis, the Minister for Skills, said: "If we're talking about the curriculum meeting the needs of every young person, then, of course, for some young people the right thing may be for them to be taught in a college environment from the age of 14." Compulsory education is compulsory education, but as long as a young person is going to have a better chance of fulfilling their potential by spending their time in a college, then surely that should be the determining factor."

In addition, thousands of 14 and 15-year-olds will be offered "junior apprenticeships", under which they could learn on the job from skilled workers such as plumbers, joiners, electricians and IT operators. They could split their learning week between work, college and/or school. Mr Lewis emphasised that the majority of students would still continue to be educated in school up until the age of 16. He is also anxious to promote the idea that children should spend up to a day a week from the age of 14 at university. The move is designed to help the Government achieve its aim of widening participation in higher education - and giving pupils from families with no history of higher education a glimpse of what university life would be like.

The blueprint for the future will be outlined in government White Papers on skills and reforming the examination system, which will be published in early 2005.

(Independent, 13 December 2004)

Schools are failing to provide contemporary actors with the basic literacy skills needed to sight-read play scripts at rehearsals, a leading playwright has claimed. The controversial playwright Mark Ravenhill has claimed that young actors struggle to read an unfamiliar playscript out loud. He believes that the failure to sight-read is not the fault of teachers, but of the system they work in.

(TES, 8 October 2004)

The proportion of youngsters who drop out of the British education system is one of the highest in the developed world, according to an international study published yesterday. But British graduates' increase in earning power is among the highest in the world, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development report concluded. It also showed that Britain has lost some of its appeal for foreign students because of international competition. The Paris-based OECD's report which examined education trends in 27 developed countries, found that Britain had slipped down the international league table for the proportion of students aged 15 to 19 who continue their education. Britain now ranks 24th, with 75.3% of students 15 to 19 in education, compared with 76.1% the previous year. It was overtaken by Slovakia, only Mexico, Portugal and Turkey have worse records.

The Government's pledge to increase the proportion of young people going to university to 50% by 2010 received a boost with evidence that the rapid growth in the number of graduates has not diminished their earning power. University graduates earn 59% more than those with only school-level qualifications in the UK, the study found. This is the fifth largest earning boost of any OECD country. It is only higher in Hungary (110%), the US (86%), the Czech Republic (79%) and Portugal (78%). Andreas Schleicher, the OECD's head of analysis, said: "If everybody is getting higher degrees, what does that mean? Will the value of those degrees decline?" He said the research showed the answer was "no". "The value of these degrees is what they get people," he said. The study showed that Britain, Australia, Finland, Ireland and Spain had increased graduate numbers by more than 20% between 1995 and 2002. The OECD figures also revealed that 47% of young people in the UK went into higher education - well on the way to the target of 50% by the end of the decade.

(Independent, 15 September 2004)

Almost half of Britain's children admit to not reading a single book outside of school hours, according to research commissioned by the Prince of Wales Arts and Kids Foundation. Over 100 children were asked what their favourite activities were outside school; reading a book came fourth. The findings of the survey also appeared to suggest a failure by parents to inspire children through reading. The majority said that they preferred to listen to their friends' stories rather than their parents', and 10% of children asked who they thought was a good storyteller said they "didn't rate their parents at all".

Children's Laureate Michael Morpurgo, a patron of the Arts and Kids Foundation, said "It's really important that parents take time to share stories with their children. There's no better way, in my experience, to connect with a child."

When asked their favourite pastimes, most children said their favourite was watching television, followed by playing a computer or video game. Playing sport came in third. The least popular pastimes for children were found to be writing stories and writing poems - findings that may cause additional worries for parents, teachers and politicians concerned with child creativity.

(BBC news website, 6 September 2004)

One in five North Lanarkshire heads involved said that the initiative had made "a real difference to the lives of the young people in the school who would formerly have been written off". Other authorities have begun to respond positively and James Cant, Skill Force development manager for Scotland, said he hoped a number would come on board by August next year. Dr Cant said lessons had been learnt from the first year of the North Lanarkshire pilot so that, instead of having youngsters who "cause mayhem", there was now a broader ranger of pupils and a good mix of boys and girls. The experience should also benefit Christmas leavers, those who have an unconditional offer for university, pupils who lack confidence and the gifted and talented.

He believes that the programme benefits from being part of the school curriculum - young people who take part choose it in place of a Standard grade in S3 and S4. Dr Cant says the instructors who specialise in team building and problem-solving approaches, have had a major success in "keeping kids in the system" - 75 of the 81 North Lanarkshire youngsters who completed the programme last year were all either in school, in other education or training in a job.

Skill Force believes it can demonstrate value for money at large. Estimates from south of the border, described by the Department for Education and Skills as "conservative", suggest that each Skill Force team could save the public purse more than £500,000 in "lifetime costs" through cutting spending on exclusions, crime and benefits. But the Glasgow study reminds Skill Force that it may need active marketing of its concept to cast off any "boot camp" misconceptions if it is to expand successfully to other areas of Scotland. "It would be beneficial to establish with local authorities and schools a clear understanding of which groups of young people might benefit most from Skill Force provision and what the ideal composition of the participant groups might be."

(TES Scotland, 13 August 2004)

Few teenagers today are without a mobile phone. Eight in ten children aged between 11 and 14 have their own, a significant increase from just 58% in 2001. Mobile phones are especially popular among girls, with 85% owning one, compared with 75% of boys. In most cases parents pay for all calls. More than half (55%) of those aged between 11 and 14 are worried about problems at home.

(The Times, 13 August 2004)

Peter Cooper, senior youth worker at the council said: "The project uses a youth work style informed by the National Curriculum to work towards achieving the targets of schools. The young people want to improve and the work helps nip literary problems in the bud." Beryl Knott, a French teacher at Rossmore, said the youth work approach was "inspirational" and that good progress has been made. "The week gives the young people confidence and improves their self-esteem. It is hard to measure improvements but the young people have made progress," she said.

The summer school has run for five years but this is the first time the youth service has been involved for more than a day.

(Young People Now, August 2004)

The Green Paper will build on the Children Bill which will make all authorities establish Children's Trusts to provide "joined-up" services for young people. At its heart will be plans to give young people a "new, integrated youth offer". The Department for Education and Skills' five-year plan suggests this will guarantee a range of support, including:

• earlier and better intervention for teenagers with poor attendance and behaviour, including improved access to specialist support where their needs cannot be handled by their schools
• access to "exciting and enjoyable activities" in and out of school that enhance personal and educational development
• easier access to personal and careers advice
• a greater say for young people in the way local services are managed.
  

"I thought the library was just about books, I didn't know they did this sort of thing. You need to get more flyers and publicity out to tell more youths about it" young person, Lambeth

"One of the most striking things about the contribution of DCMS sections to last year's summer activities work was that of libraries. I think the responsiveness of the sector, and the quality of provision delivered, opened many people's minds to their potential role in helping address social policy problems." Phil Clapp, Education and Social Policy Unit, DCMS

Splash Extra Report, the Reading Agency 2002

Vocational courses aimed at teenagers unsuited to an academic curriculum are failing young people because of poor organisation and low expectations, according to the Office for Standards in Education .

More than 40,000 14 to 16-year-olds are now studying in further education colleges or working with employers as well as going to school as part of a £40 million scheme. Almost half of England's secondary schools and three-quarters of FE colleges are taking part in the project, which started in September 2002.

But inspectors say the Government programme of partnerships between schools, colleges and employers has been beset by problems and that too many pupils are placed on unsuitable courses.

They have produced a damning report on the first year of the Increased Flexibility Programme, which aims to enhance vocational and work-related opportunities for 14 to 16-year-olds. The report states that more able pupils are insufficiently stretched and not enough support is given to those who find learning difficult. Courses offered include vocational GCSEs but inspectors found these "often lacked clear vocational authenticity" as partners did not collaborate enough.

However, Ofsted also praised the programme for encouraging schools to offer a broader curriculum and says pupils have responded positively to the wider opportunities. There is evidence of improvements in attitude, behaviour and attendance for a significant number of pupils.

Increased flexibility programme at key stage 4: evaluation of the first year is available at www.ofsted.gov.uk

(TES, 7 May 2004)

Up to 15,000 children a year are thrown out of home by abusive or neglectful parents according to a report by the Children's Society. The organisation is calling for a national network of safe houses for those younger than 16 who are forced out of home. Presently, services are patchy and there is only one refuge in Britain specifically for young people.

The Children's Society report, called Thrown Away, estimates that there are about 129,000 "running away" incidents involving youngsters each year. While the majority of runaways return within less than 24 hours and many are a simple case of teenage arguments, the charity found that up to 15,000 youngsters a year are forced out of home because of abuse or neglect. The research found that children who are forcibly made homeless are at much more risk than other runaways.

(Independent, 24 March 2004)

Public health minister Hazel Blears pledged in July 2002 to double the number of teen mothers in education or work to 60% by 2010. The pledge follows an increase in the proportion in work, training or education from 17% in 1997 to 29% in 2001. Ms Blears said the government would improve sex education and affordable childcare. 

(Regeneration and Renewal, 5 July 2002)

Young people from across England will benefit from £34 million worth of lottery funding intended to help vulnerable teenagers to develop career-related goals. The funding will support structured activity programmes in each of the 47 Connexions areas. Connexions is the support service for young people aged 13-19, intended to help them to make a smooth transition from adolescence to work and adult life. 

The programmes will aim to benefit young people who have no clear plans after leaving school and who are at risk of social exclusion, including those with physical barriers and those with English as a second language. The young school leavers will take part in a range of schemes from outdoor adventure, sports, media, information technology and arts activities. 

The North West region received the majority of funding with £5.7 million, followed by London with £4.93 million. 

(Regeneration and Renewal, 22 March 2002)

Britain will fail to hit the 2002 target which is key to raising basic skills among the lowest achievers and disaffected teenagers. The Learning and Skills Council says it was to be expected, but training providers insist that poorly funded and misguided government policies are to blame.

Bryan Sanderson, chairman of the LSC, said there was no chance of hitting the target this year. The same target (for 75% of 19-year-olds to have five A-C GCSEs or equivalent vocational qualifications) would be set for 2004. But he said, "There is every chance that we will miss it then."

Learning providers in the private and public sectors say that spending cuts linked to the Government's decision to "push young people into advanced modern apprenticeships", are substantially to blame for the failure.

(TES, 7 December 2001)