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The beginning of the new Diplomas in September will demand a new scale of school collaboration. Gerald Haigh looks at how schools in one local authority are preparing.
Of all the many comments made about the new Diplomas, perhaps in the end the one that might ring the most bells with school leaders is that of Rob Higgins, head of Charles Darwin school in Bromley.
“Once headteachers work together, they usually overcome most things.”
Rob’s positive view is shared by Liz Allen, head of Newstead Wood School for Girls, also in Bromley authority, where Engineering will be offered from September. She welcomes the Diploma route as a way by which today’s socially and globally aware young people can see the effects of their learning.
“We’re a highly selective school. Our students are keen to have stretch and pace in their work, but they also want to make a difference – to see how they can apply what they’ve learned. I believe the Diploma is a true applied course, at the same level as academic study but with the added bonus for students of enabling them to apply their learning in real situations.”
Both Charles Darwin and Newstead Wood are working with other schools and FE colleges to provide their Diploma programmes.
Rob Higgins describes what’s probably a typical approach.
“We’ve always had a collaborative approach in Bromley. We’re competitive, but we’re also a close team in terms of 14 - 19, offering opportunities for students in each others’ schools.”
Now, though, as the Diplomas start to take root, we’re looking at collaboration of a different order and scale. A paper published in November 2007 by the Nuffield Foundation’s 14 - 19 Review argues that what we have had up to now are “weakly collaborating14 - 19 partnerships”, whereas the need is for “strongly collaborative local learning systems”.
Nuffield doesn’t name schools or authorities, but London Borough of Bromley is one place which could argue for having gone at least some way down the road towards creating the latter.
Bromley has three Diplomas starting in September – IT, Engineering, and Creative and Media. Based on a history of 14 - 19 partnership that goes back to 2003, the chosen approach is to have a large collaborative, with a strong support and leadership structure. It consists of 17 secondary schools, two FE colleges, three special schools, and work-based training providers. There’s representation from a range of stakeholders including behaviour support, the youth service, Learning and Skills Council, Connexions, and the authority itself. Bromley’s Director of 14 - 19 Strategy, Beverley Johnston, has oversight of the group, supporting collaboration and developing curriculum provision. Policy is made by a board chaired by a secondary head, and made up of leaders from across the collaborative.
Despite this strong and experienced base, Bromley has started its Diploma programme relatively cautiously. Its three Diploma subjects for September arose from a careful audit and needs analysis.
There’s caution, too, about the prospect of lots of student movement. The practicalities of collaboration are inevitably leading to students moving between providers to find the specialisms they need. That will happen in Bromley – and in most collaboratives around the country to varying degrees – but Beverley Johnston is keen that in Bromley schools and other providers shouldn’t be too hung up on the logistics of student movement.
“It’s equally about teachers planning together, sharing resources, using the same employer links and the same university links. We mustn’t think it’s just about moving students around. What we feel is that it’s difficult enough for teachers and examinations officers simply to get to grips with the Diplomas. At this stage we don’t need the added complication of having to manage them across a range of schools.”
The Bromley approach is to build on existing collaborative arrangements and to make full use of school specialisms.
“At present the entitlement is to a choice of all 17 Diplomas at post-16,” explains Beverley. “The government says it will review this in 2013 with regard to Key Stage 4. We’re therefore concentrating on using our specialist schools and providers to bring all Diplomas to Bromley post-16 by 2013 and young people will be able to make a choice of Diploma provider at the end of Year 11. Where they are available at Key Stage 4 they will form part of our existing collaborative arrangements.”
This is a borough that already has a sound collaborative infrastructure of established KS4 and 16-plus projects, organised by a full-time 14 - 19 Director. As a result, the planning and introduction of the Diploma programme has been done from the start with experienced guidance and administration. So, for example, there is an existing web-based system for tracking student attendance across the collaborative. This central organisational core –
management supported by technology – will be, says Beverley Johnston, crucial to the success of the Diploma programme.
“Someone has to hold it all together, and I’m not sure that’s always thought right through.”
At the same time, as Rob Higgins at Charles Darwin points out, this doesn’t mean making collaborating schools conform to a set pattern.
“Coherence across institutions doesn’t mean that detailed expectations are the same.”
The commitment of Bromley schools to their collaborative is impressive. Says Liz Allen: “Every head and principal is determined to make it work, so that people have an offer of a programme within the local authority, not just within their school. Every school can win, because we can be specialists, refining what we offer rather than trying to be all things to all people.”
However the detail works out from place to place, what’s certain is that the cohort of children arriving in Year 7 in September 2008 face a very different pattern of schooling – all the way through the new KS3, into the different 14 - 19 pathways up to the raised participation age at 18. It’s something for heads to bear in mind as they prepare to welcome their newcomers.
Liz Allen, at Newstead Wood, is already using a different sort of language to parents. “We’re talking about learning pathways, starting in Year 7. It’s something new for parents, but it’s easy to sell to them, because what parents want more than anything is for the school to work with their children’s skills and talents.” ldr |
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