Click on the image to read the briefing
An early NIACE briefing
Index
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| The effectiveness of the new arrangements must be judged against their success in
helping those facing the greatest challenge to access high-quality learning! NIACE warmly welcomes the publication of The Learning and Skills Bill, and the Prospectus on the proposed arrangements for the Learning and Skills Council. "The Bill provides a workable framework for improving opportunities for adult learners across the board," said Alan Tuckett, Director of NIACE. "Of course, we await the publication of the consultation document on funding, and the outcome of the next Comprehensive Spending Review – but given goodwill and imagination, the new Council should provide a platform for the creation of a learning society." |
Since the publication of the White Paper Learning to Succeed in July 1999 there has
been significant movement as the Government has listened to many of the concerns that we
and others have raised. There remain, however, a small number of substantive points where
NIACE believes the Government should think again or give further clarification to allay
concerns. These are highlighted overleaf and the most important concerns Inspection.
Both the Prospectus and the Bill can be printed or downloaded from the internet. This means that, unlike 1991, there is less call for a briefing to paraphrase and summarise the documents. A fuller commentary is also available from the Local Government Association (see below).
The Government’s two documents run to more than 200 pages and it has not yet been possible to cross-refer between the two in an exhaustive way. Two further important documents are expected in January 2000 – on the Financial and Planning Framework and on The Youth Support Service. Despite this, a clear picture is emerging of Government intentions.
The Bill was introduced in the Lords. It is unlikely to reach the Commons until late
March. Legislation always provides opportunities to secure informed debate on policy
options. This debate can only benefit adults. NIACE will provide regular briefings on
issues in the legislation on its website: www.niace.org.uk Do brief MPs and Lords on
issues that concern you.
| Click
here to read the text of the Bill. (http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199900/ldbils/014/2000014.htm)
The Local Government Association commentaries on the Bill and the Prospectus are available (with permission) by clicking on the relevant link below. |
Among the very welcome measures proposed are:
 | the ending of the curriculum distinction between Schedule 2 and non-Schedule 2 provision (Prospectus, paragraph 5.27; Schedule 9 of the Bill); |
| a statutory national committee for adult learning (Schedule 3 of the Bill, paragraph 3) although the need for this to be mirrored at local level is argued below; |
| a clear remit for the Learning and Skills Council to support a full range of adult continuing education (Prospectus, 2.10 – 2.20); |
| a primary planning role for Local Learning Partnerships including a broader membership (Prospectus 2.43 – 2.48 and 3.2); |
| recognition of the strategic role of Local Education Authorities (Prospectus, 4.32 – 4.33); |
| potential for national voluntary organisations and residential colleges to apply to the national Council for funding (Prospectus, 3.16); |
| LEA adult education to be subject to the rigours and benefits of regular inspection (Prospectus Chapter 5 – especially 5.11 – 5.13; Bill, Part III); |
| recognition of the importance of quality assurance for provision outside the qualifications framework (Prospectus, 5.27); |
| recognition of the need for staff development (Prospectus, 5.24); recognition of a new, additional NTO for community-based adult, youth and community provision (to be known as PAOLO) is anticipated in the new year; |
| the ground is prepared for future moves towards greater unitisation of adult curricula (Prospectus, 5.27). |
The Bill provides for an Adult Learning Inspectorate, a new non-departmental public body, to cover all LSC-funded provision for those aged 19 and over and all work-based training. At the same time the functions of Ofsted will be extended so that it can inspect provision for 16-19 year olds in the Further Education sector as well as in schools.
The Bill and Prospectus propose a common inspection framework and arrangements for joint inspection where provision is made for both adults and 16-19-year-olds. In the case of any inspections where 16-19-year-olds are involved the lead and reporting organisation will be Ofsted.
| NIACE continues to believe that the interests of all learners would be better served by a single inspectorate. |
| If there are to be two inspectorates, NIACE believes that institutions where the majority of students are adults (4 out of 5 students in general FE/colleges are adults), inspections should be led by the Adult Learning Inspectorate. |
| We are encouraged by the proposals in the Prospectus for a light touch for institutions which have proven quality of delivery and, in particular, would like to see the accreditation arrangements introduced by the Further Education Funding Council (FEFC) retained and developed in the new system. |
| NIACE would wish to see retained in the new inspection system, those features of the FEFC system that have proved useful and supportive to the continuous improvement in quality. The feedback processes following inspection and the use of College Inspectors have been particularly valuable, and we would like to see these elements in the new arrangements. |
The Bill provides for area inspections of 16-19 provision, led by Ofsted.
NIACE believes the Bill would benefit from the introduction of similar arrangements for adults, led by the new Adult Learning Inspectorate, and that Government should introduce an amendment to that effect.
Clauses 19 – 24 of the Bill cover the setting up of Local Learning and Skills
Councils. The National Council’s adult and young people’s committees are not
replicated in local structures. NIACE believes there is a need for adults’ interests
to be represented at a local level.
| There should be local adult and young people’s committees with duties in the local contexts parallel to those of the national committee. |
| Such committees would ensure a wider representation for local communities in debates on learning and ensure a greater range of interests being heard and being accountable for local LSC decisions. |
| They would also make sure that the full range of adult learners’ needs are addressed by LSCs. |
The Prospectus states that the LSC will "ensure that high quality learning opportunities are available to meet the needs of all learners" and do this through a "quality improvement strategy" (paragraph 4.3). NIACE recommends strongly that a statutory Quality Recognition and Improvement Committee be set up as a formal LSC committee in order to make public the LSC’s quality improvement strategy and to:
| co-ordinate the LSC’s duties in response to the two inspectorates; |
| operate a quality threshold to include good advice and guidance and progression opportunities, a contribution to widening participation and value for money. This would prevent ‘cherrypicking’ by private training providers who might otherwise provide high-volume, short-term, easy-to-fill courses, leaving other providers funded at the same rate, with the harder to fill, costly-to-make provision aimed at securing wider participation. There has to be a legitimate concern to balance competitiveness, breadth of offer and quality; |
| secure arrangements for the funding of programmes without qualifications. Clauses 85 – 89 of the Bill only concern external qualifications. There is a helpful paragraph (5.27) in the Prospectus making clear that quality assurance in other provision will be publicly supported by LSC. |
| However NIACE is concerned that Parliament should ensure that support for Open College Network credits continues to be recognised. |
Investors in People (IIP) has been a great success story. The new arrangements proposed in the Prospectus (paragraphs 4.22 – 4.23) properly recognise the importance of extending IIP in small and medium sized enterprises. However, in splitting responsibility for IIP between LSCs and the Small Business Service (SBS), the Government risks breaking up effective teams.
| NIACE urges the Government to review the arrangements proposed to ensure effective continuity in the oversight of the programme, and effective liaison in promoting IIP; |
| NIACE further proposes the strengthening of "IIP Plus" initiatives through the establishment of a new Learning and Skills Standard for employers. |
Clauses 2.(1) and 3.(1) of the Bill have the potential to strengthen Section 508 of the Education Act 1996 for broad local authority-secured youth work in the same way as for LEA adult education services. Other clauses of the Bill (99 – 108) focus, however, on the new youth support services targetting ‘at risk’, disengaged and disaffected young people. There is a need to ensure that both are combined coherently and that the voice of young people is included in consultative and planning forums. A separate Prospectus on the new Service is expected in January.
There is a need for the LSC’s duties both nationally and at local level to include effective co-operation and collaboration with wider initiatives of national, regional and local government in both economic and social policy arenas. This might include giving regard to any matter contained in the Community Planning exercises undertaken under Clause 4 of the Local Government Bill.
There is a need for the duties of the Council to include effective co-operation with other major national and local government bodies to ensure, for example, effective joint planning for adults and young people with disabilities or learning difficulties. This could be a useful extension of the duties to have regard to persons with learning difficulties (Bill, Clauses 13 and 14) and to consult (Bill, Clauses 21 and 22 (5)). It would ensure that strategies for joint planning within the responsibility of the Department of Health were connected to those within the DfEE. There is a similarly urgent need for the LSC to link together education and training with:
| the role of the media in promoting learning, through the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS); |
| the voluntary sector; |
| organisations such as strategic lifelong learning partnerships and those which represent the voice of learners; and |
| the Home Office over prison education. |
ICT represents the same challenge. The Government’s ambitious ICT strategy requires local flexibility and responsiveness to reach excluded people. This must be combined with a national approach to ensure that the many ICT initiatives work together and not against each other. The initiatives include:
| Capital Modernisation Fund; |
| New Opportunities Fund; |
| learndirect; |
| People’s Network; |
| National Grid for Learning. |
NIACE believes the Government should charge the LSC, working with UfI, to secure coherence in the development of these initiatives.
Clause 22(6) of the Bill gives Regional Development Agencies a distinctive and privileged role to approve the plans of local LSCs. There is a need to ensure that RDAs are informed by more than the immediate labour market needs of the region and that they take account of broader agendas for economic, social and community regeneration (for example, as described in recent Policy Action Team reports. DfEE (1999) Skills for Neighbourhood Renewal: Local Solutions. Final Report of the Policy Action Team on Skills and DfEE (1999) Jobs for All: National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal. Report of the Policy Action Team on Jobs).
NIACE believes that the enabling framework proposed in the Bill, the policy steers in the Prospectus, and the transitional arrangements suggested, augur well for adult learners in the short-term.
For community-based adult learning, however, it is not clear what protections the
proposals contain for provision should different policy priorities prevail.
For adults Clause 3.(1) of the Bill says "The Council must secure the provision of
reasonable facilities" for post-19 education. Clause 3.(2) explains what this means.
"Facilities are reasonable if …. the facilities are of such a quantity and
quality that the Council can reasonably be expected to secure their provision." NIACE
will press Ministers to receive assurance that this definition will be sufficiently robust
to deliver the Secretary of State’s vision.
The skills of teachers and trainers in post-16 education are considered in Paragraph
5.24 of the Prospectus. There will be a need to put in place professional qualifications
for the full range of post-compulsory education and training for all full- and part-time
staff – involving FENTO and ENTO, as the Prospectus recognises; but also the area of
work covered by PAOLO (see page 3 above), and to create an effective link between the work
of these agencies, the General Teaching Council and the Institute for Learning and
Teaching.
The Bill and the Prospectus demonstrate that the Government has already moved a long way in improving accountability in the new system, particularly in the way that local government will be engaged actively at a number of levels. Having adult learning and young people’s committees at a local level would further improve the involvement of wider interests, as would a national Quality Recognition and Improvement Committee.
It is important that the voices of learners, both adults and young people, are adequately secured in the new system, and that voluntary sector bodies have their concerns heard.
NIACE believes that the Local Learning and Skills Councils should have a duty to put in place mechanisms to ensure that the views of learners and of the voluntary sector are consulted effectively in the new system.
NIACE is pleased to offer a briefing service on the proposals within the Bill to MPs, Peers and its own members. Please contact Helen Prew, tel: 0116 204 4255 or helenp@niace.org.uk in the first instance.
There can be no doubt from the Prospectus, of the Government’s intentions for the
Learning and Skills Council.
NIACE believes that with modest amendment, the proposals have every chance of success, so long as resources are available to back the vision.
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