LSC Remit Letter
Alastair Thomson highlights the strategic priorities for the Learning and Skills Council, as set out in David Blunkett’s letter to LSC Chair Bryan Sanderson
The Learning and Skills Council remit letter is something to be welcomed wholeheartedly. Much of the apprehension which NIACE felt earlier in the year during the passage of the legislation has been allayed by the Secretary of State’s detailed explanation of how he intends the law to be used and understood.
In the same way that Mr Blunkett’s personal preface to the Learning Age Green Paper motivated and inspired many who read it, this letter reconfirms his place as a reformer who balances a concern with the economic dimension of the skills agenda with a passion for raising standards and a sensitivity to the role which education has to play in promoting social justice and equality and enriching the quality of people’s lives.
My vision (paragraphs 1-7)
The opening of the letter rehearses David Blunkett’s vision for post-16 learning and the need for reform. Particularly welcome is the early reminder that, for the first time ever, a public body (the Council) has an explicit and statutory duty to encourage participation in learning.
Building partnerships (paragraphs 8-17)
A strong steer that the LSC will need to work in partnership is also welcome – although the fact that no fewer than 21 different kinds of partner are mentioned is rather daunting. How the Council manages to be open and consultative without developing an unwieldy bureaucracy will be a real challenge for Mr Sanderson and his colleagues.
The attention given to local Learning Partnerships is particularly welcome to those of us who were concerned that these might have been left to wither.
What will be especially closely scrutinised is the discretion which the LSC gives to the local LSCs in developing partnerships. How the central/local balance works in practice is one of the big unanswered questions.
Funding learning (paragraphs 18-31)
Planning will be expected to "take account of feedback from individual learners, findings from area inspections, and provider inspection reports about standards of provision" (para 19). A task for adult educators will be to find effective ways of engaging the voices of students – and would-be learners – in new and imaginative ways.
The expertise which has been developed by trade union learning representatives in workplaces and the work done by NIACE and the WEA in assisting voluntary and community groups to prepare for the Council might be usefully adapted by colleagues and student unions/associations in the college sector.
Area Inspection
Mention of area inspections in respect of feedback is also to be welcomed. During the passage of the Learning and Skills Act, NIACE and others, particularly in the House of Lords, argued strongly but unsuccessfully for the Adult Learning Inspectorate to have the power to conduct area inspections in its own right rather than as a junior partner of OFSTED. Whilst this was not won, it may be that there is now more space for area inspections to take an integrated view of local needs and priorities which recognises the particular entitlements of those aged 16-18 but which allows sensible planning of all-age provision.
In discussing the resources to be provided to local LSCs, David Blunkett gives a further welcome steer that the Local Initiative Fund (para 23) is intended not only for labour force development and enterprise initiatives but also for community development and neighbourhood renewal.
The words of paragraph 24 "I also expect Learning and Skills Councils to play an active role in building the capacity of people living in deprived neighbourhoods and to promote equality and social inclusion", will need to be disseminated widely to voluntary and community groups as they make it quite clear that the LSC’s agenda is to be far wider than those of Training and Enterprise Councils and the Further Education Funding Council.
This is also apparent from paragraph 26, in which the Secretary of State heals the "Schedule 2/non-Schedule 2" division of the 1992 Further and Higher Education Act. At last we have it re-affirmed, with no equivocation, that "many adults, including large numbers of older and retired learners, will want to pursue high-quality and rigorous study for its own sake, and I expect provision to be made available to meet their needs". For anyone who can recall how embattled things felt during the debates of 1991, this is heady stuff indeed!
A later paragraph (31), acknowledging and valuing the distinctive contribution made by Adult Residential Colleges, may simply be a footnote in financial terms but once more provides evidence that the richness and diversity of the sector is being celebrated and supported rather than tolerated but marginalised.
Encouraging young people to stay on in learning (paragraphs 40-45)
Later on, the letter turns to the Government’s more detailed objectives for the Council. That the first of these is to encourage young people to stay in learning is not surprising and perhaps should be used within NIACE to launch a debate about its own remit.
Already the organisation is active in the field of family and intergenerational learning through the work of Jeanne Haggart; its work on the Young Adult Learners’ Partnership in collaboration with the National Youth Agency is well-established. In addition NIACE’s engagement with the HEFCE’s "Action on Access" initiative to support widening participation in HE is drawing us more closely into an examination of the barriers dissuading school-leavers from applying to higher education.
Increasing demand for learning by adults
(paragraphs 46-54)
The Council’s second objective is to encourage demand for learning by adults – an activity central to NIACE’s work over many years.
We must welcome the influence and resources that the LSC will bring to this work and the particular emphasis that it will bring to information, advice and guidance; on-line learning; broad-based basic skills provision and community-led learning.
The letter continues David Blunkett’s approach of locking social and economic agendas together. In paragraph 46 he states, "It is important that… all adults continue to develop their competence for the labour market and reinforce their ability to be active family members and citizens. This includes provision for the growing proportion of older people."
The government’s commitment to widening participation is also reinforced with reference both to further education, Ufi and higher education.
Maximising the contribution of education and training to economic performance
(paragraphs 55-61)
Maximising the contribution of education and training to economic performance is the third objective set. Here the LSC is charged with delivering the Government’s response to the final report of the Skills Task Force and encouraged to develop a joint strategy with National Training Organisations (currently under review) to meet future skill needs. While this work is intended to encompass initiatives like Investors in People and Modern Apprenticeships, there is also a welcome explicit acknowledgement of the need to promote employee development and good practice in education and training among small employers.
Raising standards (paragraphs 62-69)
The final objective set is to raise standards – and, especially, to tackle inconsistency of standards among providers. The relationship between the Council and the Inspectorates is covered here but there is also a strong steer to "take a pro-active approach on issues of unnecessary and unhealthy competition between providers" with Learning Partnerships expected to provide self-managed provider collaboration and quality improvement.
While it is clear that the Department for Education and Employment has yet to finalise proposals to develop practitioner skills and qualifications across the whole sector, whether college-based, community-based or workplace-based, there can be no doubt that significant changes are in the pipeline.
Overall, there is an awful lot to welcome and little to carp about in this letter. Members and staff of the Learning and Skills Council – and all their prospective partners – can be in little doubt of what the Government expects. It is now down to Bryan Sanderson and his Chief Executive, John Harwood, to deliver. On the basis of David Blunkett’s letter, though, they will begin their task with a large stock of goodwill as well as cash.
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