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Michael Arthur: Our schools are giving young people a better opportunity to succeed
IT's no surprise that young people are worried about what the future holds for them. The economy is still struggling, and unemployment continues to rise.
Young people have been badly hit, with 40 per cent of unemployed people between the ages of 16 and 24.
On top of this, employers and universities rightly ask whether young people are leaving school equipped with the skills they need to succeed. Now more than ever, we need to give young people a better chance of succeeding in an increasingly competitive world.
A groundbreaking set of changes to the education
system for 14 to 19 year-olds is already responding to this
need. Thanks to these educational reforms, more
young people are now getting
the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in education, life and work.
There is a wider choice of options, with GCSEs and
A-levels on offer alongside apprenticeships and the new diploma. It's difficult to underestimate how important these reforms are for young people, who can now choose the right mix of learning to motivate and challenge them.
It's the element of choice and flexibility that I believe is particularly important. We need to accept that young people learn in different ways. Some thrive on theoretical study – the "chalk and talk" approach many of us are familiar with. Others will learn by applying their understanding of the theory – learning by doing – while many have a clear idea of the job they want to do when they finish education.
For this last group an apprenticeship may well be the right choice. The 14-19 education reforms, including the new diploma, are helping to make sure that every young person is given the chance to succeed.
The new diploma is a golden opportunity to equip our school leavers with the skills and knowledge to make the most of their next steps and realise their potential, whether in the workplace or at university.
The diploma is part of a set of choices that young people between the ages of 14 and 19 now have. Until now there has been a missing link between the polarities of theoretical learning and vocational training.
My own view is that many people learn better through educational approaches which are "problem-orientated" and where learning is contextualised.
The diploma will do precisely that – allowing young people to study theory and practice together in the classroom while also spending time in the workplace.
Diploma teachers and lecturers across the country are seeing a new and more positive can-do attitude in their students. Who can deny the benefit to an engineering student of working alongside trained professionals, and testing in real life designs they have formed in the classroom? Diploma students are learning in the context of real life, and they are inspired and excited by this.
The diploma is not a vocational qualification. Far from restricting pupils to a particular industry, it provides a rounded education that arms them for further education, university study or employment across a number of different sectors.
Diploma students are taught "functional skills" to help
them develop higher levels of real life skill in English, maths and ICT. Applying what they
are learning to real life will
give diploma learners a confidence in their own abilities that studying solely from a textbook never could.
The qualification also helps pupils to develop the valuable critical thinking, problem-solving, teamwork and communications skills that will help them enter university or work with the aptitude and
self-belief that many before them have lacked.
Diploma students can undertake an extended project which allows them to pursue an area of special interest and take their studies to a deeper level. This is exactly the kind of experience that I believe prepares them for the independent research that our university undergraduates undertake.
Diplomas can equip the brightest and most able of students for university study in years to come, and I know that many other well-respected higher education institutions in the UK share my views.
A report published last week by Universities UK recognises that the 14-19 reforms have the potential to provide students with the skills and attributes that higher education institutions would like to see, noting that some higher education teachers have been surprised to find that some diplomas contain similar content to first-year undergraduate courses.
Meanwhile, recent figures have confirmed that advanced diploma students can now choose from over 80 per cent of university courses in the UK.
The 1994 Group, which
includes universities such as Exeter, Durham and Leicester among its members, has also recognised the diploma's potential to become a high-quality qualification for undergraduate entry and a radical alternative to the existing curriculum. I believe the diploma will not only produce well-rounded students who will be successful at university, but will also widen participation by providing another option for young people not motivated by traditional qualifications.
It's easy to lament changes to our education system, as Nick Seaton, of the Campaign for Real Education, did in the Yorkshire Post last week. But those changes have resulted in a wider set of options for young people, accommodating different needs and interests.
The changes to our education system are encouraging pupils to stay in education for longer, and better preparing them for college, university and employment.
The 14-19 reforms have not been introduced just for the sake of change. They are giving more young people than ever the chance to succeed.
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 26 May 2012
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