Skills Post 16 White Paper? Back to the Future Part II

So, what does “good” vocational education look like and how do we continue to improve what we do?

A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege to facilitate an Institute of Technology event for students on T levels, HTQ Foundation Degree and university Degree programmes. The highlight of the week was the student presentations to our industry expert panel.

In teams, students presented a range of data informed solutions, proposing ideas and viable approaches to create transport planning tools around key themes, important to them and their client.  The students, working together on a real-world problem, were given employer mentoring and support from highly skilled teachers to help them apply technical knowledge in context. The expert panel of judges, including key employer partners, were astonished at the high quality of the presentations and the solutions they were proposing. They went far beyond all expectations.  For the FE learners, this intensive real-world project was integrated into the T level programme and carefully designed by teachers to cover key elements of their course. Student, employer and teacher feedback was overwhelmingly positive.

In working with colleagues across the colleges and universities, and designing the “Challenge” together, we took aspects of best practice models in project-based learning to create an employer led project that took students on a learning journey that was impactful and memorable.

“ I have learnt so much during this week and received some great feedback from a panel of judges” – T-level student

Learning from ten years in quality improvement

From 2013 to 2023, I had the privilege to work within the quality team of one of the largest FE colleges in the UK, working with colleagues, at all levels, across all areas of post 16.  Our highly skilled team was charged with taking the college from “requires improvement” to Ofsted good. The question of what does good look like, and how do we improve what we do, was a constant focus through organisational restructures, qualification reform, area reviews and changes to the Ofsted framework. Whilst we had to navigate this constantly changing landscape, throughout those ten years I was witness to much good, and sometimes outstanding, practice across ESOL/EAL, Access courses, 16 to 19 vocational programmes, community engagement programmes, prison education and higher education. I learned much from skilled teachers and innovative curriculum leaders, who shaped high quality learning for all their students, whatever their starting point.

So, what does good or better look like?  A personal and professional perspective

My first encounter with high quality education however was in my own experience, firstly as a learner and then as a teacher and subsequently head of an Art & Design.

My direct experience of high-quality learning was on a “Creative Art” night-school course.  When I signed up, I was not really aware it was A level, as the focus (and the promotional leaflet) was on developing high level artistic and creative skills. Though the A level qualification did give a framework to learning, this  was not the key focus for me or my teacher. I attended college fortnightly for three hours on a Wednesday evening, and practiced my skills most evenings, drawing and painting late into the night, when my son was in bed.

Within six months I had a portfolio of work that was sufficiently strong for my tutor to arrange an interview for me at the Art School of Manchester Polytechnic (now MMU).  The tutor on the Foundation Art & Design course looked at my portfolio and offered me a place, full time to start in September.  I told him I couldn’t take the offer,  I was a single mum with a mortgage to pay and had to work.  He sat for a moment then left the room, returning 30 minutes later to inform me I could be an Associate Student, not formally registered on the course but I had a studio space and tutor support for two days a week.

This course was transformational, with highly skilled tutors and a curriculum structured around project-based learning.  Projects were challenging and contextualised to professional practice. The two days in college were magical.  I was learning alongside young people who had a raft of A levels and were highly educated.  I was supported to progress my studies independently and to maximise on the expertise of art historians, practising artists and designers, technicians and my peers.  Aspirations and expectations were high, there was energy and commitment from both staff and students. The Wednesday project days were a highlight, though I missed many due to work.  However I managed to book holiday, and arrange childcare, to go on the field trip to Boggle Hole (Robin Hood’s Bay). One of the paintings from that study visit hangs in my kitchen, a reminder of the week when I discovered that I was, and could be, an artist and that I could progress to degree level study. I achieved the highest mark(90%) in my academic studies element, and one of the academic tutors asked me where I went to school as I wrote so well.  I laughed, I learned to write for my job, selling contract catering to large organisations, including to FE colleges during incorporation.  I was on a bonus so every word mattered, it paid the bills.

From personal experience into professional practice

Years later I took my department and all students (level 2 and level 3) on study trips to Robin Hood’s Bay, drawing in the rain, creating sand sculptures and building bonfires on the beach.  Funded by the “Big Draw” we took all students, no one was left behind, and for some it was as transformational as it had been for me. Subsequently I integrated community work placements into all vocational courses, with teams of students working on projects with primary schools across Salford, covering three units of their Btec course.

Gold Standards for All, Inclusive and high quality vocational education

Widening participation has always been a priority for me, and in the very best teaching and learning the teacher’s ability to adapt, personalise and take the individual on a journey that is right for them is at the heart of inclusive teaching practice. This doesn’t mean dumbing down or having low expectations, just the opposite it means having the skill to identify the strengths and skills young people and adults have that they can build upon and further develop to enable them to learn new skills and acquire new knowledge.

In working on the “mission impossible” of GCSE resits I witnessed some outstanding practice in engagement and contextualisation of English and maths, but it is not down to the individual teacher. High quality education is about the whole learning journey and leadership of learning that enables and supports skilled teachers. In trying to improve outcomes for students on GCSE resits we learned much and where there was most positive progress there was a whole college approach with these key subjects taught throughout the curriculum. Though we were trying to do the impossible we learned much, not least what does and does not work.

So do we know what good looks like, and how to improve what we do?

Over the ten years working in quality, the political and research focus has shifted from McKinsey’s report focused on the quality of teachers to employers being the architects of qualifications. In vocational education we are frequently moved from a focus on pedagogical practices and theories, to employers creating the content of curriculum.  Somewhere in the middle of this sits the educator, the curriculum leader, the teacher and those who support the wider learning journey.  The Education and Training Foundation’s Professional Standards(introduced in 2014 and updated in May 2022) created a strong framework that recognised the pedagogical and industry expertise that are needed for high quality vocational education. 

Frank McLoughlin’s CAVTL report, with focus on a clear line of sight to work, provided a framework for what good looks like in vocational education.  Setting a clear direction of travel towards a positive outcome for all learners, whatever their starting point.

In 20I8 I initiated a small research project into what good looks like in curriculum design, building on the key elements outlined in the CAVTL report.  Funded by AoC’s TeachToo programme, this project had significant impact and when Ofsted visited, I knew what good looked like and asked the Lead Inspector to “come with me and let me show you what good looks like in vocational education”.  I handed the inspector over to our Head of Automotive, an exemplary case study of good practice in our research project.  Subsequently this coherent departmental approach to curriculum underpinned the development of a college wide Employer Engagement Strategy, bringing together curriculum with wider student support services including work placements and employer engagement, to support implementation of the new T levels.

So to how do we improve what we do? 

“Communities of Practice” (Etienne Wenger, Cambridge University Press, 1998) sits on my desk and underpins my belief that we know what good practice looks like but it isn’t simple or a formulae that we can apply to all. We need to build on our knowledge base and further expand this through action research, where teachers and curriculum leaders are encouraged to take risks, consider what works well and to build their own skills as reflective practitioners in context of their own locality, students and sector. 

Listening to our learners: What works for them?

We also need to listen to our learners. Whilst there is a shift in focus to the skills employers need we need to understand and know our learners. The journey they need to make if they are going to progress successfully into the jobs of both the now (always a focus for employers) and into the future. We need to ensure we engage them and listen to what will work for them in helping them progress their learning journey through a rapidly changing world of work. In a UfI funded project, to develop gamified resources to support teaching and learning of theory elements in construction, it was the learners who asked for a voiceover glossary.  English was not the first language for many adults on constructions courses, even if they had industry relevant skills the development of their English skills was essential for them to progress into “good” jobs.

Clear line of sight to work, joining up pathways through learning into work

We also need curriculum that is coherent, joined-up and that supports progression to positive destinations – a clear line of sight to work and the skills to learn for life. We need to build collaboration and support the development of coherent pathways, a cargo net of opportunity that allows learners to find their way from where they are now to where they could be.

On what that good curriculum looks like, from engagement to progression into higher level learning and good jobs, we need to recognise that all learning at all levels should be gold standard.  I was fortunate enough to have learned from some of the best, including the night school teacher who set the bar high from the outset as well as the skilled tutors on the PGCE in Higher and Further Education from MMU, who supported me to use my expertise to inform and shape Art & Design qualifications nationally, through QCDA.

I was fortunate to have a tutor who bent the rules to let me study part time at low cost, enabling me to then progress onto the degree programme. I was the one and only Associate Student on this course, and still haven’t got a certificate but I had a strong portfolio, confidence I could study at a higher level and had the best education on what good looks and feels like in applied learning, and am forever grateful. 

Thank you to all the learners, curriculum leaders, teachers and support staff who have helped me to discover and articulate “what good looks like”.

By Gill Scott, Director and Senior Consultant at Gill Scott Consultancy Ltd