14 to 19 reforms

Support and resources for teachers, lecturers, and employers involved in 14 to 19 education

Diplomas

The Diploma leaflet for further education aimed at teachers, careers advisers and Connexions advisers, and the Diploma leaflet for schools provide general details and overview information about the Diploma.

The Diploma is a new qualification set to become one of the three main education options alongside GCSEs, A levels and apprenticeships, providing a recognised and well-respected route to further and higher education or directly to employment.

The Diploma has been jointly developed by schools, colleges, higher education and employers. It will give students a fully rounded education, including the functional skills in English, Maths and ICT and the thinking and learning skills that are particularly valued by employers and universities. It will help students explore potential careers in areas that interest them, but it will keep options open.

Based around broad subject areas, the Diploma includes project-based learning and gives students the chance to choose additional and specialist learning options that reflect their abilities, interests, career ambitions and learning styles.

The Diploma Support Programme website contains booking forms and information about training workshops on all aspects of Diploma delivery. You will also find downloadable activities to help you prepare for the Diploma, and national and regional support forums.

DCSF's webpage on Diploma & Functional Skills support and events makes available comprehensive listings of all the support, training and events available to anyone planning to deliver Diplomas and functional skills, and a calendar of information about events related to the 14 to 19 reforms.

GCSEs

The 14 to 19 reforms are supported by a number of awarding bodies.

The Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA) offers advice and resources to teachers and lecturers including print and audio-visual support materials.

Oxford Cambridge and RSA Examinations offers training, publications and support materials relevant to teachers and lecturers of 14 to 19-year-olds.

Edexcel offers tailored information, training and resources to teachers, students, lecturers and employers, including on all the Diploma subject areas.

Apprenticeships

Apprenticeships are supported by Government and industry as a high-level, high-quality technical qualification which will increase the technical skills base in the labour market. An Apprenticeship is a structured programme of training which gives young people the opportunity to work for an employer, learn on the job and build up knowledge and transferable skills that will be needed throughout a working life.

Traditionally an Apprenticeship is made up of Key Skills, NVQ and Technical Certificate. Key Skills are an important part of the apprenticeship training and are usually completed at the same time as the NVQ. The Technical Certificate such as BTEC or City and Guilds allows the apprentice to acquire underpinning theoretical knowledge.

There are three routes into an Apprenticeship: through the Learning and Skills Council's Apprenticeships Helpline; by contacting employers directly; or by talking to the local Connexions service. There are no set rules to apply for an Apprenticeship although many employers may ask for qualifications. An apprentice will in most cases be classed as employed and will earn a wage of between £70 and £80 per week.

See the Learning and Skills Council's Apprenticeships website for further details. The website has information, advice, and resources for young people thinking about becoming an apprentice, those actively seeking a position, employers looking for an apprentice, and parents helping their children to decide. The website features all the latest news and events on apprentices.

The Apprenticeship family, announced in May 2004, provides Apprenticeships for ages 14 to adulthood and creates a complete vocational ladder of opportunity:

Young Apprenticeships for 14— to 16-year-olds
Pre-Apprenticeships — based on the popular Entry to Employment programme (at level 1)
Apprenticeships (at level 2)
Advanced Apprenticeships (at level 3)
Opening up of Adult Apprenticeships by lifting the age limit of 25.

Young Apprenticeships

Young Apprenticeships give motivated and able KS4 students the chance to combine the practical application of skills and knowledge in a work context with the pursuit of qualifications related to the various industry sectors.

Young Apprentices spend two days a week of combined college study with extended work experience (50 days) leading to a range of applied qualifications equivalent to A* to C at GCSE. This specialised learning is alongside study of the National Curriculum and other GCSEs in the rest of the school week.

The first 1,000 Young Apprenticeships started in 2004, followed by another 2,000 Young Apprentices in 2005, 3500 in 2006 and 9000 in September 2007.

In addition to another cohort in 2008 following the present form of Young Apprenticeships using current applied qualifications, we will be developing delivery with Diplomas as the underpinning qualifications.

The vocational learning support programme provides further information.

Information, advice and guidance (IAG)

Local authorities provide advice and guidance services for young people, including careers advice.

Quality Standards support the development of consistently high-quality and impartial information, advice and guidance services across England. They provide a framework for planning, managing and reviewing information, advice and guidance services in an area, in a coordinated way. Taken together they define DCSF's expectations of the services that local authorities, through Children's Trusts, commission and manage. They are also for use:

by learning providers (including schools, colleges and work-based training providers)
by external information, advice and guidance providers (i.e. Connexions services, voluntary and community service organisations and all other private organisations working under contract to the local authority), and users of information advice and guidance services
to check that the expected standards are being achieved. The standards can also be used to support external assessments of the quality and impartiality of information, advice and guidance services.

For more information, advice and guidance see the Standards document.

Extended projects

The extended project is a new qualification in which students work on a single project that shows their ability to plan, prepare, research and work independently. The qualification was offered from September 2008 and is compulsory within the advanced Diploma and an option for A Level students.

Extended project: Challenging level 3 students summarises the special requirements for teaching and assessment and provides a description of the grading scheme.

Foundation learning tier

The foundation learning tier (FLT) is a part of the wider 14 to 19 reforms. It is being piloted for universal offer from 2010. It offers credit-based qualifications through a personalised curriculum offer at entry level and level 1 for learners from age 14 upwards.

The FLT flyer covers the aims and outcomes of the programme, how it will be implemented and describes the different 'pathways' through which a student progresses through the curriculum.

Personal, learning and thinking skills (PLTS)

The Secretary of State asked the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) to provide advice on a framework of skills for young people aged 11 to 19 (covering personal, thinking, and learning skills) that took account of the needs of employers and built on the wider Key Skills, the Working Group recommendations on common knowledge, skills and attributes and initial scoping work to inform recommendations in the White Paper. QCA was also asked to advise as to how such a framework might be embedded throughout secondary education.

In the new secondary curriculum, the PLTS framework is a whole curriculum 'dimension'. Every curriculum subject has been considered in the light of the contribution it makes to personal, learning and thinking skills and detailed exemplars are provided online on the QCA's website. Personal, learning and thinking skills are also an integral part of Diploma qualifications.

The new framework for PLTS comprises six interrelated sets of essential skills and personal qualities that characterise a successful learner. Through the PLTS framework, the new secondary curriculum aims to help pupils become independent enquirers, creative thinkers, reflective learners, team workers, self-managers and effective participators. Schools are encouraged by the new curriculum to identify opportunities to develop PLTS both within and across curriculum subjects.

The PLTs framework is an inclusive framework. It embraces:

social and emotional aspects of learning
employability
responsible citizenship
enquiry skills and creativity
self-direction and independent study
reflection on learning (Learning to Learn and assessment for learning)

There are a number of frameworks that can be successfully mapped to PLTS (including the RSA competency framework, the EU competencies for lifelong learning and the new CBI employability competencies). The PLTS framework provides a balanced, over-arching way of describing these skills that applies across the curriculum, Diplomas, foundation learning tier and vocational qualifications reform. The framework is being actively used to support the development of skills across the curriculum and within Diplomas and has the support of HE institutions.

The QCA's PLTS framework webpages provide further information, offer a number of case studies and show how the PLTS framework applies to each of the National Curriculum subjects and how it relates to other skills networks.

Careers education and guidance

Careers education is a mandatory part of the National Curriculum for pupils in Years 7 to 11. For teaching and learning information see the careers education section of TeacherNet.

Last updated: 11 December 2008