With the uncatchy title "Review of Vocational - The Wolf Report", DfE has announced the publication of the review of vocational education by Professor Alison Wolf.
The report "considers how vocational education for 14- to 19-year-olds can be improved in order to promote successful progression into the labour market and into higher level education and training routes, and provides practical recommendations to help inform future policy direction, taking into account current financial constraints."
Secretary of State, Michael Gove's widely reported take on the report, in a parliamentary written answer is that "too many existing vocational qualifications are of poor quality or are offered inappropriately to young people. Too many young people are studying courses that do not enable them to progress."
Of general interest, the report is a challenging contribution to an important debate, and worth reading carefully on that count. But my first, admittedly quick, reading suggests there is not much here in curriculum terms for those of us engaged in creating innovative new opportunities in conductive education classrooms for this age group.
There is, however, this:
"… this country has many young people who are classified as having ‘special educational needs’, without being severely disabled, and/or are highly disengaged, persistently truant, and, at the extreme, excluded from school. This is an international phenomenon; but England is towards the top end in its proportion of young people who are failing to achieve basic academic competencies by the age of 16 The performance of both other countries, and of the best schools in this one, make it clear that our current levels of low attainment are in no way inevitable.
"Although Foundation Learning was and is a genuine attempt to develop a curriculum suited to these young people, in practice there is a risk that it will simply legitimise failure with a significant proportion of this low-attaining group. A detailed examination of educational programmes designed for the most low-achieving was beyond the remit of this Review. They are not necessarily or even predominantly vocational in any real sense of the word; and concrete recommendations here would also pre-empt the Department’s ongoing review of SEN provision."
We must wait, therefore, until the publication on Tuesday next of the DfE's Green Paper on Special Educational Needs for further insights. (The link is to a post on Conductive World blog).
What does catch my eye is ".... educational programmes designed for the most low-achieving ... are not necessarily or even predominantly vocational in any real sense of the word". So what might a curriculum look like that is in any sense at all vocational for this group?
May I be allowed to end on a small quibble? It's with the perspective in the phrase "most low-achieving". Of course we know what Professor Wolf means. But it rather belittles the amazing achievements of some, perhaps many, in this group - despite all the odds. And, perhaps, adds then to the wrong expectations and solutions. Something of the same perspective, which I dare say is pervasive, is also found in the earlier "young people who are failing to achieve". Again, one understands what is meant and undoubtedly there are young people who are not achieving what they might; but the failure is on the part of the system and the teachers, not the pupils. Let us not "blame the victim". It is we who are failing them; not they who are failing us. The perspective is important. It is a perspective I first learned from conductive education.