City of Salford 14-19 Partnership
16-19 Priority Statement for 2011/13
1. Introduction
This priority statement has been written by Salford Children’s Services on behalf of the Salford 14-19 Strategic Partnership and has been agreed by the Partnership. It sets out the priorities for Salford in the context of: its current skills levels, changes to employment opportunities in Salford and the Greater Manchester sub-region. It takes into account:
· Changes in Government policy.
· Demographic changes in Salford and the sub-region.
· Local Salford opportunities such as MediaCityUK and challenges such as child poverty and its impact upon the aspirations of young people. The 16-19 transition phase is a key opportunity to make major in-roads into the cycle of intergenerational material poverty and poverty of aspiration.
· Priorities for the sub-region, as articulated by the AGMA 14-19 Group.
· That for these priorities to be successfully implemented that they must be agreed by partners and form part of the long terms planning of learning providers in Salford as well as key regional partners such as the National Apprenticeship Agency (NAS) and the YPLA.
2. Policy context
2.1 Changes to Government policy
Government policy has again, with the Coalition Government, changed the role of local authorities in relation 16-19 (25 in the case of LLDD) provision. The key points are:
· Funding of provision for this cohort, instead of being through the local authority, will be through the Young People’s Learning Agency (YPLA).
· Funding will be based upon a ‘lagged model’, where it will be based upon the previous year’s delivery numbers.
· Planning will be within the educational institutions themselves and there will not be an funding and planning body.
2.2 Further changes that have been announced include:
· The YPLA itself will come to an end and be replaced by the Education Funding Agency (EFA), which will fund Academies, Free Schools and all 16-19 provision
· The Government will encourage the growth of more Academies, Free Schools and new Studio Schools will be established with a vocational focus
· The disparity between the funding of school sixth forms and FE colleges will end and sixth form funding will move to be equivalent to that of FE colleges
· Local authorities do not have to have Children’s Trusts nor a Children’s and Young People’s plan, however, Salford will retain this and most of the schools will support it
· There will be less “unnecessary duties, processes, guidance and requirements on schools”
2.3 What is retained in Government Policy?
· Local authorities retain a strategic role in championing parents, families and vulnerable pupils, promote academic excellence by ensuring a good supply of high quality school places, coordinate fair admissions and develop school improvement strategies to support local schools
· A commitment to raise the participation age to 17 by 2013 and then to 18 by 2015
· The ASCEL (Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning) Act 2009, is still in place and this requires the local authority to ensure there is sufficient, quality provision for 16-19 year olds (up to 25 in the case of LLDD)
Thus, while the policy changes noted remove the funding responsibilities of local authorities for 16-19 provision, they still have a high-level planning responsibility and for achieving agreement of partners to ensure there is sufficient 16-19 provision. The responsibility is one of high level planning and not detailed micro-management of individual institutions or providers.
3. Demographic changes
The numbers of young people is due to decline in most Greater Manchester authorities. In Salford this is particularly marked with an Office of National Statistics forecast of a decline from 5,808 in 2008 to 4,400 in 2015 amongst 16 and 17 year olds (over 20%).
4. Local opportunities and challenges
4.1 Challenges
Child poverty impacts upon a range of life chances of young people and, in particular but not exclusively, upon their chances of achieving economic well-being. The Child Poverty Act (2010) places duties on local authorities and partners to assess and reduce child poverty and Salford has produced a position statement with four ‘building blocks’: life chances, employment and jobs, housing and neighbourhoods and financial support. There are estimates that the levels of child poverty could be as high as 60% of children of Salford. The single most significant determinant of child poverty is worklessness, but low pay, lone parenthood, large families, disabilities and being from an ethnic minority area are factors that can impact negatively on this. The links between 16-19 planning and the reduction of child poverty are crucial.
“Living in a poor family can reduce children’s aspirations. We know that they are less likely to stay on at school or to attend school regularly and more likely to be young parents. This potentially locks families into intergenerational cycles of deprivation”Ending Child Poverty IN Salford: The Call to Action, position statement, June 2010
4.2 Opportunities
There are significant ambitions and expectations for the economic growth and regeneration of Salford, and for the wider city region of Greater Manchester, over the next 10-15 years. Initiatives such as MediaCity, Building Schools for the Future, the regeneration programme in Pendleton and The proposed Chapel Street Development will bring thousands of new jobs to the city. Across Greater Manchester, the forecast growth in employment between 2004 and 2014 is some 70,000 jobs or 5% on a base of 1.3 million.
There are also new opportunities through partnerships through the Salford City Learning Partnership, bringing together individuals and organisations with outstanding experience in innovation and quality delivery. The Children’s Trust has recently established a range of priorities including successful progression of learners across the 14-19 threshold.
5. Sub-regional priorities
The priorities stated by AGMA are below with an analysis of their impact for Salford. Salford accepts these priorities as a framework and context for it own planning.
I. Increase participation particularly at age 17In Salford: participation of 16 and 17 year olds has been steadily rising but at 80% is still below national and regional levels. This is lower than Greater Manchester, regional and national averages in 2008, but is increasing at a faster rate than elsewhere,(9% points 2005 to 2008 as compared to 5% points nationally)
Participation at 17 has increased by 7% points between 2006 and 2008.
The Average Point Score (APS) per candidate for Salford residents (16-18) at the end of two years level 3 post 16 study in 2008/09 was 625 as apposed to 793 in Greater Manchester and 739 nationally.
2007/08 / 2008/09 / 2009/10 / 2010/11
Actual / 72% / 76%
Target / 69% / 69% / 85% / 87%
Aims and aspirations for Salford:
II. Prepare young people for careers in growth sectors areas
In Greater Manchester: the Creative Industries and Digital Media sector in employs around 53,000 people with more than 7,000 business units. This sector is forecast to grow by 19 per centduring the next decade. Low carbon and environmental goods services are forecasted a 6.10% growth by 2014. Greater Manchester became the UK’s first Low Carbon Economic Area for the Built Environment in December 2009. Over the next five years it aims to deliver an additional £650 million into the economy, support 34,000 jobs and save six million tonnes of carbon.
Construction and associated trades 1.5% growth 4,100 Jobs for North West and with the BSF plans to continue in Salford, construction is anticipated to be a growth area for the City.
Aims and aspirations for Salford:
III. Develop pathways for careers in sectors with higher level skills gaps and/or high replacement skills
The Energy Industry and Financial and Business services are expected to lead the way out of recession, Greater Manchester as a large urban area with significant financial services would anticipate seeing increases in employment in this sector.
One can assume that work demanding higher skills will demand greater travel across the wider City Region and particularly to areas such as Salford Quays of central Manchester. Indications from the Commission for the New Economy note major areas are; creative, digital and media (with 84,900 employees), ICT/ communications (with 57,400 employees), life sciences (with 199,000) employees and financial and professional (with 239,500 employees)
Aims and aspirations for Salford:
Growth in advanced apprenticeships and A levels
IV. Increase enrolments in STEM subjects
Salford resident FE enrolments largely follow the current priority sectors, with an increase in Level 3 progression (in line with the move to a "Value Added" economy), and a high proportion of learners enrolling in Science and Maths, Creative & Media appears positive given the intended direction of the economy.
Aims and aspirations for Salford:
V. Increase attainment of Level 3 at age 19
Level 3 at 19 (2 A2 or 4 AS or equivalent) is low, and forecasting data shows no significant signs of improvement.
Salford (level 3 = equivalent to 4 AS / 2 A-levels, Only full VRQs count towards the target), Proportion of people studying in Salford at age 16 that reach the level 3 threshold, by 19
Academic year* / Level 3 achievement / People aged 19
06/07 / 32.4% / 2742
07/08 / 34.5% / 2759
08/09 / 37.2% / 2848
Aims and aspirations for Salford:
VI. Increase the uptake of, and progression through, the Apprenticeship route
AGMA has set an interim target of 1 in 5 young people (with an ambition to progress to 1 in 4 in areas with historically high apprenticeship participation) participating in an apprenticeship framework by 2020. Currently, Salford is at 14.3% at P12 in 2009/10, an increase of 0.7% from 2008/09.
Salford saw a significant increase in Apprenticeship starts during 2009/10, with 773 learners beginning an Apprenticeship compared to 526 the previous year. This upward trend has continued into 2010/11 and according to the most recent figures from the National Apprenticeship Service, there has been an increase of 20% in learner starts compared to the same period this time last year (Period 5).
The frameworks that 16-18 young olds participate in have remained fairly consistent, with nearly 75% of young people in 2009/10 undertaking an Apprenticeship framework that falls within the North West’s top-10 frameworks (the regional figure for these frameworks was just over 69%). Within these frameworks there were significant increases in starts in Childcare, Learning and Development with steady growth also seen in Active Leisure and Learning, IT and Telecoms and Customer Service. Construction saw the largest decrease, whilst there were falls in the number of young people starting an apprenticeship framework in Hairdressing and Vehicle Maintenance and Repair. Current figures for 2010/11 show a huge increase in starts on Rail Transport Engineering, following a new apprenticeship provider entering into the market.
Starts on Programme-Led Apprenticeships (PLA) in 2010/11 have dropped compared to the previous year. However, PLA starts had increased by nearly 100% during 2009/10 compared to the previous year and this suggests that despite starts decreasing this year, there are still a significant number of learners undertaking PLAs. Programme-led apprenticeships will come to an end shortly.
New apprenticeship provision has recently been created for engineering in relation to the rail industry.
Aims and aspirations for Salford:
VII. Ensure there is sufficient provision of appropriate Foundation Learning
In Salford:
Although Salford has increased its achievement at KS4 dramatically there still remains a significant issue regarding progression post 16 as many learners do not have the appropriate qualifications to meet the entry criteria to their chosen course of study. So although Salford City College has seen an increase in its provision at L3 and L2 as these improvements in results at KS4 begin to impact there are still high levels of recruitment at L1 and L2 (L1 2007/8 430 FT, 2008/9 448 FT, 2009/10 434 FT) (L2 2007/8 1,049 FT, 2008/9 958 FT, 2009/10 1,013 FT). The study of a Foundation Learning programme at KS 4 would allow for better achievement and more appropriate progression post 16.
Currently in the region of 200 College learners are on full FL programmes on Hair and Beauty, Travel, Sport and Construction, Creative Arts, Catering and IT.
Salford has been responsive to the development of a Foundation Learning offer to meet the needs of its less able learners and allow appropriate progression to higher levels of education and training however there is the need to embed and expand this emerging practice amongst all our providers pre and post 16 to ensure the most appropriate progression pathways for all our learners. Based on 2009/10 data Foundation Learning would be an appropriate offer for up to 16% of our KS4 cohort.
The largest challenge to the development of FL is the potentially small cohort sizes and the emphasis on GCSEs outlined in the White Paper both of which may challenge the development of what is clearly a much needed offer for small but significant numbers of learners.
Post 16 Foundation Learning which has replaced e2e provision is delivered by four providers. In February 2011 Connexions reported that there was capacity for 140 learner and 95 places taken. Demand can fluctuate through the year. Although there is a need for this kind of provision in Salford demand has not materialised for programmes under Foundation Learning. The demise of the EMA is likely to have had an impact.
Aim and aspiration for Salford:
VIII. 8. Reduce the numbers of young people ‘NEET’ and ‘not known’
In Salford
Not in Employment, Education and Training (NEET) and not known (16-18) has been decreasing and the November 2009 to January 2010 percentage point NEET 6.6% and not known 2.6% (NCCIS Nov - Jan) shows one of the greatest decreases in Greater Manchester. For the first time ever NEET in Salford has been regularly at the England average in 2010.
Aim and aspiration for Salford
Salford has been successful in gaining additional funding for NEET reduction, however, the ending of EMA and the reductions in Connexions is likely to have a negative impact upon NEET. EMA in particular seems to be reducing the take up of Foundation Learning in learning providers and Salford City College.
Work is also taking place between Salford City College and Albion and Buile Hill School to impact on young people who would be potentially NEET.
IX. Close the gap in young people’s attainment
To address:
· factors leading to differentiated achievement: class, ethnicity, gender, ‘vulnerability’ indicators
· work with partners at KS 4 to track cohort and understand needs using FSM as an indicator
· support partners in raising aspirations for all young people and their families
In Salford:
5+ A*-C achievers / 2006 / 2007 / 2008 / 2009 / 2010
Male / 47.2% / 53.7% / 62.5% / 68.5% / 76.7%
Female / 55.0% / 64.8% / 69.2% / 76.8% / 85.3%
FSM / 29.2% / 43.1% / 42.2% / 53.1% / 68.4%
Non FSM / 56.1% / 63.1% / 72.0% / 78.0% / 84.4%
English / 51.1% / 58.5% / 66.0% / 73.2% / 82.0%
Non English / 51.4% / 68.4% / 64.0% / 67.5% / 76.2%
IDACI* bottom 20% / 21.6% / 26.9% / 50.5% / 73.5% / 75.0%
IDACI 20-100% / 53.1% / 60.7% / 66.9% / 63.0% / 81.4%
IDACI N/A ** / 35.6% / 56.0% / 51.7% / 64.4% / 79.5%
* Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index
** Unable to match postcode due to an input error on the census
Aims and aspirations for Salford:
*Data supplied by Connexions Salford