Following discussion at LEA conferences, a number of LEAs provided statements of 14-19 entitlement.
In most areas entitlement documents included 14- to19-year-olds in all contexts, in college and work-based training as well as in schools.
Most of the entitlement statements analysed had the following features:
- a focus on learners – many contained the statement that learners’ needs come first
- an intention to provide an experience that stimulates, motivates and extends learners, with a curriculum responsive to their individual interests, needs and aspirations
- reference to a learning environment that is safe, secure and healthy
- equal opportunities for those with special educational needs of any type, the gifted and talented, and those from ethnic or low-income backgrounds
- access to more than one learning environment. One example gives learners the right to learn at the centre offering the type of provision most appropriate to their needs, regardless of where they are enrolled. Another states that value added information will be available from all providers, allowing learners to make informed decisions
- a programme of work that matches individual learners’ needs. This should be flexible, enabling learners to combine courses and different types of learning
- access to a range of learning styles, many giving e-learning as an example
- access to a range of qualifications
- information, advice, guidance and support that is comprehensive, reliable, impartial and ongoing. One example extends the advice and guidance service to the parents of learners. Another highlights the entitlement to ‘fair and transparent application and admission processes’. Careers guidance should enable learners to access opportunities to make ‘informed and realistic career decisions’ and to ‘understand basic legal requirements and responsibilities in the workplace’
- work-based learning/work experience. One example states that work experience needs to be of high quality, needs to fit the individual’s needs, should be designed with the employer to ensure mutual benefit and should be followed by a debriefing
- references to entitlement to opportunities for skills development, whether described as key skills, skills for employability or practical skills for life and work
- a choice of extra-curricular/enrichment activities and opportunities to improve personal and social skills. One goes so far as to say that learners should take part in at least one residential learning experience and have the opportunity to visit at least one foreign country
- availability of planned and structured progression routes, including progression beyond the age of 19 and into lifelong learning. Some add that programmes should allow for changes where necessary and provide the ‘opportunity for learners to redirect their programme of study’.
Some examples of entitlement statement also included:
- comment that provision should reflect the needs of the employment market
- reference to Individual Learning Plans, Progress files or similar systems. In one case this was to bring together the personal development, citizenship, enterprise, and career- and work-related strands of the curriculum
- a common format of reporting attainment to recognise both formative and summative achievements
- a commitment to involving young people in the planning and development of learning
- a statement of entitlement to high-quality teaching.
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Page updated: 12 June 2008