School Improvement and Advisory Service

The following is a summary of QCA’s guidance for schools on managing a coordinated approach to work-related learning at key stage 4. The full text of the guidance can be found in the QCA publication ‘Preparing for Working Life (Ref: QCA/99/384).

All schools can offer programmes, which aim to equip pupils to make a successful transition to adult life. In many schools, the responsibility for each aspect of pupils Work Related Learning is delegated to a different member of staff. Each distinct curriculum area may be effectively taught, but the overall programme can nevertheless lack coherence. Senior management teams need to ensure that the overall curriculum is well co-ordinated, with the range of activities pupils experience being carefully designed to promote and reinforce the relevant knowledge, understanding and skills.

Schools need a framework for planning, managing and keeping under review their programme of Work Related Learning. Each school can work within this framework to build a coherent curriculum, which reflects its circumstances and properties.

The framework is likely to have the following dimensions if it is to lead to an effective programme of preparation for working life:

• Clear aims and learning outcomes;
• Identification of where pupils will acquire the intended learning outcomes;
• Details of how the programme will be co-ordinated and managed;
• A development plan which links directly to the school’s overall development plan and includes specific reference to staff development and training;
• Teaching and learning strategies which build on pupils prior learning and incorporate a range of approaches suitable for different learners’ needs;
• Details of how school business links can be effectively co-ordinated to support and enhance the curriculum;
• Clear links with the Careers Education and Guidance Programme, including support from the Careers Service;
• A strategy for assessing and recording pupils’ progress;
• Details of how programmes will be monitored and evaluated

Schools may find it helpful to audit their current provision to identify how successfully they prepare young people for working life. An audit shall identify the learning outcomes pupils achieve from the different aspects of the programme.

The audit should be designed to provide answers to the following questions.

• What should we do to prepare our pupils for working life? (conclusions can be expressed as a clear statement of aims and intended learning outcomes)
• What is our current provisions for Work Related Learning and how do we access and record pupils’ progress?
• What are the gaps between what we are doing and what we believe we should do?
• Do any pupils lack opportunities to prepare fully for working life?
• What changes in provisions do we need to make?
• Who should be involved in developing our provision? (likely groups include Teaching Staff, non-Teaching Staff, Governors, Employers, Trade Unions, Education Business Partnerships, Careers Service, Training and Enterprise Councils and Parents
• Who will manage and co-ordinate the development programmes?
• What are the practical implications for teaching, organisational structures, resourcing and development and training?

Agreed learning outcomes can provide the framework for planning teaching and learning, developing approaches to the assessment of pupils’ progress, and monitoring and evaluating the programme.

In taking the work forward, schools will want to:

• Relate their analysis to agreed aims for Work Related Learning
• Involve key members of staff in identifying the subjects and the activities at Key Stage 3 and 4 where learning outcomes should be achieved, and where gaps exist;
• Involve teachers and others contributing to extra curricular activities in a similar exercise

Subject leaders and those responsible foe other work related activities could identify how any omissions in learning outcomes could be addressed, amending schemes of work as receiving and identifying training and development needs.

Roles and responsibilities for the management and co-ordinator of Work Related Learning provision, should be clearly defined. All members of staff will have some responsibility for preparing young people for working life through the subjects of the curriculum. Particular aspects such as Careers Education and Guidance work experience and economic awareness may be the responsibility of different members of staff. Schools may also want to identify a senior member of the senior management team who will be responsible for ensuring an effective, co-ordinated and coherent programme.

The co-ordinator for Work Related Learning can play a central role in the successful preparation of young people for working life by:

• Clarifying the aims of the programme and locating them within the school aims;
• Identifying with all members of staff the learning outcomes for the programme and the approaches to assessing and recording pupils’ progress;
• Designing and co-ordinating the programme to meet the needs of all pupils’;
• Planning the programme with co-ordinators for Careers, Business and Special Needs, Heads of Department, Year Heads, Course Tutors, Subject Teachers, Form Tutors, Representatives from Business, The Careers Service, The Education Business Partnerships and The Training and Enterprise Council;
• Securing the commitment of all colleagues to the aims of the programme;
• Explaining the objectives of the programme;
• Co-ordinating employers’ support and involvement in the full range of the programme and fostering reciprocal benefits to the companies and the staff who are involved;
• Providing feedback on pupils’ progress to all involved in the programme;
• Agreeing measures of success to evaluate the effectiveness of the school’s programme

Schools may find it helpful to establish a working group to develop and co-ordinate the programme. The group might include:

• The co-ordinators for Work Related Learning, Work Experience, Careers, Business Links, Records of Achievement and Special Educational Needs;
• Representative of subject departments, Vocational programme and Key Skills;
• Representatives from the Education Business Partnership, Training and Enterprise Council, The Careers Service and example:
• A Link Governor and possibly, parent and pupil representatives
• The successful preparation of young people for working life will depend on a programme which is manageable and sufficiently flexible to allow for the different ways and circumstances in which pupils at key stage 4 make progress.

Senior management staff will need to discuss and agree the progress of individual pupils in acquiring the intended learning outcomes. Teachers will need to discuss and agree the range of ways, through the different learning opportunities that pupils could show a learning outcome had been achieved.

The approaches to assessment will depend on the intended learning outcomes. The learning outcomes and the ways pupils can show their learning could be included in pupils’ progress files. Progress file termly reviews could provide opportunities to evaluate pupils’ progress to date and to adapt and refine pupils’ programmes.

If pupils are to be prepared appropriately for working life, it is essential that teachers have up-to-date knowledge of the world of work, understand the school’s responsibility in preparing young people for the world of work and are aware of the opportunities the curriculum provides for the preparation. Teachers need to be equipped to discuss and agree the knowledge, skills and understanding that pupils should acquire if they are to be effectively prepared. Schools in liaison with their Education Business Partnership, the LEA and Careers Service, may need to plan staff development to improve teachers understanding of business and to take greater advantage of teacher placement schemes.

Schools will want to consider how they can build on their existing school business links so that they are fully integrated into curriculum subjects and provide support to the full range of Work Related Learning activities. The intended outcomes will inform discussion with employers about how they can make an appropriate and effective contribution. The Work Related Learning co-ordinator and others involved in developing links with business will need to identify the range of subjects required for the various activities.

Evaluation should focus on the success of the programme in developing the learning outcomes and will include qualitative and quantitative information. Evaluation will encourage feedback from staff, parents and employers. Quantitative date, including qualifications that pupils have achieved, destination data and the longer term aspiration of pupils, will yield information for the evaluation process.