Session Information
03 SES 03 A, Flexibility of the Curriculum.
Paper Session
Contribution
This paper draws on the outcomes of an evaluation of a regional development project which ran between September 2007 and December 2009. The ‘Work Related Learning Project’ was a serious attempt to raise achievement by encouraging secondary school teachers to develop and put into practice new ‘work-related’ materials and approaches. The most common of these were (a) new types of exercises, example and experiences in the academic Mathematics and English curriculum; (b) numeracy and literacy workshops for teachers; (c) the development and increasing use of new general-vocational syllabus and qualifications: (d) City-wide events bringing together students and teachers from a range of similar courses, providing exposure to workplaces and workers through structured tasks. The project operated in a partnership between a government quango (The Learning and Skills Council) and four Local Authorities in England. Most of the students involved were aged 14-16.
Positive results in terms of original aims included making a contribution to raised attainments, producing renewed enthusiasm among some teachers, instigating a broadening of the curriculum for some learners, and some innovative and exciting cross-curricula work. However, there were also some troubling outcomes. In particular, we found that:
- teachers and managers were largely unaware of the statutory nature of work-related learning across their system;
- work-related learning materials and approaches in Mathematics that had been painstakingly developed to provide a differentiated resource were, in practice, denied to those students who were deemed likely to succeed in achieving high grades in their examination;
- the world of work was ‘sanitised’, that is, it was almost always portrayed in an entirely positive light, raising questions about authenticity in student perceptions.
On the basis of further analysis, we suggest that policymakers' interpretations of international (especially European) comparisons has led to an obsession with league tables and the allowing of these to dominate public consciousness of school quality (see Webb, 2009; European Commission, 2009). This has produced a learning culture in which genuine curriculum development is difficult or impossible. This is especially so in regard to those students predicted to do well in conventional terms, with whom schools and teachers are reluctant to ‘take risks’. This effect is all the more paradoxical when the acquisition of these same higher grade public examinations at age 16 is so widely regarded as indicating preparedness for the world of work. There is also reinforcement of the academic/vocational divide (Pring et al, 2009, p. 142; and see Leitch, 2006; O’Leary, 2008).
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Bristol Indymedia (2009) Primark Opening Protest Reports and Photos, at: http://bristol.indymedia.org/article/690844?&condense_comments=false#comment44961 (Accessed August 2009) DWP [Department of Work and Pensions] (2009) ‘Government research shows racial discrimination in recruitment’. See http://www.dwp.gov.uk/newsroom/press-releases/2009/october-2009/dwp047-09-191009.shtml (accessed November 2009) European Commission (2009) the European Qualifications Framework - see http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-policy/doc44_en.htm (Accessed December 2009) Harris, A. and Ranson, S. (2005) ‘The contradictions of education policy: disadvantage and achievement’, British Educational Research Journal 31 (5) pp. 571-587 Harvey, D. (2005) A brief history of neoliberalism Oxford, Oxford University Press Konkola, R., Tuomi-Grohn, T., Lambert, P. and Ludvigsen, S. (2007) ‘Promoting learning and transfer between school and workplace’ Journal of Education and Work 20, (3), pp. 211-228. Leitch, S. (2006) Prosperity for all in the global economy- world class skills London, HM Treasury Levitas, R. (2005) The Inclusive Society - Social exclusion and New Labour London, Macmillan O’Leary, D. (2008) ‘Five tests for Leitch’ in C. Flint and C. Hughes (eds) Not Just the Economy: The public value of adult learning Leicester, National Institute of Adult Continuing Education Sennett, R. (2009) The Craftsman London: Penguin Books Webb, R (2009) Control and Response in Primary Teachers' Work, in C. Chapman and H Gunter eds) Radical Reforms - Perspectives on an era of educational change, London and New York: Routledge
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