An Initial Response from the Catholic Education Service to the Interim Report of The Working Group On 14-19 Reform (Tomlinson Group) 10am, 17 February 2004.
 
"The CES cautiously welcomes the proposals of the working group on 14-19 reform published today.

The report's call for evolution of the curriculum and assessment experienced by 14-19 year olds is, in most respects, not a surprise. We welcome the report's aims and "design objectives" offering as they do an opportunity to better motivate young people across the board, improving attainment and retaining more young people in education for longer. Aims to stretch the most able, whilst also seeking more coherence in vocational provision, are applauded. This, along with a promised improvement in assessment procedures so that less time is devoted to taking examinations and being assessed for its own sake, are particularly welcomed.

The proposed framework of interlocking diplomas at four different levels, different diploma lines, and specialist and open diplomas, however, sounds very complex and requires further time and careful study to evaluate the curriculum and organisational implications. The CES is unequivocal in its expectation that the flexibility that this is likely to be called for must not diminish the opportunity for young people to experience an education with a religious character as evidenced by choosing a Catholic secondary school at 11 years. The CES will be continuing to work with diocesan partners and schools to ensure that we explore the proposals fully and constructively to seek the necessary new ways of working eg with more partners, and to offer the different " lines" sought by pupils, whilst not reducing their chances of a distinctive faith based education - one so patently sought by the many families seeking places in Catholic schools and resulting in frequent oversubscription in our Catholic secondary schools.

We have concerns about the place of Religious Education in the proposals. We shall be seeking further detail on how the proposals will ensure that the statutory requirement of Religious Education continues to be met for all young people 14 -19, irrespective of diploma levels or specialisation. At present there appears to be only one reference to RE in the report and nothing to indicate how the provision of RE will be fitted in or accredited. We would, for example, expect that the present opportunities for in depth study of RE as at GCSE and AS and A2 continue to be available in an appropriate form. Our concerns for RE provision are not exclusively for our Catholic schools and their pupils but a firm belief in the importance of RE for all pupils in any kind of school or provision 14-19 years.

We are also anxious to receive assurances on the matters of resourcing of the proposals, and the pastoral support of young people. The report makes commendable reference to some forms of guidance and support but there is no explicit reference to the consequences of the diplomas not being age related or pupils being likely to study in more than one place and eg not being with their peers, being with larger cohorts of older students, if they, for example, undertake some of their work at FE colleges. In such circumstances additional support structures would be necessary for young people eg from their "home school" but account has yet to be taken of this. The report does acknowledge that there will be significant resource issues to be addressed if the proposals are to be implemented and we presume that some of these will be to do with pastoral support. We predict that, overall, resource issues will be very significant and call for early assurances that there will be sufficient new funding to accompany the proposals; already schools are having to put time and money into beginning to plan collaboration and other strategies so as to be equipped to respond to likely change."

Director and Chief Executive
Catholic Education Service

10am 17 February 2004
 
 
Contact details:
Oona Stannard Tel: 020 7901 4880 Email: general@cesew.org.uk