14-19 Catholic Education Strategic Development Conference, 8 May 2006.  Organised by the Education Commission of the Diocese of Cardiff at St David’s College.  Presentation by Oona Stannard

Delegation of 16-19 Provision Organisation Proposals to Local Authorities Consultation 2006

1. In its work with Government the CES’ starting point is, wherever possible, to receive plans and proposals with a mindset of how can we work with you on this? – are there ways that the Church can collaborate? Help make these work?  But this can only be in ways that do not compromise what we seek to do; our mission, our values and our ethos and which will not harm or put at risk our provision - so we start from a ‘can we do it’ perspective? (this was well exemplified in the approach that the dioceses and the CES took to the piloting of the foundation stage in Wales).

2. The CES is working with the vigour that comes from the bishops mandate in a recent symposium (March 06) when they asked for 3 objectives to be pursued by the CES;

1. Continue to secure and champion the Voluntary Aided (VA) sector as the Church’s preferred model of education for the Catholic community.
2. Reformulate the vision of Catholic education; in the light of the present context of society (this links with current work ‘On The Way To Life’).
3. Begin to explore additional ways in which the Church can serve the most disadvantaged members of society through education, e.g. in new provision that may not necessarily be designated Catholic and which may, for example, be with new partners.

You can see where this begins to stimulate thought and questions about the current Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) consultations on matters that will impact on Catholic education in Wales.

3. A Headteacher in the diocese recently phoned the CES because they wanted to talk about their fear that their Local Authority (LA) may seek the ending of any 16-19 Catholic provision in their area.  I recalled the 18 months or so during which we have experienced some LSCs making similar proposals in England. The first serious such threat prompted much lobbying and letter writing locally and nationally and the proposals were unsuccessful.  It was evidence that our voice does count if we use it well…. but I am not sanguine; there are big differences between England and Wales, not least in the matter of numbers and proportion of Catholic schools and I am afraid that size does matter and it is a tool that we have deployed in on-going negotiations.  So arguably in Wales we need more not less statutory protections and safeguards for the Catholic sector if parents are to retain the right to educate their children in accordance with their wishes as is enshrined in the Human Rights Act.
4. Some LAs are more knowledgeable about, and more sympathetic to, the VA sector than others, whilst some give the impression that their community provision always dominates.  In others the VA sector is small and more easily forgotten about by the LAs! It is these things that we have to guard against, ensuring that the rights of the VA sector are protected so that we are duly consulted and work as crucial partners (both provider and stakeholder) to ensure that young Catholics may continue to benefit from a Catholic education to 19 years.  We also have to ensure that the diocesan trustees’ role in determining such provision remains strong.  This can only happen if there is a robust strategic approach, based on policy and understood throughout the diocese.
5. I would be misleading you if I said that I thought we could carry on as we are in the provision of 16-19 education without development or change.  I say this both mindful of the needs of our young people and of the political context – but I do think that there is much that we can do to make sure that our young people continue to have access to  a significant experience of Catholic education from 16-19 and indeed from 14-19.
6. As Church we have always done well by our academic sixth formers, but the reality was that for some young people who were less academically inclined there was no equally accessible and valued 16-19 Catholic provision. At 16 years these pupils had either to go off into the world of work (often unskilled) or to secular FE (or unemployment) without support from the Church.  In some cases they stayed at school doing unsuitable A-level courses.  If you will pardon the pun, we must, in good faith do better than that.  St David’s College is a good example of what our sector can do superbly well.  Working collaboratively they have set up Faith based learning networks and been innovative in E-learning and in working with work based training providers.  This has served their own students well and supported other sixth formers remaining in their schools.
7. We want the best for our young people.  I suggest that what we mean by this is that we want to continue educating those for whom we are able to continue making good provision, i.e. that which effectively and efficiently meets their needs in a Catholic setting and does not take resources that are due elsewhere, e.g. to younger pupils in the school. We know that we are unlikely to be able to offer everything that any student could want in every setting, e.g. heavy engineering and construction, because of plant costs and logistics.  We can, however, try to be innovative and to seek new ways of working, as St David’s College and other Catholic schools did.
8. Should we not try to seize new ground and seek ways of keeping young people on our registers or with us as their ‘home’ institution whilst facilitating significant parts of their study elsewhere according to their needs?  Being on our register should mean that they have a high quality experience of returning to their home school for at least 3 vital aspects of their learning and development as Catholic students, i.e. liturgy and worship, religious education and formation, and pastoral activities including community aspects of the life of the ‘home’ school or college. In looking at any reorganisation proposals this could be among the criteria that we assert for our agreement to proposals.
9. A specific response will have to be made to WAG on their proposals to delegate responsibility for 16-19 reorganisation proposals.  As the national strategic and policy voice for the Catholic Church in education in Wales and England, the CES will be expected to submit a response on behalf of our community.  I will do this, firstly by listening to you today, and in consultation with your diocesan officers and by offering them a draft response, seeking their observations.  To stimulate those discussions amongst you I would like to share some of the points that, at this stage, I intend to make in the consultation response to the 16-19 delegation proposals.
   1. I will acknowledge the move to local level decision making and the continued role of the minister in final decision making, welcoming this continued ministerial responsibility.
   2. State strongly my concern that there is insufficient reference to, and safeguarding of, the diocesan and trustees role; they must be explicit named partners in the consultation process – this should be at both the stage of drawing up proposals, and commenting on them once they have been published.  I will urge that the LAs should view dioceses as a contributor and part of the solution.
   3. I will try to persuade that the dioceses must be included in the brokering of the concordat regarding drafting, whether one or more LAs are involved – because of the impact on our community, for example, travel to education distances.  The dioceses should be included even for proposals in an area where there are currently no Catholic schools or colleges.
   4. The consultation makes reference to the integrated strategy for the local area, and to consensus.  I will point out that this must not mean that an integrated model may not offer some choice and diversity, and consensus must not be taken to mean that ‘one size fits all’.  The dioceses should also be invited to participate in the “identification of need” referred to as the basis for bringing forward proposals.  LAs should share their “analyses” as described in the proposals.
   5. In an era when economic prosperity and employability seem to dominate, I will remind WAG that the human person is worth more than this reduced, utilitarian model of education, and that all young people should be enabled to continue their social, moral, spiritual and cultural development and that students registered in Catholic provision should be able to continue their faith formation.
   6. On a practical level I will also point out that 2 months is an insufficient consultation period for objections post publication of any proposals.  Interested parties, including dioceses should have the right to see all objections and should be able to call for them to be published, and that there should be at least one pilot of the delegated arrangements to a LA, and that as stakeholder/provider, the dioceses should be fully involved.
10. Archbishop Peter and I have agreed that we will be seeking a meeting between the Welsh Bishops, Jane Davidson and myself to discuss Catholic education.  I would ask that you each also alert your diocesan officers to local activities which may be heard earliest at grass roots and to share examples of good practice with diocesan officers and colleagues.  Similarly, please copy consultation documents to CES – we would rather have too much than not enough to carry out our work in promoting and supporting Catholic education in Wales.  If the proposal to delegate planning re 16-19 reorganisation to LAs proceeds, I foresee much additional work for dioceses and you will have to consider how you plan for and resource this.  Clearly, there will be a need not only for coherent policy and strategy but also for collaboration and mutual support.
11. At the end of the day, we are all partners in ensuring that our young people are helped to continue their formation in the Church, and that the Church is a powerful voice in contributing to the planning of education, positively influencing the common good.

Oona Stannard

Chief Executive and Director

08.05.06