Report of the Cabinet Member for Learning and Employability
Minutes:
The committee considered details of the activity around the recently established Education and Skills Strategic Group and its agreed work programme. The Education and Skills Strategy: A Partnership Framework for Staffordshire was published in April 2019, with a clear vision: “That every Staffordshire child receives the best possible education and is equipped with the learning, skills, aspirations and opportunities they need to continue lifelong learning and forge a successful career, with fulfilled, healthy lives, as responsible adults”.
The inaugural meeting of the Education and Skills Strategic Group was held on 20 June 2019, with a membership reflecting the range of educational partners and providers across Staffordshire and beyond. They considered presentations on the county council’s new Raising Aspiration programme of research with Staffordshire University and on the Future Economy and Local Industrial Strategy. The group agreed to seven key priorities for its future work programme: Inclusion; Aspiration; Outcomes; Curriculum Offer; Best Practice; Emotional Wellbeing; and Capacity. At its second meeting on 2 October 2019 the group discussed Aspiration and the Local Industrial Strategy with Alun Rogers, interim LEP chair, and Best Practice with Bernie Pearce, Director of Blackfriars Teaching School. The group agreed that its work programme for the coming year would focus on Aspiration and Best Practice:
· Aspiration - To convene a workshop to identify how all education providers should use the information and intelligence of the Local Industrial Strategy and also to identify and share existing good practice. The longer-term aim was to define a broad “Staffordshire Curriculum” which reflects the values and skills aspirations for the county.
· Best Practice – To convene a workshop to identify sources of best practice, but with an emphasis on the development of personal characteristics. The longer-term aim for this priority was to define a broad “Staffordshire Curriculum” which reflects the values and skills aspirations for the county.
In addition, the group agreed to adopt the “Framework for Ethical Leadership in Education” of selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership, contained in the Final Report of the Ethical Leadership Commission in January 2019. They also agreed to establish a task and finish group to develop proposals for the first “Staffordshire Education and Skills Conference” in Summer 2020, to draw together the diverse range of providers and partners to showcase good practice and the work of the strategic group.
The Chairman expressed concern that there had been an expectation that the strategic group would take a strong role in school improvement and hold people to account- schools, governing bodies, headteachers – for under-achievement and performance and this did not seem to be the case. The Cabinet member pointed out that it was important to recognise that the education system was incredibly diverse and involved a lot of stakeholders and centres of power and decision-making and the purpose of this exercise was to draw them together and give them a sense of shared purpose and shared responsibility so that they can be held to account and the system can hold itself to account. It was therefore important to bond that group together. A member commented that what was needed was sector improvement through self-help, but also direct accountability for outcomes. The parent governor representative expressed the view that the strategic group provided a useful opportunity to network and have influence on schools through the workshops.
A member queried how businesses were engaging with the strategy and was informed that the link to these would be through the LEP. It was agreed that lifelong learning and upskilling was very important, not just in relation to jobs but also on a personal wellbeing level, and that members could be ambassadors for this and raising aspirations. A member asked about satisfaction levels with sixth forms, in particular careers advice and guidance but also standards of teaching. They were informed that there was a big disparity in terms of outcomes in the county. The challenge was that most of the high schools were academies and it was therefore difficult to exert influence. Larger sixth forms tended to do better as they were able to offer a broader range of curriculum choice. The LEP is the vehicle for careers advice, together with the Local Industrial Strategy around education and skills.
RESOLVED – That the committee note the activity of the recently-established Education and Skills Strategic Group and its agreed work programme, and emphasise the need for the group to bring about improvement, with demonstrable outcomes.
Supporting documents: