14-19 policy in England: Developments 2005-06

Steve Besley
Introduction

The 14-19 White Paper was launched on 23 February 2005. In the 18 months that have followed a raft of Papers, Reports, documents, guidance and commentaries has followed in its wake, each contributing to 14-19 developments in some way. In all it is possible to identify nearly 30 such policy 'interventions'.

Few major education strategies start with a clean sheet and even fewer end up with one; along the way original aspirations tend to dissipate and occasionally disappear altogether. The conclusion here is that in the shift from the Tomlinson proposals to the White Paper, the focus of 14-19 reform has shifted away from learning and the curriculum and towards systems and structures. The familiar 'structures not standards' mantra in effect but with two codicils. One is that 14-19 reform appears closely linked to the Blair education legacy, in this case the ditching of the competitive market driven model of provision of the 1980s and 90s for a partnership model with the learner at the centre of a collaborative yet personalised system. And the other is that while such a legacy may be no bad thing, it does mean that once again the opportunity to transform the 14-19 curriculum has been missed.

This paper looks at the policy outflow on 14-19 provision over the last 18 months, considers what messages emerge, identifies a number of broader policy trends that have surfaced and concludes with an assessment of six particular policy trends now evident in 14-19 developments.

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