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Policies for 14-19 education and training in England, 1976 to the present day: A chronology
Susannah Wright and Alis Oancea
This paper aims to provide a chronological overview of policies for 14-19 education and training in England from 1976 to the present day. Policy documents and programmes included in this chronology:
Make substantive policy proposals (as opposed to pure discussion documents);
Are "influential" – they result in significant policy developments or are referred to in or have a clear influence on later policy documents.
We focus on national level policies – documents and programmes – initiated by relevant central government departments (mostly Department for Education and Skills, Department for Trade and Industry, Department for Work and Pensions and their predecessors) or non-departmental public bodies. Given our substantial remit we can only identify key proposals, and may not reflect the complexity of some documents and programmes. Documentary evidence examined includes:
White and green papers;
Reports and reviews commissioned by relevant central government departments;
Legislation;
Policy documents from non-departmental public bodies.
This paper does not attempt to analyse developments in detail, but assigns 'themes' which can be traced over time. The choice of themes inevitably has a degree of arbitrariness, given the multiple dimensions of the issues under consideration and the length of the period surveyed. It was attempted to identify themes that would give a good coverage of policy initiatives since 1976, but without engaging in the more distinct debates about standards, relevance, aims and purposes of education etc.
The final framework consists of five broad themes:
Curriculum – which includes pathways; courses and content; core skills; careers education; relevance for the world of work.
Qualifications and assessment: formal qualifications; examinations and assessment; diagnostic testing; records of achievement; standards of attainment; attainment targets; key skills.
Providers: institutional structures for education and training; types of schools; teacher development and teaching quality.
Governance and management: (new) institutions and bodies involved with governance/ management; school governing bodies; new interest groups (e.g. parents); funding; school inspection; school performance; league tables.
Social inclusion and participation: special groups (special educational needs; unemployed; ethnic minorities; disaffected pupils); lifelong learning and adult education; increasing participation in post-compulsory education; diversification of choice (for increased participation); issues of access (e.g. assisted places scheme).
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