Evaluation of Increased Flexibility for 14 to 16 year olds programme: outcomes for the first cohort

Sarah Golden, Lisa O'Donnell, Tom Benton and Peter Rudd

Introduction

The Increased Flexibility for 14-16 year olds Programme (IFP) was introduced in 2002 by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) to provide vocational learning opportunities at key stage 4 for those young people who would benefit most. The programme, which entailed FE colleges and training providers working in partnership with schools to offer GCSEs in vocational subjects, NVQs, other vocational qualifications and GNVQs to students, was subsequently extended to three further cohorts of young people.

The DfES commissioned the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) to undertake an evaluation of the first cohort of participants. This summary presents selected key findings relating to the attainment, progression, attendance and attitudes of the first cohort of IFP students (2002-2004).

Key findings

• The majority of young people who took new GCSEs and GNVQs attained their qualifications (91 per cent and 80 per cent respectively). In addition, the majority of the sample of young people who had undertaken NVQs and other vocational qualifications had achieved the qualification at the end of Year 11 (66 per cent and 67 per cent respectively).
• In addition, the GNVQs and NVQs achieved by these young people contributed to them gaining higher total point scores than would have been expected given their prior attainment and background characteristics. However, those who took GCSEs in vocational subjects attained levels commensurate with their prior attainment and those who took other vocational qualifications achieved fewer points than might be expected compared to similar students who did not participate.
• Students who studied GCSEs in vocational subjects and GNVQs, but did not participate in IFP, also attained better outcomes than might be expected and, indeed, gained higher points still than young people who had taken these qualifications through IFP.
• Overall, the transition target for IFP partnerships had been successfully met, as schools reported that around 90 per cent of young people who had been involved in the first cohort of IFP had continued into further education or training post-16. Analysis of the cohort as a whole, using matched participation and attainment datasets, indicated a post-16 participation rate of 80 per cent. Two-fifths (42 per cent) of young people said that their participation in IFP had influenced their decision about their post-16 destination.
• The majority of young people who were undertaking a course post-16 were pursuing a qualification that was at a higher level than the level of the course they had undertaken through IFP.

Background

The Increased Flexibility for 14-16 year olds Programme is delivered by means of partnerships between a Lead Partner, which is usually a college of Further Education, partner schools and sometimes other providers, such as training providers and employers. The partnerships are working towards a number of targets relating to achievement of qualifications, progression after Year 11 and attendance during the programme.

The IFP was introduced in 2002 and subsequently expanded to second, third and fourth cohorts commencing in the autumn term of each of the years of 2003, 2004 and 2005. For each cohort, about 300 partnerships have supported the learning of around 40,000 young people in Years 10 and 11. The IFP was therefore reasonably well established as one of the key means for providing curriculum flexibility by the time of the publication of the Tomlinson Report in 2004 (14-19 Curriculum and Qualifications Reform: Final Report of the Working Group on 14-19 Reform) and the subsequent White Paper: 14-19 Education and Skills (2005).

The DfES commissioned the NFER to undertake an evaluation of the first cohort of IFP using a range of data collection methods. Four previous reports of the evaluation have explored the nature of the cohort and partnerships, the outcomes in terms of development of skills, and changes in attitudes at the end of the second year, and the experience for partnerships and students of implementing and participating in IFP.

Conclusions

Overall, the evaluation of the first cohort of IFP has found that the majority of students who participated had benefited in so far as the majority achieved their qualifications at the end of the programme and nearly all had progressed onto further education and training. Overall, students gained more points at key stage 4 than similar students who did not participate in IFP although, in the case of GCSEs in vocational subjects and GNVQs, students who took these qualifications through the programme gained fewer points than similar students taking these qualifications who did not participate.

These findings, together with findings reported previously in the evaluation which indicated that there was evidence that IFP participants had developed their social skills and confidence in their employability skills, including interpersonal, communication and problem solving skills, and their attitude towards school, suggest that, on the whole, the IFP made a valuable contribution to the education of the first cohort of participants.

Policy implications

The experience of the first cohort of IFP participants may be helpful for informing the future development of the IFP and similar programmes. The findings point to a number of possible implications for policy:

• Targeting students - The evidence indicates that there were particular outcome benefits for students with lower attainment at key stage 3. This suggests that, if such a programme is to be targeted at a sub-group of students within school, it may be worth considering targeting it at lower attaining students who would potentially benefit more from the experience.
• Further guidance - Around half of the IFP participants surveyed indicated that they would have liked more information and guidance about their post-16 choices. In particular, it appears that young people who wished or chose to pursue a work-based route post-16 had a particular need for guidance. This suggests that, while many students would benefit from enhanced information, advice and guidance relating to their destinations after Year 11, those who intend to pursue a work-based route post-16 would particularly benefit from guidance about that route.
• Engagement of students - Higher attainment at key stage 4 was associated with students having a positive attitude towards school. Finding the course interesting, and having helpful discussions with teachers and tutors about progress on the course, in turn, were associated with having a positive attitude towards school. There would be value, therefore, in ensuring that teachers and tutors are able to incorporate these discussions into their delivery of the programme and to ensure that their delivery is engaging for participants. One mechanism for achieving this might be to encourage opportunities for providers to share experience and good practice.
• Shared delivery approaches - The evidence indicated that partnerships were more effective in terms of higher attainment where they included some element of delivery by school staff, either shared teaching with an external provider, or through delivery in the school. Shared teaching approaches were used in a minority of partnerships, so there may be value in exploring how best to support partnerships in further developing this shared delivery aspect of IFP.
• Partnership organisation and communication - The findings from this report indicated that smaller partnerships were more effective in terms of attainment outcomes than those which worked with larger numbers of schools. This may be related to the time required to liaise with, and coordinate provision with, a large number of schools. While this suggests that encouraging partnerships to work more effectively with a smaller number of schools may be worthwhile, this would need to be balanced by the need to continue to enable as many schools to participate as wish to do so. Identifying creative and more effective approaches to working in partnership with a large number of schools may usefully inform the further development of partnerships.

Citation of full report
Golden, S., O’Donnell, L., Benton, T. and Rudd, P. (2005). Evaluation of Increased Flexibility for 14 to 16 Year Olds Programme: Outcomes for the First Cohort (DfES Research Report 668). London: DfES.

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