Agenda item

The report shares a sample of content and findings from a suite of reports resulting from a range of internal and externally commissioned skills and employment based research activities conducted on the subject of curriculum development priorities within Northumberland County. The content and findings underpin Northumberland Strategic Skills Plan 2021-25 which is designed to inform skills planning and the approach in designing impactful vocational skills provision.

The appendices are available for viewing on the Council’s website.

The report shared a sample of content and findings from a suite of reports resulting from a range of internal and externally commissioned skills and employment based research activities conducted on the subject of curriculum development priorities within Northumberland.  The content and findings underpinned the Northumberland Strategic Skills Plan 2021-25 which was designed to inform skills planning and the approach in designing impactful vocational skills provision.  An introduction to the report was provided by N Dorward, Senior Manager - Education Development & Collaborative Projects with the aid of a power point presentation.   The appendices to the report were available for viewing on the Council’s website.  Mrs Kingham stated that all the reports presented at the Committee today would be a catalyst for change in the future.  Work would be undertaken with Senior Officers in the first instance to get this embedded within the Council and this would also be done with all schools across the County via partnerships. It was a long piece of work but it had already started. 

A skills audit had been discussed at Corporate Parenting for members of that Group and it was suggested that this should be undertaken in a broader sense for all Councillors and Officers of the Council and the different career paths they have had and use this free resource to take into schools for young people to understand and know the different roles and jobs which were available and to which they could aspire to. 

Mr Hodgson highlighted the work which he had previously undertaken with schools in the EU and the common theme of which had been the effective links they had with industries which gave young people aged 13/14 the opportunity to sample a wide range of industries which we could learn from.  In some instances transport had also been provided to able the young people to access these chances. 

Councillor Daley commented that schools were often too focussed on achieving Ofsted approval that they had lost sight of the importance of links with business. There was an opportunity for a rethink and to look at linking learning with earning and the huge benefit of vocational, business and industry led training and he questioned if Ofsted was still fit for purpose following Covid.  A Kingham agreed that some education systems in other countries were phenomenal in terms of their business/industry links and whilst we were at an early stage there were some opportunities for us to link with industry training units in Germany and Denmark, where some links had already been established.  There were some opportunities on a regional and national level for the work the Council was doing to be shared, but it would take more than this to change things. Industry would have a much larger voice and we needed to get them on board to take forward and there was an opportunity to start to change.

In response to a question on how as a body the Committee could change the focus of Ofsted to include vocational studies and embrace different ways of learning, the Chair advised that a letter could be sent to the Regional Ofsted Inspector, however, to achieve any change would require a collective voice including politicians, government and industry and senior officers throughout the Country.  The work undertaken recently in connection with Looked After Children by the Directors of Children’s Services in the LA7 was highlighted and it was recognised that a collaborative approach building up nationally would be the best way forward.  Mrs Kingham advised that she worked closely with the Regional Ofsted office and these views would be shared with them and once the outlined plans were in place and we could provide evidence to say that these were providing a bigger difference than the current framework then the route to change would be through lobby groups which would include industry voices.

Mr Hodgson highlighted the work he had witnessed in Latvia and Lithuania in relation to the heavy investment in the development of IT skills within schools some 25 years ago and they now led the world in this field, this was something that could be replicated within our schools. 

The Chair advised that he did not wish to lose sight of the discussion in relation to Ofsted and an additional recommendation should be included to request that Officers talk to other Directors of Education within the LA7 or wider field on putting something to Government on how there could be more flexibility within Ofsted.  Mr Street advised that there was currently scope within the Ofsted framework to cover a lot of the areas discussed. A broad and balanced curriculum designed to meet the needs of the local community rather than a one size fits all for the whole Country allowed schools to be deemed to be outstanding because they met the needs of their learners and residents. It would be great if this could be made clearer in the national framework, however there was a need to give Head Teachers the confidence that working this way could help their schools to become outstanding.   The Chair advised that it was vital that this knowledge become embedded in schools and that schools and colleges understood that they could be part of the wider solution and requested an additional recommendation be included to reflect that.

RESOLVED that: 

1.    the content and general approach of the Northumberland Skills Pathfinder Curriculum Research be noted;

2.     the use of the document with internal NCC stakeholder groups be authorised; and

3.    that work be undertaken with schools and colleges to embed the knowledge of the Ofsted framework which included the use of a broad and balanced curriculum which was designed to meet the needs of their learners and residents.