Report of the Strategic Director of Children and Education Services

This report provides an update on work done by the Council which has had a positive impact on increasing the number of young people accessing Education Employment Training (EET) opportunities in the city over the last 2 years. It also outlines the plans for this work moving forward which align with Our Manchester Forward to 2025 Strategy and Manchester Inclusion Strategy 2022-25.

The report outlines how the cohort of young people post 16 is set to increase year on year which is causing significant pressure on places across the post 16 sector. Plans are in place to expand existing provision and to open new provisions however, there is no planned growth of places for technical courses. Projected continued growth of the post 16 cohort in the next few years as well as the planned reform of level 2 technical education may adversely impact on the numbers of young people not in education, employment or training going forward.

The Committee considered a report of the Strategic Director of Children and Education Services which provided an update on work done by the Council which had had a positive impact on increasing the number of young people accessing Education Employment Training (EET) opportunities in the city over the last 2 years. It also outlined the plans for this work moving forward which aligned with the Our Manchester Forward to 2025 Strategy and Manchester Inclusion Strategy 2022-25. The report outlined how the cohort of young people post 16 was set to increase year on year which was causing significant pressure on places across the post 16 sector. It stated that plans were in place to expand existing provision and to open new provisions but there was no planned growth of places for technical courses.  It also stated that projected continued growth of the post 16 cohort in the next few years as well as the planned reform of Level 2 technical education might adversely impact on the numbers of young people not in education, employment or training going forward.

Key points and themes in the report included:

• Background/context;
• Progress to date in relation to;
  • Young people not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET);
  • Post-16 provision;
  • The Risk of NEET Indicator (RONI); and
  • Qualification reform; and
• Business engagement and Skills for Life.

Some of the key points and themes that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

• Tracking young people who had been identified through the RONI after they had entered college and supporting them beyond the first term;
• That NEET prevention work needed to be FASD-, neurobehaviourally- and trauma-informed;
• To request that a representative of Career Connect be invited when this item was considered again; 
• The approach to supporting young people with SEND who were at risk of becoming NEET;
• The lack of clarity on post-16 technical pathways, which was making it difficult for schools and students to prepare;
• Mentoring opportunities;
• The need for additional sixth form provision in north Manchester; and
• Challenges in finding work experience placements.

The Executive Member for Skills, Employment and Leisure emphasised the importance of urgently addressing the pressure on post-16 technical and vocational places, highlighting the impact on the quality of the post-16 offer and on the number of young people who were NEET and he reported that the Council was working closely with partners on this.

The Post-16 Lead outlined how young people who had been identified in Year 11 as at risk of becoming NEET were supported, stating that this continued over the summer period.  He reported that checks were then carried out early in the new academic year on whether they had started at their planned destination and, if not, further support was quickly put into place.  He informed Members that in the last academic year, schools had been encouraged to identify young people earlier, in Year 10.  He informed Members that work took place with partners to provide appropriate support for young people with SEND who were at risk of becoming NEET.  He also informed Members about work to provide a range of opportunities for young people, beyond traditional college places, including providers who could provide appropriate opportunities for targeted groups of young people.

The Director of Education informed Members that a member of staff from Career Connect was co-located in special schools for children with social, emotional and mental health needs and the Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) so they would have a good understanding of and relationship with the young people they were supporting.  She reported that a lot of other special schools had sixth forms so would continue to work with and support their young people.  She advised that, for young people with SEND in mainstream schools, the SENCO (Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator) in the school would work with the SENCO in the college on their transition.   She informed Members that all secondary schools had access to a mentoring programme.  She acknowledged the Member’s point about the need for more sixth form provision in north Manchester, advising that the Council was working hard in exploring options to address this gap.

In response to a Member’s comments about supporting young people who had been identified through RONI beyond their first term at college, the Director of Education reported that post-16 settings had pastoral departments to support students.  The Post-16 Lead reported that there was also a transition period and that, if a young person left their course or training provision, they could receive support from Career Connect.

The Director of Education reported that the specification for the technical pathway was still unclear.  She reported that the T-Level was an equivalent level to A-Levels and a pathway to university but could be too difficult for some 16-year-olds wanting to take a technical route, who needed another qualification as a stepping stone, such as a BTEC qualification; however, she advised, that the Government planned to abolish BTEC qualifications for subjects which had a T-Level.

The Chair reported that some schools wanted to provide a sixth form but were unable to obtain the funding for this.  She asked about student places at Manchester College, following the closure of some of its sites.  She commented on the changes in the approach to supporting young people with learning disabilities, enabling greater independence.  She reported that, following the abolition of Connexions and Aim Higher, a lot of support for students was now provided by colleges themselves but that this impacted on their budgets.  She expressed concern at the gap between Level 2 qualifications and Level 3 T-Levels.  She highlighted the role Social Value could play in providing apprenticeships and supporting young people.

In response to comments from Members about funding to expand post-16 places, the Executive Member for Early Years, Children and Young People advised that the Council had duties for sufficiency at post-16 without having the funding but had been working creatively to try to address sufficiency issues as well as lobbying the Government.  He acknowledged the importance of work experience placements, advising that this had been raised through the Our Year engagement and that addressing this would be a priority within the work to become a UNICEF Child-Friendly City.

The Director of Education reported that Manchester College had rationalised its estate, closing some of its sites while installing state-of-the-art facilities at the city centre and Openshaw campuses, in order to deliver technical qualifications, and that this had not been a reduction in student places.

Decision

To request that a representative of Career Connect be invited when this item is considered again.

[Councillor Bridges declared a personal interest as a Board Member of the Manchester College and Governor of the LTE Group.]