They have proven value in allowing young people to develop their self-esteem, social and personal skills. They can also act as a vital route to more formal qualifications.
The changes prompted by the Wolf Report are bound to limit what schools offer as commissioners and funders allocate more value to the qualifications that have GCSE equivalency. Alternative providers too are likely to be forced to opt for qualifications on this new list. This will mean that young people for whom mainstream schools are not right will be faced with a curriculum that is very similar to the one that has already proved unsuitable. This is hardly likely to aid their re-engagement with learning.
To avoid this we urge schools and Local Authorities to heed recent Department for Education guidance and consider offering qualifications not linked to GSCE equivalence when it is in the best interest of their students. No one wants a situation where schools and LAs are faced with just two choices for alternative education placements: either replicating mainstream provision by adopting the same accreditation or purely considering cost and adopting a “baby sitting” approach. Both of these alternatives are inappropriate for young people who have become disengaged with mainstream education. There is a real value in high quality alternative education which mainly follows accreditation other than GCSEs.
We know that provision like our own network of Youth Achievement Foundations offers real opportunities for the 4% of young people who would otherwise leave school with no accredited outcomes. These new measures will give schools and LAs another reason to opt for less effective provision.
At UK Youth we stand by the value of the awards and opportunities that we and our partners offer. Young people, especially those on the margins of mainstream education, derive great benefit from them as do the youth workers and teachers seeking to engage them in learning. Click here to see The Wolf Report in full.
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