Expanding Opportunities: A Report on School-College Partnership Programmes in Scotland
Author: Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education (HMIe) (Scotland)
Date: 2008-08-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Partnerships in Education,College School Cooperation,Foreign Countries,Learning Experience,Educational Improvement,Program Improvement,Best Practices,Case Studies,Enrollment Trends,Institutional Characteristics,Educational Opportunities,Educational Finance,Funding Formulas,Program Descriptions,Mainstreaming,Special Education,Vocational Education,Educational Administration,Educational Planning,Strategic Planning,Quality Assurance,Organizational Communication,Educational Practices,Faculty Development

This report looks at the experience of those young people who broaden their learning and develop their essential skills by undertaking school-college partnership programmes. Its primary aim is to identify what makes these programmes successful for young people and what needs to be done better. It is intended to help schools, colleges, and local authorities to build on key messages of success to further improve the learning experience for all. This report is designed to complement and expand the scope of the HMIE report &quot;Preparing for Work&quot;, published in 2007, which provided an evaluation of the Skills for Work pilot. It also covers other programmes offered by colleges, including higher or more advanced programmes in subjects not usually offered in school, like psychology, sociology, or care. The report also looks at taster or short programmes offered by colleges to pupils in S1, S2 or, in an increasing number of cases, to primary schools. Such programmes are designed to help expand the awareness of pupils making academic or vocational subject choices or simply to provide a learning experience which broadens out their school studies. The report also examines the nature and impact of full-time programmes for pupils who are either ready to leave school and wish to follow a particular line of study at college, or who have become so disengaged from school that they are in danger of dropping out of education altogether. The report identifies patterns of growth in school-college programmes over the last three years. It also explores issues around the different funding streams that support school-college provision, especially in relation to increased Government funding following the publication of &quot;Lifelong Partners&quot; by the Scottish Executive in 2005. Finally, the report explores whether colleges, schools and local authorities have improved their collaborative planning, management and quality assurance of school-college programmes in line with the broad aims of &quot;Lifelong Partners&quot;, and the specific recommendations of the HMIE report &quot;Working Together&quot;, also published in 2005. It makes a number of recommendations for further improvement and cites case studies which identify good practice. The following are appended: (1) Further enrolment and attainment data; (2) Glossary of terms and abbreviations used in this report; (3) Colleges, schools and authorities involved in the fieldwork specific to this report; and (4) Bibliography. (Contains 3 tables, 5 figures, and 35 footnotes.)