Case study
Consortium:
Accord for Diplomas
With so many providers involved in local consortia, it is essential that everyone works together for the benefit
of all. Headteacher BrianRossiter discusses his consortium’s agreement to this end – the Bassetlaw Accord
he 14 to 19 providers in
T
Bassetlaw, Nottinghamshire,
have developed an offer to the
community that has grown like
a hydra. Apprenticeships, GCSes, A levels,
skills sector vocational qualifications, e2e and
BTeCs have been produced like rabbits out of
a hat for students to choose from.
The mantra of provider choice has led to
the further education college, the schools
sector, and independent training providers all
planning to their own agenda.
The emergence of Diplomas at the same
time as Area Strategy Groups (ASGs) made
us sit back and look at what we were doing
across our community. Reality told us that
we were not co-ordinated and were trying, at being followed by a larger cohort in year two work developing the Accord. each element/
times, to attract students to our courses not and potentially even greater recruitment in sentence was examined for acceptability. The
for the benefit of the students, but for the September 2010. We estimate that 21 per relationships between items were considered
benefit of the organisations. cent of our year 10 cohort across the area will as were the meanings of individual words. The
There is a limited pool of students who be following Diploma courses in 2010 – but outcome of the meeting was positive in that
were attracted to a wide range of providers we were still developing our 14 to 19 offer on we rewrote the document in two sections: a
for identical courses, many of which were an ad-hoc basis. general set of principles for the delivery of a
running at a loss. It was not a case of the With machinery of government changes 14 to 19 strategy and an appendix covering
better providers giving a better deal to the about to be enacted, we decided that we principles for the development and delivery
students and hence course numbers becoming needed to take control of planning 14 to of Diplomas. The second draft went to a
viable, more a case of viability in some cases 19 delivery and to be in control of our own full ASG meeting for further discussion
being achieved by accident rather than design. destiny. Better that than a local authority and change. This was followed by drafts
After a shaky start, the Bassetlaw Area commissioning future provision to its own three, four, five, six and seven as I spoke to
Strategy Group (BASG) (Delivering Diplomas, agenda. We needed to develop a curriculum individual partners as we sought a version to
Volume 1 No 1 Autumn 2009, p22-23) strategy based on district-wide needs, a which all providers felt happy to buy into.
decided to get a grip on provision. range of providers, and agreements on how And where are we now? As I write, draft
Many members of the group meet all partners would collaborate. And so the seven is about to go to ASG. If no draft eight
regularly and our working relationships, Bassetlaw Accord was born. is required I anticipate that we will all sign up
although institution-focused, were good. An initial meeting of the BASG discussed to the Bassetlaw Accord and commit ourselves
Our development of a co-ordinated post-16 the broad outline of the accord. A SWOT to working to the principles in the document.
strategy for AS/A2 provision in two new post- (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and They will suit our context and be a foundation
16 centres was an excellent starting point for threats) analysis among partners led to a fairly on which to develop and deliver a 14 to 19
area-wide planning. challenging meeting where we put down curriculum strategy across 300 square miles of
As a district, we co-operated and were markers from each institution’s point of view. north Nottinghamshire. DD
successful applicants for Diploma Gateways This was worked up into a first draft
1 to 3. We entered the Diploma world on that went to a meeting of Bassetlaw Area • Brian Rossiter is headteacher at Valley School,
a basis of known expertise and potential Secondary heads (BASh) who tore it apart. a specialist technology college in Worksop. The
for successful delivery. And we have been Many members of BASh are also members Basstlaw Accord as it was in January 2010 is
successful with a small cohort in year one of the BASG and as such did the ground printed opposite.
24 Delivering Diplomas • Volume 2 No 1 Spring 2010
24-25 Case study.indd 2 5/3/10 11:58:10
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