OVERVIEW


FIVE YEARS ON FROM THE CAVTL REPORT


The 2013 report by the Commission on Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning (CAVTL) helped shape the ongoing reform of technical education, says CAVTL’s chair Sir Frank McLoughlin CBE.


W


hen I was asked to chair the Commission on Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning (CAVTL) I was determined it was not going to be another parliamentary-based commission that invited sector


leaders to contribute to a report which would end up gathering dust on a Whitehall shelf. We wanted to do things differently. That involved going out into the sector with an open mind and seeing the work that was going on. We put real-life practice before any theories or preconceived ideas about what adult vocational education and training was or was not. We reflected carefully after each visit, so that we understood


what was really happening in terms of the provision and the learning taking place. We also gathered a huge amount of feedback and input from a wide range of stakeholders. Crucially, we recruited commission members from a range of


different backgrounds to ensure we had different perspectives and fresh input into our deliberations. We had FE practitioners, a student, an apprentice, trade union representation and industry practitioners. I think that the combination of these approaches gave the commission’s final report a powerful authenticity that still resonates five years on and, hopefully, will continue to do so for many years to come.


The fundamental insight for the commission was that you can’t


deliver outstanding technical education and training divorced from the world of work. It simply cannot be done. It may sound like a rather obvious statement now, but it


presented a serious challenge to the whole FE and training system. We had found considerable misalignments between a lot of the vocational education and training and the world of work it was meant to support. This was because further education providers were very often running the courses and qualifications that the funding system incentivised, rather than those courses and qualifications that they might otherwise have run, if the funding had been there, to meet the real needs of employers and learners. In short, there was no clear line of sight from education and


training to the workplace. There was need for a cultural shift across the piece that re-energised that dynamic, two-way street between vocational education and the workplace. The challenge, then, becomes how to build technical education and training curricula and assessment processes that


replicate the messy, uncertain and highly adaptable world of work. We proposed a core and tailored approach to designing qualifications, meaning nationally specified core content tailored to meet local demand. Tailoring provision means improving levels of collaboration between providers and employers to ensure all education and training takes place in settings as close to real working environments as possible. It was also clear to us that the best vocational teaching and learning is a sophisticated process, and requires teachers and trainers who are dual professionals. These are technical experts with experience from industry and business who come into FE where they are then supported to develop their skills as professional teachers and trainers. Five years on, I am pleased to see that much of what we


recommended in the CAVTL report has been incorporated by government into its technical education reforms, including the T Level pathways and the new apprenticeship standards. Through programmes such as Teach Too and Taking


Teaching Further, the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) is supporting these reforms by promoting collaborative working between providers, employers, Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), Growth Hubs and local authorities. The ETF and the Society for Education and Training (SET) also support dual professionalism by providing clear career progression pathways for teachers and trainers. This is a critical juncture for further education and training.


Political and economic factors compel us to develop an education and training system that delivers a home-grown pipeline of skilled individuals who will drive UK competitiveness to the highest level. There is a great deal of change in the system and that presents challenges for leaders and practitioners alike. But I do believe we have turned a corner and we are now on track to re-establishing that two-way street as a central and vital aspect of technical education and training.


Sir Frank McLoughlin is an associate director of the Education and Training Foundation, heading its work on leadership and governance. Between 2002 and 2016 Sir Frank was principal of City and Islington College. He was appointed as chair of the Commission on Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning (CAVTL) in 2012 and the commission produced its report, It’s About Work, in 2013. Re-read the CAVTL report via goo.gl/CMfS4g


inTUITIONTECHNICAL TEACHING • AUTUMN 2018 3


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