ABSTRACT
According to the recent White Paper 14–19 Education and Skills (DfES 2005a), there is a clear steer for all educational institutions involved with this age phase towards what is termed responsiveness. What this means is accountability for new flexible provision. The proposals in this White Paper, together with the forthcoming Skills White Paper, address our aim of equipping young people and adults with the skills they need to be employable and to achieve success later in life. The two White Papers offer employers the opportunity to contribute to the long-term transformation of vocational education in support of a high-productivity flexible economy:
In setting out our long-term course, we send a clear signal that our intention is that the system should be fashioned around the needs of the learner and be responsive to the needs of employers. The job of educational institutions is to ensure, locality by locality that the full range of programmes is made available to young people.
(DfES 2005a: 11) The responsibility to provide the range of choices to learners in this age phase could be a heavy one. If development work has not been undertaken and the local relationships are immature then the 14–19 students attending school and college in such an area would be disadvantaged.