When Celyn* enrolled on to Guernsey College’s level 1 engineer-ing course in 2017, the process was familiar to her. Having left school with very few qualifications, she had already tried - and failed - to pass level 1 twice. She lacked motivation, she struggled to focus on her work and her attendance was consistently poor. She was prone to disruptive behaviour while in college - and the staff knew she was a challenging student to support.
But the third time was different. Celyn’s attitude and behaviour transformed: she wanted to learn, she wanted to be in college and she wanted to pass. Ultimately, she went on to secure a plumbing apprenticeship and is today working at level 3. So what changed? It was the college’s curriculum.
“We recognised that students who embarked on the level 1 programme with us didn’t enjoy the offer that we had,” recalls principal Louise Misselke. “Often, the retention was really bad and they didn’t get jobs. They were drifting and then they’d come back to us a year later and keep coming back. We knew that we weren’t really meeting their needs at all.”
Hoping to improve the college’s level 1 offer, Misselke reached out to Liz Atkins, a professor in vocational education and social justice at the University of Derby. Together they set out to transform the programme.
Today, a level 1 student at Guernsey College can expect a diet of four things: a project-based approach to applied vocational qualifications; tailored teaching of English and maths; work experience; and a broad range of enrichment activities.
Five years after introducing the curriculum, drop-out figures are down and outcomes are up. The number of students who are not in employment, education or training (Neet) after completing level 1 at the college has fallen from 35 per cent to 11 per cent.
It’s clear that the renewed focus on level 1 has made a world of difference at Guernsey College. So, should other colleges be considering a similar approach? What is it about students at this level that demands extra attention? And how much do we know about what really makes an excellent level 1 curriculum?
According to Atkins, research into effective level 1 provision is thin on the ground. She points to studies that demonstrate that the level 1 curriculum is “impoverished” (Wolf, 2011; Keep and James, 2010; 2012), and says that level 1 students are largely “invisible” in government policy. Yet research also suggests that it’s these students who need excellent education the most.
Students who undertake level 1 broad vocational programmes will face significant social and economic challenges, and generally have very poor outcomes in terms of employment and further education. About 50 per cent become Neet, and those who do progress into employment predominantly move into low-paid, low-skilled and insecure work (Bathmaker, 2001; Atkins, 2009; Atkins and Flint, 2015).
“Often, level 1 students have complex lives, and because of that they haven’t been able to be successful in compulsory education,” says Misselke. “It’s not that they’re unintelligent or not capable, it’s just that the circumstances of their life have not enabled them to flourish yet.”
While more research is clearly needed in this area, some colleges are already doing what they can to improve the life chances of these students by specifically tailoring their level 1 provision towards that goal. For instance, at The Manchester College, the focus for the level 1 curriculum is the workplace. All students have at least two weeks’ work experience. Principal Lisa O’Loughlin explains that, since 2016, the college has had two aims: “careers not courses” and “be amazing”. And that applies to the level 1 students as much as it does to the rest of the college.
“While many people think level 1 is a foundation curriculum, which it is, we believe that there’s a critical element that needs to be absolutely employer-focused and technical in order to prepare our learners for level 2 and level 3,” she says. “All of our curriculum, including level 1, is very much about creating those pathways to employment.”
Students undertake vocational courses that have been designed in partnership with employers. Basic English and maths skills are added on top, as is pastoral support.
However, O’Loughlin points out that a good level 1 curriculum should not aim only to “protect, care and support” these students, but also to challenge them.
“We believe in not only putting the support in place but creating a curriculum that takes our students out of their comfort zone, and that’s where the technical and employer-embedded elements come in,” she says. “It’s got to go way beyond care and protect.”
Becky Dunn, head of division foundations and high needs at Nelson and Colne College, agrees with this. Her college has a strong track record when it comes to level 1 provision, with achievement rates of 90.7 per cent. Dunn says that the secret to this is really pushing students with a big focus on English and maths. The level 1 curriculum is built around a core of those subjects. As well as having functional skills or GCSE lessons, students are taught subject-specific maths and English, too. Initially, level 1 students tend to be disengaged with these subjects, says Dunn, so it’s important to help them to see how their learning can be applied in a practical sense.
“We embed maths and English skills into the vocational curriculum so that students can explicitly see how it applies to their industry. This helps to feed the message around the importance of English and maths, and why students need it,” she says. “For example, we do a maths lesson and then they go into a practical session - so if it’s hairdressing, they need to know percentages for how much hair dye they need and timings to do with treatments. In health and social care, they learn about medication weight and measures.”
Yet while level 1 students do need challenge, and to come away with core maths and English skills, Dunn adds, it is also important not to overlook the fact that these students will require a bit of additional care and support too. For example, the college delivers “ambition” sessions to help students think about how their behaviours and attitudes play a role in their future success. Level 1 students have often had to overcome huge challenges to even get to full-time education, she says - and it’s crucial to give them confidence, instil a positive attitude and foster the good behaviours that will allow them to thrive in the workplace.
One way to build these positive attributes is to engage students in civic activity, suggests Katherine Robertshaw, level 1 course coordinator at Shipley College.
The college runs a project that involves students competing against each other to raise £1,000 for their chosen charity.
This project, Robertshaw says, has helped students to see that they have the ability to make a tangible difference to the lives of others, while also providing them with some real-world experience. Making these connections to the world outside the classroom is really important, she adds.
“A lot of learners are quite capable, but they’ve got gaps in learning or they may have only been in the country for a few years or have a learning difficulty, so there are challenges to overcome,” says Robertshaw. “[That’s why] we don’t do just paper exercises with them - we ask them to use their skills to fundraise and make a difference, which brings the curriculum to life.”
Colleges do not necessarily need to design their own programme in order to achieve this, Robertshaw points out. Encouraging students to take part in existing enrichment programmes such as the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and the National Citizen Service Project can work just as well.
However, whatever approach a college takes to the design of the curriculum, or whatever enrichment opportunities it offers, perhaps the most important element of effective level 1 provision is to get the right staff teaching the course.
In 2016, the Department for Education published a research report on effective practice in supporting entry/level 1 students in post-16 institutions, which found that the most significant factor that contributes towards the success of these programmes is the staff who teach them (see box, above).
Ultimately, then, teaching style could be the key to better level 1 provision. As for what that looks like, Misselke says it requires staff to be committed to understanding where learners have come from, and willing to go out of their way to offer that next level of support.
“We’ve got our best staff teaching the programme and that’s not often the case with level 1 provision,” Misselke says. “But we’ve picked staff who have bucketloads of unconditional positive regard so the students are treated as individuals, respected and nurtured.”
That respectful, nurturing approach is needed, she adds, because level 1 students have often had to overcome challenges that other students have not.
“Some level 1 students have loving homes, while others have complex lives, but what they all have in common is that school hasn’t fitted them,” she says. “The students haven’t found their skills to be successful yet and they’ve ended up on a level 1 programme. They just need that support to build their self-confidence to be successful.”
Kate Parker is an FE reporter at Tes
*Name has been changed
This article originally appeared in the 26 February 2021 issue under the headline “Level 1: finding an approach with sticking power”
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