A firm of consultants chosen to design a baccalaureate for Birmingham schools is working on the project for free, it has been revealed.
Skills for Birmingham beat off five rivals to win a city council contract to develop the baccalaureate curriculum.
However, the council is paying nothing for the work at this stage.
Schools cabinet member Cllr Brigid Jones (Lab Selly Oak) told a scrutiny committee the company was “working for free” on the understanding that the completed curriculum “may be marketable” in the future.
The baccalaureate was a key policy announcement when Labour regained control of the council last year.
The aim is to “focus on the skills that our young people will need to compete successfully for jobs and training”, according to the party’s manifesto.
Building on subjects in the , which has since been dropped by Education Secretary Michael Gove, the Birmingham baccalaureate has been advertised as “bringing together the skills and competencies developed through education, work experience, training, volunteering, the creative arts, sports and participation in civic life”.
Firms wishing to do business with the council will be urged to sign up for the baccalaureate, and school leavers with the new qualification will be guaranteed an interview for jobs or training by the city council and subscriber businesses.
Cllr Jones said she hoped that up to 15 secondary schools would embark on a pilot project for the baccalaureate in September.
However, she was unable to say how many Birmingham primary and secondary schools had expressed an interest in the new qualification, or how many businesses were behind the idea.
She added that businesses would support the baccalaureate by offering work experience and mentoring youngsters.
Cllr Jones said: “Youth unemployment in Birmingham is exacerbated by the lack of recognition of employment-necessary skills and attitudes in the school and exam system.
“The purpose of the Birmingham baccalaureate is to provide a framework through which the skills and experiences of young people can be encouraged and recognised and to enable schools and business partners to work together to support every young person to build the skills necessary for the future world of work.
“The BBACC will be an overarching framework within which each young person evidences the skills and achievements that sit alongside their academic qualifications and are essential to being work-ready.”
The intention was to “motivate, inspire and raise the aspirations of young people”, Cllr Jones stated.
Conservative schools spokesman Cllr James Bird described a council document setting out details of the baccalaureate as “airy fairy” and warned of the dangers of making it mandatory for businesses to sign up, especially smaller firms that might not have the resources to provide training and mentoring.
GCSE results in Birmingham have improved dramatically since a low point in 2002 when only 33 per cent of pupils achieved 5A*-C grades including maths and English at GCSE. By 2012 the pass rate had risen to 60 per cent, slightly above the national average of 59 per cent.
However, pass rates for children from socially deprived backgrounds remain poor.
The figure for 5A*-C for white British and black Caribbean boys entitled to free school meals is 30 per cent compared to 77 per cent for Indian boys not entitled to free school meals.
And if you want to be even more depressed, think about how over-represented care-leavers are in the NEET figures – and in fact in every measure of deprivation. one of the measures that Ofsted will be looking at when they return is the futures of care-leavers. Perhaps if elected members question the data given to them by Council Officers with a tiny bit of scepticism they would realise that in relation to education, training, employment and housing for care-leavers they are being consistently misled.
This highlights to me that the hype and profile around the Baccalaureate (which the concept of has not been entirely successful nationally) is all for the self-aggrandisement for the politicians and the Company involved.
The disaffected children and young people we see in the City, will continue to have grim future prospects …. unlike the consultants!
Why do our children not deserve a high quality, evidence based curriculum and qualifications rather than acting as a pilot project to launch a product for this Company?
Baccalaureate consultants working for free on Birmingham scools project: The Chamberlain News
Jim,
I was at a public event this week, Digital B’ham, where one session included a short Skills for B’ham presentation and in the Q&A the involvement of those who had left school was raised. It appears that the proposal does not make provision for them. Indeed one anonymous councillor present was scathing about the question being raised – which suggested to me the 13% you cite are excluded full stop.
Here’s another problem. Around 13% of all the NEETs in the city are young people who, when at school, had Statements of SEN. These will be mostly ex-pupils of mainstream schools who had no post-16 school options and are supposed to be monitored and supported by Connexions. The proportion of the school population in Birmingahm with Statements is around 3% so unemployment hits this group four times harder than their peers
How will this Baccalaureate help these young people who have already not succeeded in schools?
This appears to be a Pilot Project running as a Marketing ploy for the Company involved. They get a free trial run of a product that is being developed at the expense of children and young people of the City.
Will there be an opportunity for children to opt out and take GCSEs instead in these schools?
With potential for all the schools in Birmingham to end up as academies, what incentive is there for them to risk putting children in the direction of a baccalaureate that is, some how Birmingham orientated?
It could take years for industry and business to feel comfortable that this proposed baccalaureate is a measure of some educational standard that they require from their future workforce.
If I were a student, would I want to work for a qualification that might not have any validity in the near future?
As for plain English, giving a qualification the name of Birmingham Baccalaureate is horrible and messy.
I am not sure that we should allow local politicians to dictate educational qualifications and what should be taught as part of that qualification.
I am not sure that getting something designed free, without being able to necessarily input into the end product, is a good thing.
The education of our future generations is too precious a thing to leave to those that are not necessarily educationalists.
I feel that the motivation behind this qualification is for individuals to attempt to leave their own mark and legacy, for good or bad, on the youth of this city.
Who is paying for the costs of a launch event then @ McGregors Suite, Villa Park on the 9th May 2013 then? Details on:
Is it ironic that the lady heading the provider is an active Conservative Party member?.
The Chamberlain News via @The Chamberlain News