Alternative educational provision in an area of deprivation in London

Theattainmentinnationalexaminationsandprogressofpupilstotheageof16inLondonisthehighestinEngland.Nevertheless,thereisstillasignificantnumberof16-to19-year-oldswhoarenotinemployment,education,ortraining(NEET).ThosewhoarethemostvulnerabletobecomingNEETaretheyoungpeoplewhohavedisengagedfrommainstreameducation.This provision(AEP)forpupilswhoweredisengagedfrommainstreamschoolsinoneLondonlocalauthority.ThroughtheapplicationofBronfenbrenner’secosystemstheory,thestudyexploredtheimpactofdifferentecosystemsonyoungpeople’sdisengagement.ThefindingsinevaluationstudiesofotherAEPsandthefindingsinthisstudyindicatethatAEPs–andthecurriculum,pedagogy,andpastoralcarethattheyoffer–can,anddo,makeaconsiderabledifferencetotheeducationaloutcomesofdisadvantagedchildren,aswellasofferinginsightsformainstreameducation.Thus,thestudycontributestothecurrentdebateontheorganizationandstructureofthe14–19educationsysteminEnglandunderraisingtheparticipationage(RPA)to18,thenewlegislationthatcameintoforcethisacademicyear.

The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) found that 'providersofeducationandtrainingforyoungpeopleaged16,17and18arenotdoingenough to prepare them sufficiently for employment and further or higher education at 18 and on to a future of sustained employment ' (2014: 26). Inspectors stated that around a million 16-to24-year-oldswereclassedasNEETsandthenumberofpeoplewhosewhereaboutswere unknownwasrising(ibid.:24).Theeducationinspectorate'sannualreportonfurthereducation andskillsalsoidentifiedthattoomanylearnerswerenotprogressingfromtheirpriorattainment toahigherlevelofstudytomeeteducationalandcareeraspirations.
Inordertopreserveparticipants'anonymity,fictionalnameswereusedfortheborough,the programme,andallresearchparticipants.Particularcarewastakentoensurethatethicalissues that might arise from research of this nature with vulnerable students were fully considered. Confidentiality, voluntary participation, and the avoidance of personal risks needed to be addressedwheninvestigationintoindividualstudents'casestudieswasconducted.Also,since thismethodofenquirycouldhaveencounteredsensitivepersonalcircumstances,bothparental andstudentconsentweregained.

Phases of research and data analysis
The starting point in this investigation was the analysis of the programme records and documentation.Next,students'filesandprogressreviewswereexaminedinordertocompare schoolreportsonadmissiontocollege,diagnostictests,andtheend-of-yearexamresults.This provided information on students' progression in terms of their behaviour, attainment, and attendancewhileontheprogramme.
Thethemesthatemergedintheexaminationofdocumentaryevidenceandgroupdiscussions werefurtherexploredthroughthestudents'questionnaireanalysisandsemi-structuredinterviews withtenstudentsfromcohortsindifferentacademicyears.Theexplanatoryphasemeasured programme outcomes (taken from the college database) on students' retention, attendance, academic achievement, and progression to further education, training, and employment, and comparedsomeoftheseoutcomestonationalaverages.Studentquestionnaireswereusedto examine student views on the programme's strengths and weaknesses, and to'track' student progressionafterthecompletionoftheprogramme.

Findings
The findings describe the impact of each ecological system examined in the study on the development of young people. An examination of the effectiveness of the programme on students'achievementandprogressionpost-16showedthattheachievementwassatisfactory andoftenhigherwhencomparedtonationalaverages,althoughtheretentionwasstilllower thaninmainstreamschools,indicatingthisasamainweaknessoftheprogramme.Thus,themain areaofimprovementfortheprogrammewouldbeaninvestigationintoreasonsfor'dropouts' and a follow-up study on students who did not complete the programme.The investigation intostudents'progressionindicatedthat,overall,80percentofthecohortwhocompletedthe programmesuccessfullyenrolledonfurthereducationcoursespost-16.However,around10per centoftheseyoungpeopledroppedoutfromtheircoursesbyJanuaryinthesameacademic year,mainlybecauseoftheirbehaviourorattendance.

College versus school perceptions
The young people were eager to speak about the differences between school and college. Mostyoungpeopleexpressedtheviewthatschooltreatedthemlikechildrenandteachersdid notgivethemachancetovoicetheiropinionswhenitcametoexperiencingproblemswith theirlearning.College,ontheotherhand,providedanadultenvironmentthattreatedstudents as adults and where teaching staff on the programme listened to and valued their views -a findingthatechoesearlierstudies(e.g. Coffieldet al.,2008).Theyalsosawschoolasformaland compulsory,whereascollegewasinformalandvoluntary-despitethefactthattheirattendance andpunctualitywerecloselymonitoredincollegetoo.

Discipline and pedagogy
Theyoungpeoplestatedthatbeinginsmallerclasses,andhavingateacherandanLSAineach class,meanttheyweregettingmorehelpfromtutorsandlearningsupportstaff.Theythought thatthiswasmorebeneficialbecausetheycouldaskforhelpandcompletetheirworkontime: 'Teachersincollegemadeworkmoreinteresting,itwasn'tdulllikeinschoolanditwaseasier becauseyougothelpfromteachersandLSAs'(Frank). Mostofthemfoundworkeasiertomanageandlessonsmoreinterestingthaninschool. Theyenjoyedpracticallessonsbecausetheysawtheirrelevancetofutureworkforwhichthey were preparing. Most of the young people reported not being interested in academic work and wanting to do more practical work, although two were interested in academic work as well.They found the approach to teaching different in college than to school, and noted the benefitsofcontinuousassessmentinclassasopposedtoend-of-yearexaminations.However,the achievementratesfromthecollegedatabase,scrutinizedaspartofthedocumentaryevidence analysis,showedthattheachievementisequallygoodandabovethenationalaveragesinBTEC andGCSEqualifications,thefirstofwhichusescontinuousassessmentandthesecondofwhich isassessedthroughend-of-yearexaminations.
Although poor behaviour was also punished in college, the young people thought that the disciplinary procedure in college was fair because it allowed them to have their voice heard, whichwasnotthecaseinschool.Theyalsothoughtthatexclusionfromcollegewouldhavea longer-termconsequence,suchasnotbeingabletoenrolonacoursetheywantedtotakein thefollowingacademicyear.

Curriculum
Mostyoungpeoplespokeabouttheacademicsubjectsthattheyhadstudiedinschoolasbeing boringandhavingnodirectrelevancetotheworldofwork,andwerethususelessforgaining employabilityskills: I only got to do one afternoon in construction which wasn't enough, I wanted to do more practicalcourses.Butit'sOK,IgotgoodqualificationsandIdidmorecoursesinconstruction after[thecompletionoftheprogramme].

Collaboration
Asalreadynotedabove,bothteachersandmanagersagreedthatcollaborationbetweendifferent agencies was important. In addition to this, establishing good communication with parents/ carerswasseenasessentialingainingtheirsupportaswellasinformingthemregularlyabout their children's attendance, behaviour, achievement, and any other needs that related to and impactedontheirsuccessfulprogress.AccordingtoTeacher2,'Wespendonaverageanhoura day,sometimesevenmore,talkingtoparentseitheroverthephoneorinface-to-faceinterviews, beittopraisetheirchildortodiscussdisciplineorothermatterswhicharise.' The rest of the staff confirmed this statement.The support and close relationship with referralagencies-localschoolsorpupilreferralunits-wasemphasizedbecauseoftheirdeeper insight into, and knowledge of, students' backgrounds and the support students had received priortocomingontheprogramme.Otherexternalpartnersthatwereconsideredconstructive inthesupportofferedtostudentsandstaffincluded:theeducationalpsychologyservice,careers advisers,theyouthoffendingteam,andsocialservices.Thestaffnotedthatthislevelofsupport by the local authority (LA), which had facilitated inter-agency collaboration, had significantly diminishedfrom2009.Thecurriculumteamleaderatthetimethestudywasconducted,who liaisedcloselywiththequalityassurancemanagerfromtheLA,addedthatthechangesandcuts implementedbytheConservative/LiberalDemocratCoalitionGovernmentcoincidedwiththe diminishedinfluenceoftheLAontheprogramme.
Theexaminationofdocumentaryevidenceindicatedthattheprogramme'sprocessesand documentsrespondedeffectivelytotherequirementssetoutbythecollaborationagreement. ThisagreementbetweentheprogrammeandtheLAformedthebasisofaqualityassurance designed to assess whether the programme adequately addressed and catered for individual students'needs.
The introduction of RPA to the age of 18 in 2015 requires all young people to stay in educationortrainingforlonger;butwhethertheattendance,retention,andachievementofthe youngpeoplewhoexperienceSEBDwillbesatisfactorydependsverymuchonthecurriculum, pedagogy,andpastoralcareofferedtothem.

Notes on the contributors
Magdalena Cajic-Seigneur is currently teaching learners with SEN and disabilities in East London. She received her PhD from the UCL Institute of Education, University College London, in 2014. Her main research interests include curriculum development and curriculum reform, 14-19 education, teaching strategiesforlearners withautismspectrumdisorders,andtheuseofqualitativeresearchineducational studies.