Half our Future: 50 years on and the current state of 14-19 education

The 2013 Centre for Policy Studies in Education (CPSE) seminar series was a reflection on the 50 years since the publication of the Newsom report within the context of an English education system that has retained many of the features that Newsom sought to redress. This paper outlines some of the issues raised in these seminars and identifies some of the core themes around system coherence and system design. The debate is lodged within public perceptions of 14-19 education and the deeply held historical understandings of what education should be. The academic –vocational divide is a fundamental framing of such discussion. It surfaces in 14-19 curricular provision, in what we include and what we exclude. It results in a continuity of educational hierarchies which underlie curriculum planning in education. The paper explores the question whether we have (and should have) one system of 14-19 or an emerging separate system of vocational education post 16 which is subordinated to the stronger academic tradition. Questions of system definition and coherence bedevil questions of system design. The voice of young people, educators, educational researchers and employers are identified within the paper as crucial partners in the formation of 14-19 education. However, implicit understandings about the current nature of 14-19 education continue to elude the proper articulation of such voices and present significant barriers to securing a better coincidence of education and the preparation for adult life.