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This article was downloaded by: [Ohio State University Libraries] On: 06 November 2014, At: 16:12 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Educational Research Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rere20 Recovering potential: factors associated with success in engaging challenging students with alternative pre-16 provision Gaynor Attwood a , Paul Croll b & Jane Hamilton a a University of the West of England , UK b University of Reading , UK Published online: 10 Dec 2010. To cite this article: Gaynor Attwood , Paul Croll & Jane Hamilton (2005) Recovering potential: factors associated with success in engaging challenging students with alternative pre-16 provision, Educational Research, 47:2, 149-162, DOI: 10.1080/00131880500104259 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00131880500104259 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms- and-conditions

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Page 1: Recovering potential: factors associated with success in engaging challenging students with alternative pre-16 provision

This article was downloaded by: [Ohio State University Libraries]On: 06 November 2014, At: 16:12Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Educational ResearchPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rere20

Recovering potential: factorsassociated with success in engagingchallenging students with alternativepre-16 provisionGaynor Attwood a , Paul Croll b & Jane Hamilton aa University of the West of England , UKb University of Reading , UKPublished online: 10 Dec 2010.

To cite this article: Gaynor Attwood , Paul Croll & Jane Hamilton (2005) Recovering potential:factors associated with success in engaging challenging students with alternative pre-16 provision,Educational Research, 47:2, 149-162, DOI: 10.1080/00131880500104259

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00131880500104259

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the“Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis,our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as tothe accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinionsand views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Contentshould not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sourcesof information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims,proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoeveror howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to orarising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Anysubstantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Page 2: Recovering potential: factors associated with success in engaging challenging students with alternative pre-16 provision

Recovering potential: factors associated

with success in engaging challenging

students with alternative pre-16

provision

Gaynor Attwooda, Paul Crollb*, and Jane HamiltonaaUniversity of the West of England, UK; bUniversity of Reading, UK

The study focuses on a group of young people for whom conventional school placements had

broken down and were attending vocational courses at an FE college while still of compulsory

school age. The students had been excluded by, or had failed to attend, their schools or had

achieved at very low levels in the academic curriculum. Over half successfully completed the

vocational course at college. Many factors conventionally regarded as predictors for poor

educational outcomes were not associated with completion and non-completion. For example,

students who had been excluded, who had statements of special educational needs and had been

involved with the criminal justice system were as likely to complete their courses as other students.

However, students who had very poor attendance records at school also tended to drop out of

college. The results suggest that the increased flexibility, guidance and elements of work-related

learning promised in current 14 – 19 developments may help meet the needs of this group of

students.

Keywords: Exclusion; Disaffection; 14 – 19 curriculum; Further education

Introduction

This paper draws on a study of innovative provision in a college of further education

to consider some characteristics of young people for whom conventional school

placements had broken down. It also considers the factors associated with the

successful completion of a college course by students who had presented considerable

challenges to conventional educational provision in their schools. The study was of a

programme (the Early Entrants programme) that admitted students who would have

normally been in Year 10 or Year 11 of the secondary school to a range of FE

vocational courses. Many of these students had been excluded by or had persistently

failed to attend their schools. The college place was generally regarded as a ‘last

chance’ by the schools, the young people themselves and LEA agencies responsible

*Corresponding author. Institute of Education, University of Reading, Reading RG6 1HY, UK.

Email: [email protected]

Educational Research, Vol. 47, No. 2, June 2005, pp. 149 – 162

ISSN 0013-1881 (print)/ISSN 1469-5847 (online)/05/020149-14

# 2005 NFER

DOI: 10.1080/00131880500104259

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for them. Students studied on vocational courses on an in-fill model. This meant that

they took up spare places on regular courses and were taught alongside regular FE

students by regular course tutors and not as a separate cohort. In the academic year

2001/02, 90 early entry students took part in 16 vocational courses involving 28

tutors.

The context for the research is provided by a variety of interrelated developments in

educational provision for 14 – 19-year-olds and in further education more generally.

These include: a growing awareness of problems of social exclusion associated with

young people dropping out of education both pre- and post-16 (Social Exclusion

Unit, 1999); the development of a variety of forms of alternative educational

provision for disaffected young people (Cullen et al., 2000); recent government

initiatives on the education and training of 14 – 19-year-olds (Ofsted, 2000; QCA,

2001; DfES, 2002, 2004); and a shift in emphasis from further education to lifelong

learning, as yet not very clearly defined (Edwards et al., 1998; Brookes, 2002).

We have presented elsewhere (Attwood et al., 2003a) student perspectives on the

programme, and shown that the programme has achieved considerable success with

many students who have used the opportunity to re-engage with education. We have

also discussed the perspectives of the tutors teaching and supporting the students on

working with challenging students who are younger than the normal FE clientele

(Attwood et al., 2003b). In this paper, we shall consider some of the reasons for the

young people coming on to an Early Entrants course and some of the factors

associated with whether or not they completed the course successfully.

The data presented here relate to the young people who were on the Early Entrants

programme in the academic year 2001/02. They are based on:

1. College records, in particular, the application for admission forms designed

specifically for the Early Entrants programme and the standard registration form

completed by all students.

2. Personal interviews conducted by a member of the research team with a sample

of 34 of the young people. Interviews were conducted in a private room at the

college using a structured interview procedure during the first two terms of the

course. Students were selected for interview at random, but were selected from

those students present at the college on particular days. Consequently, poor

attenders and students who left the course very early may be under-represented.

Six students were re-interviewed at the end of the year. No student refused to be

interviewed and interviewees were given a £10 CD voucher to thank them for

their time.

3. Questionnaires sent to all tutors working with early entrants during the 2001/02

school year. The questionnaire included both structured scale items and open-

ended questions and dealt with various aspects of the experience of teaching early

entrants and on characteristics of the students. The 28 tutors who had a direct

teaching role with the early entry students were sent questionnaires and 21 were

returned, a response rate of 75%.

4. Personal interviews with the college staff involved in managing the programme

and giving non-teaching support to the students. Eight college staff were involved

150 G. Attwood et al.

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in this way. All were interviewed formally at least once using a semi-structured

interview procedure. In addition, members of the research team had extensive

discussions with these colleagues over the course of the project. Personal

interviews were also conducted with local authority staff such as district

children’s officers with responsibility for the young people.

The students

All of the students on the Early Entrants programme were there because their

placement in secondary school had become problematic or because school places

could not be found. The reasons for this breakdown in school placement were varied

and the young people themselves had a range of personal characteristics, educational

and other difficulties, and personal strengths and interests. A summary of some of the

characteristics of the young people and the reasons for their leaving school prematurely

is given in Table 1. The data in the table come from the college application for

admission form, not from the personal interviews which will be discussed later in the

paper. This form was completed by the person making the referral, either an education

welfare officer, a district children’s officer or a senior member of staff in a school.

Reasons for placement

The young people had come to the Early Entrants programme in a number of ways,

mostly connected with a school placement breaking down, but also because of non-

availability of school places and occasionally because of the positive attraction of the

vocational element of college. The columns of Table 1 present data for different

categories of student and the column headings give the reason for the college

placement. From the application forms it is possible to identify five categories of

reason for students applying for a college place:

1. Exclusion: these were young people who had been permanently excluded by a

school, mainly for violent conduct or disruptive behaviour but, in a few cases, for

drug-related reasons. For most of these young people an application for a place

was made by the District Children’s Officer or sometimes by a Pupil Referral

Unit.

2. Disaffection: these were young people seeking a college place for less clear-cut

reasons than the exclusion group. Many were judged to be at risk of exclusion

and therefore overlap with the exclusion category. Others had personal problems

in school and other sorts of personal difficulties. These children were referred for

a college place by their school or by an Education Welfare Officer, either as a way

of avoiding exclusion or because it was hoped that a change of setting would help

them to cope with their difficulties.

3. Non-attendance: these were young people who had been persistent non-attenders

at school. Many had rarely been in school during the preceding year or more, and

others had been intermittent attenders over a long period of time. In several

cases, legal action against parents had been taken or threatened. Referral for a

Recovering potential 151

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Table 1. Some characteristics of the early entrants

Exclusion Disaffection Non-attendance Vocational Other All

N= 23 25 25 7 10 90

Male 14 (60.9%) 13 (52.0%) 12 (48.0%) 6 (85.7%) 6 (60.0%) 51 (56.7%)

White 16 (69.6%) 21 (84.0%) 22 (88.0%) 5 (71.4%) 8 (80.0%) 72 (80.0%)

Free school meals 10 (43.5%) 9 (36.0%) 9 (36.0%) 0 3 (30.0%) 31 (34.4%)

Statement of SEN 9 (39.1%) 4 (16.0%) 6 (24.0%) 3 (42.9%) 4 (40.0%) 26 (28.9%)

Criminal justice system 8 (34.8%) 5 (20.0%) 6 (24.0%) 0 0 19 (21.1%)

Learning difficulty 10 (43.5%) 7 (28.0%) 9 (36.0%) 7 (100%) 3 (30.0%) 36 (40.0%)

Concern over:

Disruptive behaviour 22 (95.7%) 16 (64.0%) 8 (32.0%) 2 (28.6%) 1 (10.0%) 49 (54.4%)

Non-attendance 7 (30.4%) 5 (20.0%) 25 (100%) 0 2 (20.0%) 39 (43.3%)

Anxiety, low self-esteem, mental health 5 (21.7%) 13 (52.0%) 13 (52.0%) 1 (14.3%) 6 (60.0%) 38 (42.2%)

152

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college place came mainly from the District Children’s Officer or Educational

Welfare Service but, in a few cases, application was made by the school.

4. Vocational: these were young people, unlike other students on the programme,

who had come to college because of ‘pull’ rather than ‘push’ factors. These

students have all been referred for a college place by their school because it was

thought that a vocational course would be more suitable for them than the GCSE

courses they were taking at school. All of them were on courses reflecting their

particular occupational aspirations. Nevertheless, although school placements

had not broken down for these students in the way they had for the others, their

experience at school had still proved in some respects unsatisfactory. In all cases,

these students had very low levels of attainment in the academic curriculum, as

well as having an interest in a vocational course.

5. Other: these were students who had come to college for a variety of reasons not

matching the categories listed above. They included the non-availability of a

school place following a family move or, in one case, a move to the UK from

abroad. Referrals had come from a variety of sources including directly from the

students’ families.

The exclusion, disaffection and non-attender groups, above, were of similar sizes and

each made up just over one-quarter of the total of the early entrants. The vocational

and other groups were smaller and together account for less than one-fifth of the

students.

Characteristics of the sample

In Table 1, the rows on the left-hand side, present various characteristics of the young

people involved. These include gender, ethnicity, eligibility for free school meals,

whether they had a statement of special educational needs, or if they had been

involved with the criminal justice system and whether they had a learning difficulty.

The data on ethnicity come from a form the students completed on admission, not

from the person making the application. A student is described as having a learning

difficulty if this was specified on their school’s register of special educational needs.

The final three rows Table 1, under the heading ‘Concern over’, also relate to data

from the admission form but are possible concerns expressed by the person making

the application (from a checklist of possible concerns), rather than descriptions of the

young people. As such, they are a subjective set of concerns (although often based on

detailed knowledge of the student) and should be treated cautiously.

The data on these characteristics of the students are given for all 90 of the early

entrants in the final column in Table 1. Over half of the students were male and four-

fifths were white. Just over one in three were eligible for free school meals

(information on free school meals eligibility is not always reliable for young people of

this age, however, and this figure may be an under-estimate). The over-representation

of males is common in studies of young people with difficulties with schooling,

although it should be noted that in this study a substantial minority of these students

were female. The figures for white and ethnic minority young people matches fairly

Recovering potential 153

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closely that of the geographical areas covered but not necessarily that for young

people who leave the school system prematurely. There was a concern among staff

managing the project that some black young people who were potential clients for the

programme were not coming forward or being put forward for admission. However,

this was an intuitive feeling rather than based on clear evidence. The figures for free

school meals entitlement are about double the level of entitlement among this age

group nationally. To some extent therefore, white males from poor backgrounds were

over-represented among the students. However, the main feature of the sample was

its variety, and there were also significant numbers of female and non-white students,

and the majority were not from families poor enough to qualify for free school meals.

Almost by definition, the students have experienced difficulties in school and this is

most apparent in the figure of almost 30% having had statements of special

educational needs. This figure is about ten times that for the school population as a

whole (Ofsted, 2004). Exactly 40% of the early entrants had learning difficulties

specified on the school register of special educational needs and over one in five had

been involved with the criminal justice system in some way, although only half of

those had formal convictions. As suggested above, the occurrences of ‘concerns’ are

subjective and should be treated cautiously. However, in well over half the cases

concern was expressed over disruptive behaviour; in over 40% of cases concern was

expressed over non-attendance; and in a similar number of cases concern was

expressed over issues of anxiety, low self-esteem or mental health.

Characteristics of the different groups

Table 1 shows various characteristics of the different groups of students. It should be

emphasized that the numbers in each group are small for statistical analysis.

Percentages have been calculated in order to facilitate comparisons across the groups

but these should be treated cautiously and percentage differences will only be

commented on where they are substantial. (As this is an exploratory rather than a

hypothesis-testing analysis and the students are not sampled from a wider population,

levels of statistical significance for differences have not been calculated.)

The 23 students who had been excluded were, to some extent, a group with

multiple difficulties. All but one of the students were described as disruptive, a high

proportion had statements of special educational needs, mainly arising from their

behaviour and over one-third had been involved with the criminal justice system.

Many of them also had learning difficulties and a majority were male.

The 25 students who had been characterized as disaffected were more varied than

the excluded students but were, in some ways, a less extreme version of them. Two-

thirds were described as disruptive and one in five had been involved with the

criminal justice system. Unlike the excluded students, however, over half had given

rise to concerns over aspects of personal adjustment such as anxiety and low self-

esteem.

The 25 students who had come to college because of their refusal to attend school

were the only group not to be predominantly male. Just over half were female and, as

would be expected, concern about possible non-attendance was expressed for all

154 G. Attwood et al.

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these students. In just over half the cases, concern was also expressed over issues of

personal adjustment such as anxiety, low self-esteem and mental health issues.

The seven students who had come to college specifically to study a vocational

curriculum were a distinctive and somewhat separate group. Almost all were male, all

had learning difficulties and, in almost half the cases, these were serious enough to

have resulted in a statement of special educational needs. Typically they did not have

other difficulties with school although, in two cases, concerns about disruption were

expressed. These were young people whose placement had come about almost

entirely because of very low achievement in the academic curriculum.

The final group consisted of ten students who had come to college for a range of

reasons that could not be classified into straightforward categories. Although the

reasons for applying for a college place were diverse and usually did not reflect a

breakdown in school placements, many of these children had clearly experienced

difficulties within the school system. Forty per cent had statements of special

educational need and the same proportion had learning difficulties, although there

was only limited overlap between these categories. For six out of ten of these young

people, the highest proportion of any group, there were concerns over anxiety, self-

esteem or mental health.

Course completion

By the end of the academic year 2001/02, 50 of the young people (56% of those who

had started) were still attending their courses. The remainder either stopped

attending or had their places withdrawn by the college following problems with

behaviour or attendance. There are no directly comparable figures to contextualize

this completion rate. Kidd and Wardman (1999) have quoted completion rates in

further education ranging from over 90% for A-level courses to 80% for the first year

of Intermediate GNVQ and 65% for Youth Training courses. In a recent Adult

Learning Inspectorate report (2002), 63% of students on NVQ programmes were

found to stay in learning for at least a year. These are all higher figures than the early

entrants’ completion rates, although the lowest of these figures is only eight

percentage points higher. However, none of these programmes was directly

comparable with the Early Entrants programme. The great majority of young people

of the same age (i.e. compulsory school age) complete Year 11 at school. However,

more than 90% of the students interviewed said that there was no possibility that they

would have completed Year 11 (or, in some cases, Year 10) in school and the teachers

and LEA officers responsible for them all regarded the college place as a ‘last chance’.

It this context, it can be argued that a 56% completion rate is substantially better than

any other likely outcomes for these young people.

In Table 2 completion rates are given for the different groups of students identified

above and also for different groups in terms of personal characteristics. The main

picture to emerge from the table is the overall similarity between different groups in

completion rates. For example, the students who had been excluded from their

schools had slightly higher than average completion rates. This was despite their

behaviour in school having been judged to be unacceptable and their other

Recovering potential 155

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educationally unpromising characteristics and behaviour. The group characterized as

disaffected had the same level of completion as the excluded group. It might have

been expected that the students who had come to college because of the vocational

curriculum would have particularly high completion rates as the vocational

curriculum had been a ‘pull’ factor and they had not, for the most part, had

difficulties with behaviour or attendance at school. However, this group of students

had the same sort of completion rate as those who had been excluded. The only group

to have completion rates well below that of others were those young people who had

come to college because of persistent non-attendance at school.

The second half of Table 2 shows the completion rates for students grouped by

other characteristics. Male and female students had virtually identical completion

rates and students living in poverty, as indicated by free school meals entitlement, had

the same completion rates as others. The only socio-demographic differences in

completion rates were the substantially higher rates for ethnic minority students

compared with white students. As with the different reasons for the college

placement, student characteristics that might have been expected to be problematic

with regard to completion were not typically associated with lower than average

completion rates. For example, students who had learning difficulties signalled on

their school’s register of special educational needs had average completion rates and

students who had been involved with the criminal justice system had higher than

average completions.

Having a statement of special educational needs was also not associated with below

average completion rates. However, further analysis of different groups of pupils

revealed a more complex picture. Of the 23 students who had been excluded from

school, nine had a statement of special educational needs which, in every case, was

principally concerned with behavioural problems. Six of these students successfully

Table 2. Completion rates for different groups

Percentage completing

(numbers in parentheses)

All students 55.6 (50/90)

Exclusion 60.9 (14/23)

Disaffection 60.0 (15/25)

Non-attendance 44.0 (11/25)

Vocational 57.1 (4/7)

Other 60.0 (6/10)

Male 54.9 (28/51)

Female 56.4 (22/39)

White 51.4 (37/72)

Ethnic minority 72.2 (13/18)

Free school meals 54.8 (17/31)

Statements of SEN 61.5 (16/26)

Involvement with criminal justice system 73.7 (14/19)

Learning difficulties 55.6 (20/36)

156 G. Attwood et al.

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completed the course. Of the seven students who had come to the college because of

the vocational curriculum, three had statements of special educational needs focused

on their learning difficulties. None of these students completed their course. These

numbers are small and the results should be treated cautiously. Nevertheless, they do

suggest that a new environment and college atmosphere had enabled many of the

young people whose behaviour had been unacceptable at school to re-engage with

education. On the other hand, a vocational course had not been able to address the

needs of the young people with serious learning difficulties.

Tutor perspectives on student completion and non-completion

Tutors were asked about features of the course and the college that contributed to

successful outcomes for young people; and they were also asked about reasons why

some students completed the course successfully while others did not. All but one of

the tutors identified some aspects of the course or college that were associated with

student completion. About half of the tutors said that aspects of the course content

were related to student success. These were most typically that students perceived the

vocational relevance of the course and its value for future employment. Factors

associated with this were the ‘hands-on’ and practical nature of the vocational

courses, in contrast to the more academic courses at school and the students’ own

interest in this sort of practical work. Other aspects of the course and college that were

seen as relevant to student success were personal relationships and the personal

development of the students. Important factors here were being in an adult

environment and being ‘treated like the other students’. These were mentioned by a

third of the tutors. Aspects of teaching approaches and course organization, such as

an appropriate level of work, good induction and small group work, were also

mentioned by almost one-third of the tutors. Finally, over one-third of the tutors

mentioned levels of tutor support: students were seen as succeeding on the course

because of the high levels of tutor input on their courses. All of the factors mentioned

by tutors can also be seen in the interview data from students who had completed

courses. In particular, the emphasis on positive relationships and an adult atmosphere

and on the vocational relevance and practical content of courses came out strongly in

the student interviews (Attwood et al., 2003a).

The tutors’ perspectives on reasons for non-completion tended to emphasize

problems in personal adjustment that were, to a great extent, reflected in some of the

reasons for success. Students were often seen as not completing because they could

not cope with an adult atmosphere, a less rigid regime and a new environment. There

was relatively little emphasis on the nature of the courses, although a small number of

tutors identified a poor match of course to student interest and the fact that even

vocational courses had to deal with theoretical aspects of the subject as a reason for

non-completion in some cases.

Almost all the tutors also identified characteristics of the students themselves as

factors associated with completion and non-completion. By far the most common

factor identified was that of personal motivation. Over 80% of the tutors said that

levels of motivation, or similar attitudinal characteristics (‘a positive attitude’, ‘self-

Recovering potential 157

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belief’, ‘wanting a second chance’) were factors in student success and non-success. A

few tutors specifically mentioned attendance, ability or behaviour as factors, and three

said that the young people had already been so ‘damaged’ or ‘traumatized’ before

coming to college that they were unable to respond to the new opportunities.

The third area that tutors commented on was that of the relevance of outside

factors in completion and non-completion. Well over half of the tutors said that good

family support was a factor in completion or that lack of support and associated

problems at home were reasons for non-completion. Other outside issues identified

with regard to non-completion were problems of travelling to college, financial

problems (sometimes linked to travel) and students leaving because they had found

jobs.

Overall, the tutors had explanations for completion and non-completion by the

early entrants that involved characteristics of the students and their personal

circumstances, and also characteristics of the courses and the college. There was a

high degree of agreement that ‘within student’ factors, especially that of motivation

and commitment, were important in understanding why some students completed

and others did not. There was also a high level of agreement that supportive and

stable home circumstances were positive elements in leading to completion. Both of

these results match evidence from studies of schools on the extent to which teachers

attribute student difficulties to ‘within pupil’ and ‘within family’ causes (Croll &

Moses, 1985, 2000). Positive factors within the college included the nature of the

courses, especially their vocational and practical content, an adult environment and

the effort made by college tutors.

Student perspectives on the college placement

The overall perspective of the students was one of a positive response to college,

which generally confirmed the perspectives of the tutors on features of the college

experience that led to successful outcomes. As with the college tutor comments, the

two themes that emerged were those of personal relationships and a vocational and

practical curriculum. The students valued the adult atmosphere of the college, the

presence of older students and the absence of what they saw as ‘pointless’ rules in

school. In particular, most of the students reported better relationships with the

college tutors than they had experienced with teachers, although they were not

universally negative about their school teachers. The students were also very

positive about a work-related curriculum that was directly preparing them for

employment.

Although positive personal relationships enabled the students to remain in an

educational setting, it was the vocational outcomes which provided the longer-term

motivation to remain in college. Motivation among the students, as indicated by their

interview responses, was very high. For example, when asked: ‘How much does it

mean to you to do well at college?’, 68.1% said that it meant a ‘great deal’ and 28.3%

said that it meant ‘quite a lot’ (Attwood et al., 2003a). These figures can be compared

with a national sample taken from the British Household Panel Survey, where the

equivalent figures for young people in Year 11 asked the same question about their

158 G. Attwood et al.

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school were 61.8% and 32.3% (Croll & Moses, 2003). The comparison shows that

the young people on the Early Entrants programme were at least as motivated to

succeed educationally as other young people of their age and that very few said that

doing well at college was not important.

As the earlier discussion shows, there was a good match between tutors’ and

students’ perceptions with regard to the positive features of college that supported re-

engagement with the educational system. However, the perceptions of the tutors with

regard to characteristics of the students that are associated with completion or non-

completion did not always match the data on the students to emerge from interviews.

The tutors saw levels of personal motivation and family support as key factors

differentiating successful and unsuccessful students. However, while these factors did

arise in individual cases, the process of non-completion was more complex, varied

and unpredictable. In this sense, our data show a similar picture to Hodkinson and

Bloomer’s (2001) study of dropout among regular FE students which concluded that

‘many of the factors influencing non-completion lie beyond the control of both the

educational provider and the learner’. This is illustrated by some of the accounts

below of students who failed to complete the college course.

Student A was a young woman who had stopped going to school following bullying

and, in particular, her sister being bullied. She also described medical treatment for

panic attacks and was unhappy about fights and drug use at her school. Her parents

had removed both sisters from the school and the college place had been her parents’

idea. There was some suggestion in the interview that she may have felt pressurized

into it. Nevertheless, she was enjoying her hairdressing course and was happy in a

friendly and adult atmosphere. She expressed strong motivation and said that it

mattered ‘a great deal’ to her to do well at college. But after two terms, she was

expressing a lack of confidence and soon after her parents removed her from college,

despite threats of court action for non-attendance by the LEA.

Student B was unusual, in that he was virtually the only student interviewed who

regretted leaving school. He said, ‘I just wanted to be back in the same school, I miss

everyone . . . miss school things’. He had been excluded for what he acknowledged

was unacceptable behaviour, ‘always causing trouble . . . being a little rat’. He had

opted for a plumbing course at college but the course was full and he was studying

motor vehicle mechanics. He expressed strong motivation saying that it mattered a

‘great deal’ to do well at college and planned further education or training, ‘I don’t

plan to be in some dead-end job, so obviously I expect to’. But despite these positive

attitudes, B’s behaviour in class deteriorated and he was eventually removed from the

course by the college.

Student C was a young man who had come to the college because of an interest in

computing, although he had also been in trouble at school and had been suspended

but not excluded. He had learning difficulties at school and said that he had ‘given

up’ in class because he could not keep up. He enjoyed the course and was happy in

college. He said that it was ‘quite important’ to him to do well at college. However,

his ambition to become a computer engineer was not compatible with his attainment

on the course. C dropped out of the course because he could not cope with the work.

However, although this is a non-completion, he is now taking part in another

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alternative education project, a motor vehicle related course for students with

learning difficulties.

Student D was a young woman who stopped attending school after she felt teachers

did not respond appropriately when she was struck by another pupil. She had found

the school curriculum interesting and useful and said that, ‘When I was there I tried

hard to catch up on what I had missed’. She enjoyed the college atmosphere and her

hairdressing course and said that it mattered ‘a great deal’ to her to do well at college.

D stopped attending after she became pregnant. The problem seemed to be less the

pregnancy than the difficulties it created in relations with her mother. However, the

college tutors thought it likely that she would return at some point.

Student E was a young man who had been excluded from school for fighting,

following a series of exclusions. He had poor relationships at school with most

teachers and some students but found most school subjects interesting and useful.

Initially he quite liked his performing arts course at college but was much more

positive about the music technology aspects than dance and drama. He said that it

mattered a great deal to him to do well at college and that education and training were

very important. By the end of the first term E grew more dissatisfied with the course

and left after he found a place on a course at another college. However, this course

was also unsuccessful and later in the year he asked to return to the Early Entrants

programme. This was not agreed, partly because of the way he had left the course and

a view by the staff that he would not stay for long.

These accounts give a sense of the complexity of the reasons for young people

joining the Early Entrants programme and also of the reasons for leaving it

prematurely. As we have argued elsewhere (Attwood et al., 2003a), the young people

on the Early Entrants programme are by no means uniformly negative about their

school experiences. There are many aspects of school that they liked and valued and

relationships with teachers were typically mixed rather than uniformly hostile. The

view of the tutors that personal motivation was a key issue in explaining completion

and non-completion is not supported by the accounts of the young people presented

here. Most of the students who failed to complete the course showed strong

motivation to succeed, both when asked directly about it and also indirectly in

comments about employment and their futures. There is rather more support for the

tutor view that family support is important for success on the course. In the case of

student A and student D, some aspects of family relationships were involved in the

students not continuing at college.

Just as the statistical data in Table 2 show few systematic patterns of difference in

the characteristics of students who completed and those who did not, the students

described above seemed similar to other students who went on to finish the

programme. The learning difficulties experienced by student C were greater than

those of most students and it may be that a poor match of course choice to his

aptitudes was the main reason for non-completion. (This was noted as a general point

by some tutors.) Student D’s pregnancy precipitated a problem with family

relationships, while other students who had become pregnant completed the year

successfully. Student E appeared to have been particularly inflexible in expecting

course content to exactly match his preferences, and it is unclear why student B’s

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behaviour deteriorated while other young people who had misbehaved in school

adapted well to college.

Current policy developments

The results reported here emphasize the importance of flexibility in educational

provision both pre- and post-16 and the difficulty of imposing rigid accountability

procedures with regard to course completion. Attempts to locate responsibility for

non-completion, either with colleges or with the students themselves, fail to take

account of the complexity of the processes of completion and non-completion. It is

only because the college staff in this study were prepared to offer opportunities to a

wide variety of students that well over half of the students who had been extremely

unlikely to finish their compulsory education at school were able to complete a

vocational course. And although a substantial minority did not complete their

courses, the accounts given here suggest that some of these will re-engage with

education and training in the future.

Much of this study is highly relevant to the ongoing policy developments in relation

to curriculum and assessment for 14 – 19-year-olds and the interim proposals of the

Tomlinson Committee (DfES, 2004). The proposals for increased flexibility in

learning with regard to the pace, type and location of learning match some of the

aspects of the college experience which helped this group of young people. If the

proposals can make it feasible for young people experiencing personal and

educational difficulties to be less constrained by particular age points (such as 16)

and more able to move between institutions and other sites for learning, then some of

the barriers these young people have faced may be reduced.

Another feature of the proposals is an emphasis on guidance to help young people

find their way through the demands of the educational system. The value of this is

likely to depend on the kind of guidance offered. For some of the young people in our

study a substantial amount of tutor time had been involved in supporting them and

enabling them to cope with the demands of the learning environment. However, this

was very much internal to the college and related to the difficulties with personal

relationships that had been responsible, in many cases, for their difficulties with

school. Although guidance of the sort provided, for example, by Connexions about

appropriate learning placements may be useful to young people, it is not a substitute

for the kinds of personal support within the college that had been important for some

of the early entrants.

Work-related learning is a feature of the proposals from the perspective of the

young people in the present study. This played a part in re-engaging these young

people, both with regard to providing very practical learning experiences and

demonstrating the relevance of learning to future occupations. What is less clear is

the likely implications of changes in the qualification regime. A set of

arrangements for 14 – 19 educational provision which is heavily driven by

assessment and certification is unlikely to successfully engage disaffected and

excluded young people and may make education providers less willing to offer

opportunities to them.

Recovering potential 161

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the staff and students of the college in which the fieldwork

was conducted. The research reported here was supported by a grant from the

Lifelong Learning Foundation. We are grateful for the advice and support of Dr Chris

Brookes, the Chief Executive of the Foundation.

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