Offering Diplomas in rural areas
We are committed to ensuring that the national 14-19 entitlement will be a reality for young people across England. However, we also recognise that rural and semi-rural areas face a particular set of challenges in delivering the 14-19 reforms – with dispersed populations and settlements and less well-developed transport infrastructures – and that is why we are committed to supporting these areas to overcome these challenges.
We have undertaken a project to establish an evidence base, setting-out where the delivery challenges are most acute, and building a national picture – see interim report published November 2007
Of course, the national picture only takes us so far. The local context is important in determining the best way to help young people access the national entitlement. We have also now published a final report Delivering 14-19 reforms in Rural Areas final report June 2008 which focuses on the solutions already being deployed by rural areas. This report also offers some tools to support local planning.
In June 2008, ahead of the first year of Diploma delivery, we also published research into 14-19 transport planning and delivery. Transport was not seen by local areas as a problem in the short to medium term. However, local areas were more concerned about the longer term and delivery of the 14-19 entitlement. We are committed to working with local areas to develop a toolkit to support them in planning access to the 14-19 entitlement. We will publish the results of this work in summer 2009.
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