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The first Annual Report of the Nuffield Review of 14-19 Education and Training, published on 3 November 2004, finds that there continues to be a polarisation between academic and vocational education in England and Wales, which is reflected in both cultural norms and institutional provision.
The Report argues that there is a division of labour within post-16 educational provision, with a tendency for 'academic' tuition to be provided at schools and sixth form colleges and 'vocational' tuition to be provided at further education colleges. This unofficial system, maintained by hidden mechanisms of selection, could hamper collaborations between schools, colleges, private learning providers, higher education and employers - something which must be pursued in order to achieve coherent provision for the 14-19 age group.
The Review is ongoing, with priorities for the next year including further investigations of the learning careers of young people, local area studies of educational provision, more detailed analysis using comparative data from the UK, and investigation of improved methods for measuring the performance of the 14-19 system.
The report can be viewed on the nuffield14-19review website