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from The Independent & The Independent on = Sunday=20

Home=20
- >
  Education=20
  - > News=20

No more school as council opens 'learning centres'

By Richard Garner, Education Editor

Published: 14 May 2007

In the words of rock legend Alice Cooper's most famous song, = "school's out=20 forever".

Knowsley Council in Merseyside, which - for years - has languished = near or at=20 the bottom of exam league tables, has abolished the use of the word to = describe=20 secondary education in the borough.

It is taking the dramatic step of closing all of its eleven existing=20 secondary schools by 2009. As part of a =A3150m government-backed = rebuilding=20 programme, they will reopen as seven state-of-the-art, round-the-clock, = learning=20 centres with the aid of Microsoft - which has already developed links = with one=20 school in the borough, Bowring.

The style of learning will be completely different. The new centres = will open=20 from 7am until 10pm in both term-time and what used to be known as the = school=20 holidays. At weekends, they will open from 9am to 8pm.

Youngsters will not be taught in formal classes, nor will they stick = to a=20 rigid timetable; instead they will work online at their own speeds on = programmes=20 that are tailor-made to match their interests.

Children will be able to study haircare, beauty therapy, leisure and = tourism,=20 and engineering as well as the more traditional academic subjects.

They will be given their day's assignments in groups of 120 in the = morning=20 before dispersing to internet cafe-style zones in the learning centres = to carry=20 them out.

The 21,000 youngsters of secondary education age in Knowsley will = also be=20 able to access their learning programmes from home.

Madeleine Cotson, the headteacher of Bowring, said: "Provided they = can show=20 they have developed their learning, there is no reason why they couldn't = do some=20 of their learning from home."

The youngsters may find themselves working beside adults - possibly = even=20 their parents - who can enlist for courses to update their skills. That = kind of=20 arrangement has already worked well for Bowring, which has been running=20 healthy-eating lessons.

"Let's stop right now building new old schools," said Nick Page, who = is in=20 charge of transforming children's services in Knowsley. "We're building = for the=20 next 25 to 50 years and 25 years is a hell of a long period if we get it = wrong."

Figures show that only 19 per cent of youngsters in Knowsley obtained = five A*=20 to C grade passes at GCSE in 1995 compared with 43 per cent in the rest = of the=20 country. The figure went up to up to 48 per cent last year but that is = still 10=20 per centage points behind the national average.

"The lack of progress, catastrophically high levels of pupil = absenteeism,=20 stubbornly high levels of youth unemployment and the rapidly changing = nature of=20 the labour market drew a political response both locally and = nationally," says a=20 council document outlining the reasons for the changes.

Ministers say the experiment - which forms part of the first tranche = of the=20 Government's ambitious =A32.4bn programme to rebuild or refurbish every = secondary=20 school in the country by 2020 - is the most radical of all the bids = submitted by=20 local authorities.

Although it has not embraced sponsorship, Knowsley has acknowledged = the need=20 for private sector involvement in the running of schools - with = Microsoft, RM (a=20 supplier of information and communications technology to schools) and = Jaguar=20 (the local car plant) all backing the scheme.

The teachers' unions are unlikely to oppose the plan as - unlike the=20 academies programme - the shake-up does not hand control of the = institutions to=20 the private sector.

The philosophy behind the shake-up, as spelt out in the council = document, is=20 "to establish a culture in which it is understood that 'these children = can'=20 instead of 'these children can't'," it says. "Too many in secondary = schooling=20 expected little or nothing of local children and this had to be = addressed."

At Bowring, the "can do" approach is already emphasised through = encouraging=20 the teaching of skills - such as problem solving and creative thinking - = which=20 will be valued by employer.

After all, Madeleine Cotson argues, an employer might be impressed by = the=20 traditional academic qualifications such as GCSE's and A-levels but = would need=20 to know whether a potential applicant for a job can get on with = people.

"We're looking at ways of measuring these skills and actively finding = a way=20 of assessing these qualities," she said. "We believe they're just as = important -=20 in fact more important - than the academic skills because we're = preparing people=20 for life outside school."

At present, the timetable for 11 and 12-year-olds at the school has = been=20 changed to allow youngsters to follow problem-solving projects through. = They can=20 spend as much as two hours on a topic - such as how to drop an egg = without=20 breaking it - rather than just stick to a rigid timetable of fifty = minutes per=20 lesson.

The Knowsley experiment has attracted interest from other councils in = the UK=20 as well as from further afield, including Tasmania and the US. =

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