Assemble a rewarding career

The recent history of schoolroom studies in manufacturing is no more successful than the recent history of manufacturing itself. It entered the sixth-form curriculum in 1995 in the form of an advanced GNVQ – and immediately failed to attract many takers. So last year, while 22,700 final-year students in England and Wales were taking the advanced GNVQ in business studies, and nearly 11,000 studied health and social care, the GNVQ in manufacturing attracted only 154.

The recent history of schoolroom studies in manufacturing is no more successful than the recent history of manufacturing itself. It entered the sixth-form curriculum in 1995 in the form of an advanced GNVQ – and immediately failed to attract many takers. So last year, while 22,700 final-year students in England and Wales were taking the advanced GNVQ in business studies, and nearly 11,000 studied health and social care, the GNVQ in manufacturing attracted only 154.

Now, thanks to Curriculum 2000 and the introduction of vocational A-levels (formally known as Advanced Vocational Certificates in Education, or AVCEs) the subject has a chance to make a fresh start. And the first small cohort of students, believed to be around 200, is waiting for its results.

The course attempts to introduce sixth formers to the basic organisations and production systems used by industry. Two thirds of the marks are based on a portfolio of work, so the course can be altered to suit local patterns of manufacturing – a key development from the GNVQ – and could, for example, be based almost entirely on the production of textiles, plastics or ceramics.

Thomas Alleyne's High School in Uttoxeter is one of a handful of schools and colleges that has put the new exam to the test, with 11 students now awaiting their final marks. Alleyne's, which serves a huge area of rural mid-Staffordshire, has technology college status and a strong manufacturing department, with more than 300 pupils doing GCSE design and technology – a course which leads smoothly into the new vocational A-level.

Although it is better known for its race course and cattle market, Uttoxeter also has a small industrial base. In particular it has the giant JCB digger plant, which grew out of Uttoxeter's agricultural roots, on its doorstep.

The school has persuaded a variety of firms, including JCB, the breweries from nearby Burton, the town's Elkes biscuit factory and the Palgrave Brown building firm to help the A-level students with topics such as quality control, quality assurance, manufacturing structure, manufacturing economics and computer-aided design.

The portfolio section of the students' work was based on a mini-industry project, manufacturing and selling the sale of wooden toys, furniture and wine racks, in collaboration with the school's business students.

The course, offered by all three of the main examination boards, is likely to appeal to schools and colleges with a history of involvement with industry, according to Alan Mansfield, the chief examiner in manufacturing for the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance. But it is unlikely to attract the most able candidates in maths and physics, and is largely aimed at a non-academic constituency.

"The students who take it will choose manufacturing as opposed to business studies, say, because they perhaps have more affinity with works management, which they may see as preferable to a business career in an office context," says Mansfield. "It is also likely to appeal to candidates who have had problems with conventional learning. Maybe they don't like the formality of examinations. The best maths and physics students are probably not going to be doing vocational A-levels."

That said, the A-level is probably aimed at people wanting a career in industry rather than a job on the shop floor. Candidates certainly need to be capable of independent study, an important course requirement. This first year's students from Uttoxeter are heading for a variety of destinations, from jobs with local manufacturing concerns to vocationally based university courses.

"They have enjoyed the course, and probably got more out of it than they realised," says Rodger Taylor, the school's programme manager for manufacturing. "They understand the importance of teamwork and understand the wider implications of a manufacturing structure. They know it's not just about John Smith standing on the production line."

Will the new course succeed where its predecessor struggled? Certainly those taking part think that the A-level is more rigorous than the much-criticised GNVQ, which was based entirely on coursework.

"To be honest, it's more rigorous than the GNVQ," says Rodger Taylor. "The kids have to be a bit more knowledgeable and show a bit more understanding. It's got a bit harder." In fact, he said, the school has had to tighten up on who it allows onto manufacturing now.

In theory it is also closer to the needs of industry, reducing the amount of text-book work and introducing more flexibility. "The content of GNVQ was the old design and technology, woodwork and metal work heritage," says chief examiner Alan Mansfield. "Curriculum 2000 broadened it out and said 'it's about more than that'. There's more real life in curriculum 2000. The old model had a lot of book-based learning."

The new course, for example, attempts to develop an awareness of the impact of manufacturing on the natural environment as well as on the economic and business world. It also broadens the concept of manufacturing to include successful new sectors – the food industry, or the manufacture of CDs and other entertainment products.

This is a process that is continuing with yet another revision of the curriculum. No sooner has the new vocational A-level been launched than plans are afoot to re-write it once again, this time to include an identifiable "AS" component that can be taken in the lower sixth. This ASVCE will be even less theoretical and include more involvement from industry, allowing people to move straight into a job. Topics such as health and safety will feature prominently. The consultation process is underway now.

The school believes the manufacturing A-level is making a good contribution, and offers a worthwhile development of the GCSE in design and technology.

But not everyone is so optimistic. Professor Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment at the University of Liverpool, has made a study of vocational qualifications and believes subjects such as manufacturing will struggle to attract the backing of young people because however skilfully they are taught, they have no direct links to employment. In other words, the need for such a qualification has been decreed by authority rather than requested by manufacturing industry itself.