This strategy has been developed to:

• establish a learning vision for young people that is shared by the city's learners, parents and those institutions, organisations and agencies responsible for delivering education and training
• identify the key challenges faced by the city in achieving a step change in attainment and participation at school and in post-compulsory learning
• agree a set of critical initiatives that address these key challenges, and which are central to improving the educational performance of young people and those institutions responsible for their learning
• translate our city's learning vision into a series of shared and coherent actions which are capable of delivering the step change in 14-19 performance that is our aspiration.

The Role of Sheffield First for Learning

Sheffield First for Learning is Sheffield's Learning Partnership and is the learning arm of Sheffield First, Sheffield's local strategic partnership. Sheffield First for Learning seeks, through collaborative action, to add value to the activity of the city's learning providers with the aim of widening participation in learning, increasing attainment, improving standards and meeting the skills needs of a changing economy.

The success of this strategy and the achievement of our learning vision will be dependent on the commitment of partners to its delivery and a shared ownership of its aims and objectives. Under the auspices of Sheffield First for Learning the following stakeholders are committed to the delivery of this strategy:

• BESY - the South Yorkshire Business and Education consortium
• Connexions - South Yorkshire
• Learning and Skills Council - South Yorkshire
• Sheffield Association of Training Providers
• Sheffield Education Directorate
• Sheffield Futures
• Sheffield Hallam University
• Sheffield's secondary schools and secondary special schools
• The Sheffield College
• The University of Sheffield
• Our Learning Vision

Sheffield First for Learning has a learning vision for the city:

'In Sheffield learning will raise aspirations, enabling individuals to achieve their full potential, contribute to their community and share in prosperity, pride and progress. Learning will be a dynamic force for change, which drives forward economic regeneration, social inclusion, and the development of a successful knowledge-based economy, where new ideas and technological advances generate jobs and wealth.'

Complementing this is the 14-19 vision:

"In Sheffield, all young people will be motivated and supported in achieving their full potential and will value learning as a lifelong activity. Learning will be delivered through a first class learning infrastructure and will empower young people to succeed in the rapidly changing economy and society of the 21st Century."

Towards an Entitlement for Young People

In support of this vision all partners will work collaboratively towards an entitlement for young people, which will offer:

• high quality, comprehensive and independent information, advice and guidance about learning opportunities and career pathways
• fair and transparent admissions processes
• access to the widest choice of learning pathways with clear progression routes at school, college, with training providers and in the workplace
• high quality teaching and learning which raises aspirations, challenges individuals to achieve their best and encourages them to progress to further learning or employment
• recognition of a wide range of learner achievements in addition to academic success including opportunities to develop a wide set of skills including citizenship, key skills, enterprise and employability
• the opportunity to participate in the review, evaluation and shaping of their own learning
• a learning environment which is inclusive and supportive of all learners and offers appropriate learner and learning support
• a commitment on the part of all learning providers to promote equality of opportunity, to respond to the voice of the learner and to address barriers to learning

Principal Aims

• To improve retention at school, in further education and work based learning.
• To meet and then exceed national averages for achievement and to reduce differentials in terms of geography, ethnicity, sex and between institutions.
• To increase and widen participation in learning at both 16 and 19.
• To embed transferable skills in the school and post-16 curriculum that meet the needs of the economy, equip individuals for progression into further education, higher education and employment and which underpin active citizenship and personal success.

The Policy Challenges in Summary:

In order for the city to achieve its vision, generate a first class entitlement for its learners, meet its identified targets and create a culture where learning is valued and its benefits are more widely acknowledged and understood, the city must embark on a range of critical initiatives to create:

• a first class and cost effective learning infrastructure, including an e-learning network and more specialist educational provision, where modernised and accessible institutions, work together to identify and respond to the needs of young people
• universal access to kite-marked, comprehensive and independent information, advice and guidance in support of an individual's choice of options at 14, for transition at 16 and for progression to higher education or employment at 19 and a promotion strategy that reaches all young people
• a full range of learning pathways better able to meet the needs of the individual student with an entitlement for the learner to pursue qualifications at school and college, in the workplace, and with training providers through a curriculum that prepares students for adult life by developing transferable skills, active citizenship, employability and enterprise
• partnership working including data sharing and target setting, which will allow learning provision to be planned collaboratively across the city
• quality assurance that promotes the continuous improvement of teaching and learning where best practice is identified and adopted and where robust systems for the monitoring of progress and the evaluation of impact are developed.