August 2003
In 1995 commitments were made, by the major education and training organisations in Birmingham, to really have a go at substantially cranking up levels of literacy, language and numeracy for all people, all organisations, all Birmingham. Targets were set for the position that would ideally have been reached by 2003 - which at the time seemed an awfully long way off. But it's here - and the results of all our developments work are showing through. All of the planned changes have come about and in terms of basic skills Birmingham is quite a different place than in 1995.

The skills levels of children entering school have doubled; the skills levels of children leaving primary schools have doubled; the GCSE English/Maths results have climbed faster than the national rate of improvement and are still climbing; the necessary increases have been made in levels of adult literacy and language skills (with much more still to do on numeracy levels).

Permanent changes have been made to ways of teaching and learning at all stages. There have been improvements in preschool resources (particularly for disadvantaged families). The library services in Birmingham now offer a substantially different set of supports to young people and to a wider range of adults. Parents and families are engaged in huge numbers.

Systems have been put in place to support larger numbers of employers and employees. The quality and capacity of organisations, across Birmingham and Solihull, have been improved by investments in staff training, outreach work with underachieving groups, curriculum and materials development, and serious engagement with national strategic drives for change.

The commitment has remained over the last seven years. The investments are paying off, and a large momentum has been created at the whole-system level. Describing all of this to some observers in Canada, their analysis was that Birmingham has done what nowhere else has managed to do - in terms of the sheer speed, volume and sustainability of the changes brought about - but that there was probably about the same amount to do again if Birmingham was to reach its aims around being a substantially literate and numerate city.

If we are `half way there' then the next seven years will require the same focus on core skills developments (but in ways that are much more embedded within other ongoing processes); will need organisations across the area to target their development resources where they will have most leverage on the system; will need organisations to constantly cross reference their work with each other and jointly endorse each other's development proposals; and will need the continued careful attention to underpinning data and a sensible use of goals and aspirational targets.

So, the second half begins .............