Tag Archives: Area-based Reviews

More area reviews?

More area reviews of post-16 education? We’ve only just got through the last lot and that took up loads of everyone’s time for very little benefit. Surely this can’t be a serious suggestion… Well, it might not be guaranteed to … Continue reading

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Sixth form resolutions for 2017

Like its predecessor, this year will no doubt be full of challenges and opportunities for colleges and sixth forms. 16-19 year-olds remain the worst funded full-time students in England while rapid qualification and assessment reform continues to affect almost every course … Continue reading

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What future for Sixth Form Colleges?

I was asked to give a personal view on the future of sixth form colleges at the 2016 FE Staff Governors Conference on 2nd December, organised by a group of education unions: UNISON, ATL/AMIE, UCU and NAS/UWT together with the … Continue reading

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London’s sixth forms.

There are around 165,000 students studying in London’s publicly funded sixth forms. These students are enrolled across 380 different institutions of many types and sizes which can be grouped into 4 broad categories: School sixth forms (as part of a … Continue reading

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The challenge of small sixth forms.

The Department for Education has recently published new advice for academies intending to make significant changes. Amongst other things, the document requires them to make a full business case if they wish to add sixth form provision. This is a … Continue reading

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16-19 education: from independence to interdependence.

I want to say a little about where we’ve been, where we find ourselves today and where we might be heading. When I say ‘we’ I am referring to 16-19 provision in colleges and most specifically sixth form colleges, although … Continue reading

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A sixth form profile for the ‘Local London’ area.

‘Local London‘ is one of London’s subregional local authority groupings. It consist of 8 boroughs and corresponds roughly to the East London sub-region for the post-16 area review. School sixth forms will not be part of the reviews but the … Continue reading

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New Year wishes for sixth form education in 2016

A year ago I posted 5 New Year wishes for post-16 education. I thought they were modest, realistic and realisable while also offering tangible benefits. My 5 wishes were: Recognise that innovation does not necessarily require the creation of new … Continue reading

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Reviewing post-16 education in London

Principals and chairs of governors from most of London’s colleges assembled at City Hall last week for a briefing on the post-16 area review process. It’s not often that this group meets and although it happened without any great fanfare … Continue reading

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The problem with England’s post-16 area reviews

There is a contradiction at the heart of the government’s post-16 area reviews for England and it was clearly exposed the other day by the very civil servants tasked with implementing them. Sixth form college principals and chairs of governors … Continue reading

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Imagining a better future is the first step

My article on the post-16 area-based reviews from this week’s Times Education Supplement. Think of all the 16-18 year olds in your area. What do you see? Talented and ambitious young people keen to improve their knowledge and skills? Students … Continue reading

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What’s at stake in the new post-16 Area-based Reviews?

Large and cost-effective v. small and inefficient? In Reviewing post-16 Education and Training Institutions published 3 days ago the government suggests that we need ‘fewer, often larger, more resilient and efficient providers’. The implication is that larger colleges are better … Continue reading

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