Tag Archives: Colleges

England’s unexpected exam revolution.

One consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic is that we are embarking on an extraordinary national experiment in the way young people achieve their exam grades in England; switching from a heavy reliance on externally set and marked written exams towards … Continue reading

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Creating the conditions for a successful FE system

This week saw the launch of The FE and Skills System, a study by The Policy Consortium. Subtitled ‘The consequences of policy decisions – lessons for policymakers and stakeholders’, this thorough survey reaches deep into the heart of FE; drawing … Continue reading

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Life in the sixth form funding canyon

The chancellor is currently pondering his priorities for the forthcoming autumn statement on public spending and given the critical state of our public services there are plenty of worthy calls on resources. Without minimising the case for spending more on … Continue reading

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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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Dear candidates…

How to talk about post-16 education in the election campaign. Dear candidates, The general election campaign has started and you’ll be wanting to talk about all sorts of issues and hoping to win support. You can’t expect to be an … 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-level Drama in London.

Drama / Theatre Studies is an important area of study. It enriches the sixth form offer and provides students with opportunities to develop their cultural education, their understanding of the human condition, their confidence and ability to communicate well and work … Continue reading

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Classical Capital.

Studying early civilizations helps us understand how people built sustainable ways of living together and made sense of the world many centuries before us. These civilizations have contributed so much to our own that studying them must form part of … 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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A level languages in London.

What is the condition of A-level language provision in London’s sixth forms? Data from the 2015 performance tables show that: Over 5,500 London sixth formers entered A-levels in 19 different languages last year. Over two thirds of these were entered … 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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The London Mayor’s Education Conference.

The Mayor of London and the Greater London Authority (GLA) have no statutory responsibilities for education, however they can use their convening power to bring people together, to advocate and call for action and to persuade. In many ways, the … Continue reading

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