The Character of the Post-16 System in Barnsley and the Location of

At the outset of this doctoral thesis, young people in Barnsley had several post-16 educational opportunities. Barnsley had two school sixth forms, Town and West, and a large FE college. The available qualifications varied from academic to vocational. The academic qualifications available included the Advanced Subsidiary level (AS) and Advanced (A) level qualifications. The AS level is a stand-alone qualification and is half the value of a full A level. The A level is the main pre-university qualification in England taken by students (Sheffield Hallam University, 2014).

Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) and City and Guilds technical levels were also available to the participants. BTECs are work related and are built with the needs of employers in mind. They allow progression to university and can be taken alongside AS and A levels. Technical level qualifications, such as City and Guilds, viewed as being appropriate for students who intend to specialise in a particular technical occupation and designed to give young people a route into HE,

apprenticeships or employment were also available to the participants (BMBC, 2014).

Other opportunities included apprenticeships which are Nationally designed training programmes for 18-25 year olds. Whilst on an apprenticeship young people can learn on the job with an employer, build their knowledge, make money and gain a qualification

29

(Sheffield Hallam University, 2014). Whilst undertaking an apprenticeship, National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) are normally completed within the workplace, with young people being assessed by portfolio which includes evidence of the work that is undertaken. A key strength of the apprenticeship route is that it gives young people the opportunity to work for an employer whilst gaining experience and skills within the workplace (BMBC, 2014).

The participants of this study were working toward a variety of academic and vocational qualifications and the research was undertaken at two of the three sixth forms, Town sixth form, part of a large FE college and Village sixth form, part of an academy in Barnsley. They were chosen because they have students who resided in low-income neighbourhoods that were in the top 20% of the IMD and who had chosen not to participate. West sixth form was not chosen as it did not fit these parameters.

Town Sixth Form

Town Sixth Form is part of a large tertiary college serving the town and surrounding areas in the north of England. 80% of school leavers in the town attend the college which is the main provider of post-16 education. It provides courses in the following subject areas:

30

Figure 1-5 Town College Subject Areas

(Town College Annual report, 2013)

In 2009/10, 7770 learners attended the college, with just less than 60% aged 16 to 18, with 60% of students being female. At Town College, slightly less than 3% of learners have minority ethnic backgrounds compared to 2% of the local population (Ofsted, 2010).

The table below summaries the type of provision the college offers and the numbers enrolled to each type of provision:

31

Type of Provision Numbers of enrolled learners in 2009/10

Provision for young learners:

14 to 16

FE (16 to 18)

Foundation learning (including the above)

Entry to employment

FE (19+) 443 full-time learners

1685 part-time learners

Town College is seen as being highly effective by Ofsted, particularly with regard to raising learners’ aspirations and supporting them to succeed, with learners of all ages achieving well at the majority of levels (Ofsted, 2010).

The college has recently been recognised as one of the best colleges in the UK by Ofsted and it has also been awarded Beacon Status by the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) (Town College, 2013).

Table 2 Type of Provision and Number Enrolled

32

Leadership and management within Town College are viewed by Ofsted as outstanding, with the principal and governors offering strong and effective leadership in their eyes.

The staff across the college are seen to share the same ambition and this has been singled out as a reason for the improvements since their previous Ofsted inspection in 2007 (Ofsted, 2010).

Fourteen interviews were carried out at Town Sixth Form.

Village Sixth Form

The Academy, of which Village Sixth Form is a part, is a relatively newly established provider of post-16 education and, since it opened in 2006, it has continued to grow steadily and increase the number of courses on offer with a view of meeting the needs of its students and the local community. The overall effectiveness of the new and growing Sixth Form was satisfactory in 2009; however, in February 2014, it was viewed as being inadequate (Ofsted, 2014).

Village Academy is smaller than most secondary schools and the proportion of its students who are supported by the pupil premium is well above average. The vast majority of students are White British, with students who are supported by School Action Plus or with a statement of special educational needs being above the national average.

The Academy does not meet the government’s current floor standards, which are the set minimum expectations for students’ attainment and progress in English and

mathematics. Those students attaining five or more GCSE grades at A* to C including English and mathematics is low and the achievement gap between disadvantaged students and others in the school is wide. Within the school, teaching is viewed as not

33

being as effective as it could be as students do not make the required progress (Ofsted, 2014). It was levelled at leaders and managers within the Academy that they do not ensure that the teachers make best use of information they are given about their students’ abilities and progress, and consequently they do not ensure that work is always hard enough. The governing body has also been criticised for not holding the academy rigorously enough to account (Ofsted, 2014).

Village Sixth Form presently has 79 students who study a variety of academic and vocational courses and it has seen a gradual rise in levels of achievement.

Increasing numbers of sixth form students are participating in HE, including at ‘top-flight’

universities. However, much like the overall school, the Sixth Form has been criticised recently by Ofsted as not all students make progress as well as they might. Whilst teaching at the Sixth Form has been seen to offer some opportunities to develop the skills that students will need in HE, with many students making the progress that is expected, there was some evidence that students do not develop their research skills and discover things for themselves. Evidence suggests that there is an over-reliance by students on being told things; teachers do too much for them. They are not encouraged to find things out themselves and this appears to have slowed the progress and quality of the students’ learning and consequently, they are not always as prepared as they could be for what HE demands (Ofsted, 2014). However, despite the criticism, Village Sixth Form’s students gained impressive results in 2013. Of those students studying A levels, 27% achieved an A grade and 53% received A*-B compared to 8% in 2012, with an overall pass rate of 100% (Barnsley Chronicle, 2013). The Sixth Form offers a

34

programme of level 3 courses which are designed to build on the success of GCSE and prepare students for entry to university (Ofsted, 2009; Village Academy, 2014).

At Village Sixth Form, 22 interviews were carried out.