Winchester MP, Steve Brine, joined Barton Peveril College principal, Jonathan Prest, at the recent launch of the Sixth Form Colleges' Association (SFCA) at the House of Commons.
The Association – formerly known as the Sixth Form Colleges' Forum – launched a white paper at the event and called on the government to 'level the playing field for post-16 education' in England.
Sixth form colleges deliver 20% of A Level learning in England but official figures show that, on average, they receive £3279 less funding per student than secondary academies. The white paper argues that colleges have been hard hit by cuts to financial support for A Level programmes while the government offers preferential funding to academies and free schools with sixth forms.
In 2012, academics at the University of Southampton found that a sixth form college student was 7.2% more likely to achieve an A-star or A grade than a teenager of similar background and ability studying A Levels at a school sixth form.
Research by the National Audit Office also concluded that sixth form colleges outperform other providers of 16-18 education in terms of outcomes for students and value for money. Ofsted judges 76% of England's 94 sixth form colleges as 'good' or 'outstanding' and sixth form colleges provide around 14% of students who are accepted on to higher education courses – more than FE colleges (11%) and independent schools (10%). Almost a third of these students come from the least advantaged areas of the country.
Jonathan Prest, who also chairs the Wessex Group of Sixth Form Colleges, said: "The white paper calls for students to attract the same amount of funding for their education irrespective of whether they study at an academy, school sixth form or a sixth form college like Barton Peveril. It is great to have our local MPs celebrate the fact that sixth form colleges remain the most effective and efficient providers of post-16 education."
Steve Brine added: "Post-16 education really is the jewel in the crown of Hampshire when it comes to education and it's the envy of pretty much everywhere else but we need to build on that and that's what this group is all about. Young people here have fabulous opportunities when it comes to furthering their education and I am especially pleased we have such dynamic provision available, meaning there are choices from strongly academic, to the arts and more work-ready vocational courses which are not surprisingly proving increasingly popular."
Principal of Peter Symonds, Neil Hopkins, Tim Jackson from Sparsholt College and Mr Prest from Barton Peverill also joined Steve for a dinner in the House of Commons with Hampshire MPs organised by the Association of Colleges to discuss issues specific to 6th form colleges and the further education sector.
Pictured; Steve Brine with Jonathan Prest from Barton Peverill at the event in the House of Commons