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Appendix the Present Structure of Post -Compulsory Education

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Appendix the Present Structure of Post -Compulsory Education APPENDIX THE PRESENT STRUCTURE OF POST -COMPULSORY EDUCATION 16 to 18 (See also Chapter 2) Compulsory schooling was extended from age 15 to 16 in 1972-3. Most full-time education 16-18 is provided in school sixth forms which mainly offer academic courses (at G.C.E. 'A' level) leading to higher education, although provision is increasingly being made for less able students and for those who want commercial and other vocational but non-technical courses. The chief alternative sources of full-time education (for about 30 per cent of the full-time students aged 16-18) are the colleges of further education, often still called technical colleges, which provide for students of any age beyond 16, academic courses to 'A' and '0' level, plus a wide range of vocational courses in such areas as technical studies, commerce and design. The most important development in the 1970s is the appear­ ance of tertiary colleges: colleges of further education which take in all the full-time students over 16 who formerly stayed at school in the sixth form. Although there were only ten (scat­ tered among six local education authorities) in September 1976, both the Secretary of State for Education and Science and the Permanent Secretary of D.E.S. early in 1977 declared their interest in this third stage in the development of a compre­ hensive system. 'fhere are, however, three chief obstacles to the emergence of tertiary colleges as the basis for the next stage in comprehensive reorganisation: 94 Appendix 95 UPPER SECONDARY, FURTHER AND HIGHER EDUCATION TODAY THE PUBLIC SECTOR THE (administered by LEAs.' (.II'- apart from a small AUTONOMOUS number of independent SECTOR schools and voluntary collegeslinstitutes of I I FURTHER FURTHER POLYTECHNIC COLLEGEI UNIVERSITY education/higher EDUCATION EDUCATION (mainly INSTITUTE (mainly education) COLLEGE (TERTIARYI advanced OF _need cour.for (mainly COLLEGE cour.. ; EOUCATIONI full-time full-time non- (mainly HIGHER advanced non- and part- students) I EDUCATION courses; advanced tim. I , full-time eourses; students) (formerly and part- full-time teach.r I SIXTH SECONDARY time and part- tfaining I FORM students) time only; SCHOOL ,I COLLEGE students) mainly full-time studentsl 1S- -------- - - - - -- I I S I X T H 17- F 0 I R M ifull-time students only) 16 - --- ----~ 14- 13- C"--' 12 - - 11_ '-- (1) (21 (31 (41 (51 (61 (71 (SI (91 (101 DIAGRAM (not to scale) showing: Patterns of secondary education with sixth forms (for full-time students only) in: (1 ) secondary school 11-18 (2) 12-18 (3) upper school 13-18 (4) 14-18 (5) separate sixth form college 16-18 Patterns of further and higher education: (6) further education college, including some full-time and all part-time students aged 16-18 (except those at evening institutes) (7) further education (tertiary) college, including all full-time and part-time students aged 16-18 (except th9$8 at evening institutes) (8) polytechnic: the public sector's alternative to university, but taking both fUll-time and part-time students (9) college of education/college or institute of higher education: formed from the former teacher training college, now brought more clearly into the public sector (10) university: independent of LEAs; constitutionally independent of DES, but dependent on the Treasury for finance 96 Towards the Comprehensive University (1) their size - probably 5000 students in all, though this might mean only 2000 students in attendance on anyone day, of whom c. 1300 would be full-time. The wide­ spread transfer of 16-year-olds to such a large estab­ lishment, adult in its whole organisation and procedures, could arouse strong opposition; (2) the fact that 70 per cent of existing comprehensive sec­ ondary schools have been recently designed, usually after arduous planning and long and intensive debate, for the traditional sixth-form pattern; (3) in particular, the vigorous growth of 'community col­ leges' based on upper comprehensive schools from 13 or 14 to 18, where adults who so wish may join the ordinary school classes, and school pupils may join adult learning and social groups in the evenings - experiences which promote mutual understanding and enrich the life of the local community. Such developments may encourage second thoughts about a clear break at 16. There were seventy-two sixth-form colleges in September 1976, varying in size from 300 to 1000 students aged 16-18. They represent a halfway house between school sixth forms on the one hand and tertiary colleges on the other. Frequently devel­ oped from grammar schools, they remain basically academic institutions preparing students for' A' level, but they also offer a limited range of vocational (usually excluding technical) courses for students with different interests and levels of ability. The great majority are non-selective in the sense that they only require to be satisfied that a candidate for admission intends, and is likely, to work satisfactorily according to his ability. The Youth Service Local education authorities collaborate with a number of vol­ untary bodies to provide, staff and support youth clubs and centres offering informal education, recreation and social train­ ing principally to young people aged about 14-19. There are six Appendix 97 two-year courses of training for youth leaders and nearly 3000 full-time youth and community workers, plus many thousands of paid and voluntary part-time youth workers. Even so, the youth service continues to come low in the scale of education and social priorities in England, providing mini­ mum facilities mainly for already deprived teenagers who have left school as early as possible. Its future almost certainly lies in association or integration with comprehensive community col­ leges usually based on schools, such as those in Cambridgeshire and Leicestershire, rather than in its continued existence as a separate entity. This was the most striking recommendation of the report on routh and Community Work in the 70s (published 1969): that the main role of the Youth Service should be to provide education and experience for membership of 'the active society', in which all would share in the decision-making processes which shape their lives, especially in their local neighbourhood community. However, administrative wrangles between different Government departments over their responsibilities in the wide-ranging field envisaged by the report held up a decision on its implementation, and eventually (1971) Margaret Thatcher rejected this farsighted concept. Some L.E.A.s have neverthe­ less proceeded with their own arrangements along similar lines; but the opportunity for a major national advance, which would have put the social education of young people on to a wholly superior plane, was lost. Further Education There are precisely 700 establishments of further education, and the picture is one of great diversity. It includes polytech­ nics; colleges of technology and the more humble technical col­ leges; colleges of commerce and of art; agricultural colleges and farm institutes; recognised independent establishments (in­ cl uding fifty-five teaching English to foreign students); and evening institutes. Courses are offered in vocational and aca­ demic subjects from craft to professional level, and from G.C.E. level to first and higher degrees. There is also provision - though unevenly - for cultural and leisure activities. Study may 98 Towards the Comprehensive University be full-time, 'sandwich' (periods of study in college alternating with practical training in industry), part-time day, or evening only. Altogether there are 1.8 million full-time and part-time students in 'major establishments' apart from a further 1.7 mil­ lion students in more than 6800 evening institutes. In addition, there are some 270,000 students in courses provided by 'Re­ sponsible Bodies', i.e. the universities, the Workers' Edu­ cational Association and the Welsh National Council of the Y.M.C.A. The provision of further education is co-ordinated by Regional Advisory Councils, of which there are ten covering the whole country. They are particularly concerned with the approval of new courses and the discouragement of competition among colleges and other bodies for students, which is detri­ mental to the service as a whole in the region. The role of these councils, together with the need to take into account the need for similar co-ordination of teacher training following the demise of Area Training Organisations, is now under review. The Polytechnics The thirty polytechnics are essentially institutions of higher education in the further-education sector, maintained by L.E.A.s (except in Inner London, where they are aided). They were established by the 1964-70 Labour Government, which espoused the notorious 'binary' policy of higher education (see Chapter 3) as an alternative to universities. The 1966 White Paper, A Plan for Polytechnics and Other Colleges, said that 'in the long term, the polytechnics will be expected to concentrate wholly or largely on students of 18 and over pursuing courses of higher education', and would not normally do work below that level. They should not have fewer than 2000 full-time students, plus such part-timers as would be recruited from the areas they served. The number of full-time equivalents (i.e. full-time plus an appropriate full-time equivalent of part-time students) in 1974-5 ranged from 1300-1800 at Preston, Glamorgan, Ply­ mouth and Teeside to over 5000 at Manchester. Part-time stu­ dent numbers varied from 500 at Plymouth to 10,000 at the City of London Polytechnic. 79 Appendix 99 They have, however, fallen well behind the target set for them by the 1972 White Paper, A Framework for Expansion, of 180,000 full-time and sandwich students by 1981, a target now abandoned by the Government. Polytechnic numbers have re­ cently been bolstered by the absorption of several colleges of education.
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