The CES welcomes the Foster Review’s comments about Sixth Form colleges, which are worth quoting in full:

“Sixth Form Colleges

66. We have given a lot of thought to the position of sixth form colleges within the FE college system. Inspection evidence, high learner satisfaction rates, higher than average success rates and significant numbers gaining Beacon status, all point to sixth form colleges being a very successful model for 16- 19 provision. They have a distinctive and clear mission, which is primarily focused on academic achievement and progression, and is well understood and respected by the general public. Sixth form colleges are able to generate genuine choice for young people because the scale of their operations enables them to sustain broad curriculum options.

67. We believe that it is important to protect this distinctive brand, and to ensure that it continues as a high quality option for young people with the aspiration to progress through academic pathways either to employment or higher education. But we heard many representations from sixth form colleges that treating them in policy and operation terms in the same way as general FE colleges and tertiary colleges, puts at risk their distinctive ethos that has contributed so much to their success. We are also concerned that the inclusion of sixth form colleges in the FE college ‘sector’ (as a brand) would dilute attempts to focus colleges on core vocational purpose.

Sixth Form college governance

68. We are not proposing that we change the governance arrangements and associated flexibilities which sixth form colleges gained on incorporation. We heard many representations that the freedom given in the 1992 Act has allowed each college to develop according to the environment in which it is situated. But we believe that they should be treated as a distinctive institutional model, and their results recorded separately in official statistics. We also feel that this distinctiveness should be reflected in the way policy is applied and operational changes are implemented, including the recommendations in this report. In particular to achieve this, we recommend that within the DfES and the LSC, policy development and implementation is informed by a stronger managerial focus on the role and contribution of sixth form colleges. We would expect this to lead the removal of any barriers to market entry for new sixth form colleges, in the same way that barriers to new school sixth forms have been removed.”

The sixteen Catholic sixth form colleges are excellent examples of colleges with distinctive missions, high academic and personal achievement, and excellent records on inclusion.

The Foster Review lists a number of items which the FE college of the future must do (page 3). We are delighted that there is a significant overlap between this ‘wish-list’ and what Catholic colleges are already achieving, as demonstrated in Ofsted / Adult Learning Inspectorate reports. Similarly, principals in Catholic colleges are already demonstrating many of the qualities needed by “the FE college leader of the future” (pages 3-4).

We are pleased that the Foster report acknowledges the distinctive nature of sixth form colleges, and we look forward to working with the DfES, LSC and other partners to develop the conspicuous success of the sector in the future.