'˜Student experience is deteriorating - we need to support our sixth-formers'

When elected to serve as Scunthorpe’s MP, leaving my job as principal of John Leggott College, post-16 education was in a pretty good place with a relevant, dynamic, personalised curriculum and relatively decent funding to support a broad and balanced education with appropriate extra-curricular activities, guidance and support. Education Maintenance Allowance acted as a significant driver of ever-improving student achievement and social mobility.

Sadly, in the seven years I have been in Parliament, the challenge for post-16 leadership has become significantly greater, driven by huge, ongoing and accelerating financial pressures. The cuts to 16-to-19 education funding introduced in 2011, 2013 and 2014 have proved particularly damaging.

The average sixth form college lost 17 per cent of its funding before inflation. If John Leggott College, which celebrates 50 years of providing outstanding education to the young people of north Lincolnshire this year, was funded at 2010 levels today, it would have £1.2m more in this year’s budget. That is astounding.

Alongside these funding cuts, inflationary pressures have continued to bite and costs have continued to rise. Employer contributions to the teachers’ pension scheme increased from 14.1 to 16.4 per cent in 2015, employer National Insurance contributions rose from 10.4 to 13.8 per cent in 2016, and business rates increased in 2017.

Labour has shown real leadership in arguing for improved technical education to stand alongside the growth in apprenticeships begun under a Labour Government. T-levels have the potential to represent a step change forward, but those of us working in post-16 education have been here many times.

The devil is always in the detail of delivery, but one thing is certain. Putting money into T-levels is no substitute for addressing the shortfall in funding the 85 per cent of young people in general post-16 education.

In its offer to the British people this year, the Conservative Party promised fair funding for schools, but its current proposals ignore post-16 education. This made complete sense when compulsory education ended at 16, but it is nonsense now that the raising of the participation age means that everyone remains in education and training up to 18.

Research from the Institute of Education describes sixth-form education in England as “uniquely narrow and short” compared with the high-performing systems elsewhere in the world.

Our sixth-formers are now funded to receive only half the tuition time of those in other leading economies. As little as 15 to 17 hours of weekly tuition and ​support has become the norm for students in England, compared with 30-plus hours in Shanghai. Students in other leading education systems receive more tuition time, study more subjects and in some cases benefit from a three-year programme of study rather than two.

The funding that schools and colleges now receive covers the cost of delivering just three A-level or equivalent qualifications, and little more. On a recent visit to Scunthorpe’s North Lindsey College, the principal, Anne Tyrrell, remarked on how the demands from students with mental health problems had grown exponentially in recent years. Many schools and colleges lack the resources to address the sharp increase in students reporting mental health problems. That is a real issue that has been compounded by cuts to NHS and local authority budgets.

It is clear that the student experience is deteriorating. For example, two thirds of sixth form colleges have already shrunk their curriculum offer; over a third have dropped modern ​foreign languages courses and the majority have reduced or removed extra-curricular activities, including music, drama and sport.

I am calling on everyone to get behind the excellent Support Our Sixth-formers campaign. I ask the Government to respond positively to their two clear, simple asks: first, to introduce an immediate £200 uplift in funding per student; and secondly, to conduct a review of sixth-form funding to ensure it is linked to the realistic costs of delivering a rounded, high-quality curriculum. An annual increase of £200 per student would help schools and colleges to begin reassembling the support required to meet the needs of young people.