Sixth form supervision- normal?

I was dropped off by my parents at Uni in 1991, but I went to all open days myself- sometimes with a bunch of friends from school, and I went to all my university interviews by myself. I honestly don't know anybody who didn't at that time. I would say my relationship with my parents is very loving and affectionate and close still. It just wasn't the done thing. I absolutely love that independence.

40 years ago, our sixth form had a "common room" for general chit chat and messing around, and a large "library" which was where you'd go to study - it had two areas - the main area was tables with 4 chairs around them where you could study with friends etc., but there was also an area at the back which were "booths" for just one person, with partitions separating you from the others if you really wanted to concentrate. There was usually a teacher or librarian in there who'd keep peace and order!

My son said it was similar at his school's sixth form a few years ago - two distinct/separate areas. One had a cafe area and was for the general messing around, but again, there was another area for "quiet" study - I can't remember him saying it was supervised, but I do know he managed to do quite a lot of work during his free periods, so clearly not a free for all.

He's an adult. He has his own life with his own family. I am not going to be the intefering mother in law!

Call it what you like. I have turned out a fully fuctioning, fully employed and able adult. I am proud of him.

Judge me all you want to.

Different generation entirely. I went in 1986. Honestly, i was fine! I only recall one girl turning up with her parents. She was quite posh and presented as much younger than us. She was on my course in Edinburgh and came from Newcastle. I seem to remember she went home a lot. She didn't join in with all the parties and weekend stuff.

Students were eligible for housing benefit then. We all stayed in our flats right through the Summer hols as we had to pay for our flat and earn extra to afford it. So our friends were all there. None of us went home again really.

I had come up from Manchester. I met my partner in Edinburgh. So i had my whole life here. I did not move back home again. I visited once a year or so. I still go back and visit my Aunt now once or twice a year. She's late 80s now.

I was 19 when i left home. A year later than usual as i had to resit most of my o levels before being allowed to progress to A levels.

I wouldn’t call that a good relationship with your child though.

Yes, I did all my open days alone in the 90s and it was utterly normal. DD did some of hers alone but because so many parents go now she found herself at a disadvantage for getting questions in, so I accompanied her to one last week to make sure she could get the info she needed. There were some "student only" talks which I think were beneficial though a couple of parents had to be told quite firmly that it wasn't for them.

Parents did tend to drop you off at uni in the 90s, but in my case that was only on the very first day, and they didn't come and visit (an idea I find quite strange tbh, though not sure why).

Thank you!!!!!

Celery munch is trying to imply i was a neglected kid! You're right - who wanted parents anywhere near them as a teen. So uncool!!

We took our DD1 and DD3 to uni open days and helped move their stuff in the car. DD1 did not move back home once she left (at 18) She is 31 now.

By contrast, our DD3 who went to uni in Covid times is back home! He finished his degree - successfully - and hopefully will get moving soonish. He is 21.

We have tried to grow resilient kids but it's harder now i think. I certainly see a difference between the 3 we had during the 90s and the 2 we had in the noughties.

If they wanted to - yes. My DS1 (now aged 28yrs) did just that. I won't go into the full story here and i'm not going to pretend he was a model teenager but he met an online partner, applied to uni in her home town.

And left home himself. We did visit a year later and he was settled and happy. Now he's with a different partner, settled, has a child and still lives down near that town. 7 hours drive from us.
We see him 3 or 4 times a year and he's doing well.

But - yes - he was a tricky teen and life calmed down at home considerably after he left! He's a responsible, settled family man now.

That is the goal. But the reality is that many if not most 16 year olds are not ready to launch directly into that level of freedom & responsibility from the fully timetabled status they had at GCSE level.

In the past the attitude was that students who couldn’t manage that leap at 16 were just not A-level material. And there are still colleges and sixth forms where that’s the approach - this isn’t the place for you if you aren’t ready for that. But by and large we’ve moved towards wanting post-16 academics to be more accessible to a wider swathe of students (including those who may never attend a traditional academic university), so many schools and colleges use a more gradual scaffolding approach where students start with more supervision and structure and can progress towards a more university-like level of independence over the 2 years based on how they’re managing their studies.

OP got a tiny snapshot of an independent study session less than a month into the year. She needs far more info to evaluate how the school prepares students studying as an adult at university.

This is why I think colleges are fantastic. Brilliant, large facilities so students can go somewhere quiet like a library or in the canteen etc. to socialise. Perfect stepping stone to university - support if you want/need it but plenty of independence and learning to manage things on your own

Have to say I do find that surprising. Surely part of the purpose of sixth form is to get students used to working independently and developing self-discipline.

Some will be in trouble at uni when they have no one telling them to study, never mind enforcing silence.

Unsupervised at dcs school. Him and his friends use the time properly though as it is one less thing to do at home if completed during the study period at school.

It wasn’t as if the teacher was sitting at a desk doing their work, and occasionally telling them to be quiet either. She was actively roaming around- almost exam invigilator style.

Probably because it was open morning and she had been told to “look busy” 😄

i went to uni 1999
everyone was dropped off by their parents as far as i could see

Different times!

Parents didn't go to uni open days in the 90's. It would have been absolute social death to be walking round with your mum and dad. The school/ college would flag it up on a noticeboard and a few of you would go together on the train, or if no-one else wanted to go, it was normal to just go by yourself. Occasionally for v popular ones, the college would organise a coach.

When I went for my Uni interview, my parents couldn't take me as had to work - I got on the train, crossed London on the underground, got another train, got a taxi, went to the Uni, found my room, stayed overnight and did my interviews and came back. Completely normal. Most of my peers were also there alone. Some had come from overseas. Doesn't mean they're not close to their parents.

Also was v normal to get yourself to Uni, and then a lot of students drove themselves in their own cars that they'd bought with their part time jobs that they'd been doing since they were 14/15- almost everyone in my year at sixth form could drive by the time we did A levels.

I guess in the 90's our parents didn't really have to pay for Uni in the same way they do now (no tuition fees and if your parents weren't well off you got a grant) so they were far less invested. But the level of over investment now on (eg) WIWIKAU is unbelievable- those parents really need to cut the cord.

I wish they'd done that at my DD's school. One of her complaints was lack of quiet places to work, which is not very helpful when you are doing 4 (particularly time consuming) A levels and have no time to muck about if you want to get the grades you need for a top uni.

My ds goes to a sixth form college and there's none of this carry on there. The students are free to go to quiet areas or sociable areas in the building or leave entirely during all of their frees. It sounds entirely like my time back in the 90s. The school gets great grades so it doesn't appear a hindrance to the outcomes.

I'm 49. Our study sessions were absolutely not supervised. In our "free periods" (teachers: "they are not free periods they are study sessions") we could go to the common room and drink tea and listen to Radio One (or work in there), sit in the library and work, sit in the quiet room and work (but no supervision) or shock horror, go into town or go home. I used to have driving lessons during mine. This was a school sixth form.

Ours are supervised by non teaching staff, eg librarian and pastoral staff.

We had this when I was at school in the 80s: the sixth form block had a common room and a library - you could choose where to spend your free periods, but the library was supervised. The teacher would be getting their marking done, but it meant that you were guaranteed that the library would be kept quiet. There was no obligation to use it.

DD's school had a distinction on the timetable between frees (do what you like) and study periods (you had to be in a study space - I don't think those were supervised, but someone went round to check they were there). The kids were allowed to decide which of their frees would be designated study periods. I think the school may also have adjusted the number of study periods for those who were not getting down to enough work!

Is it optional though? Do they get free time at all?
I mean I only did work in free periods in 6th form if all my friends were in lessons or working too. Probably far too much time messing about in the 6th form common room!
I don't think this is something I'd be bothered about enough to not send my child to a school. They might not even go to 6th form there anyway

Presumably it was a quiet study area. Mucking about, then having to do your two assignments that evening might have been a learning opertunity for you, but what was everyone else who was trying to use that space learning from it?

20 years ago when I did a-levels, there were places where you were expected to study quietly, if you wanted to muck about you went -to drink cider in the park- elsewhere.

@Anisty would you want your 18 year old to go to all uni open days alone, pack up alone, transport to uni alone and basically set up new student life with zero input from you?