Differences between college and school I've got one in each I can't believe the difference ?

[CollegeVschool]

I've got one daughter in school doing a levels and my son is in college doing a course both want to go to uni.

I'm really shocked by the difference we don't get a parents evening at college and they are told we only get your parents in if there is an issue. There have been no discussions or help to see how he can improve ? He seems to be doing ok but it's hard to tell. When I emailed to ask how he's doing I didn't feel secure that the person I spoke to knew him well or his work?
By contrast my daughters school still has parents evening for everyone and she's doing really well and there are no concerns but it's really nice for her to have that time to get praise and they get reports ? Why would they do it differently in a college ?

With my daughter I know where she is at for her course and the exams .
I feel college is so much more removed than the school and at the school they know her much better.

We were also told in my daughters school how UCAS works and there was an information evening about it . They see their references and sign them off. At the college we have had no information about it and they don't show my son the reference !
This is not necessarily a criticism but I'm just wondering why the stark difference .

At dd college there isn’t really room for all of them to be on site all the time. They have 15 hours teaching and are expected to do 15 hours studying. Dd has one day a week where she doesn’t have to be in at all. The library is often packed.

At my son’s sixth form college we have regular parents evenings, several uni and ucas information evenings and other dial in sessions, they all have weekly tutor time with discussion and support for ucas personal statements, and the rest of the form filling in etc. They run enrichment sessions and extra things for students applying to particularly competitive courses.

They’re also expected to be doing plenty of their own work and research outside of classes, lots of independent learning. They have freedom to come and go outside of lesson times, wear their own normal home clothes, all the teachers are first name basis, and the college is wholly comprehensive - a levels, vocational qualifications, etc.

The point I’m making here is that there are plenty of standalone sixth form and vocational colleges with all the good things that you say your DD’s school is doing. It’s more likely to be individual institutions than “a college thing”.

My DS went straight into an apprenticeship at 16 in a very large industrial plant. Now that was a shock to the system. Absolutely zero parental input at all in either the recruitment process or the work or the college work. Went straight into shift work (although did finish at 11pm until he turned 18) and was suddenly hanging out with work friends with actual adult lives with wifes and kids and mortgages.

I teach in an FE college in Scotland so it’s possibly different - the students I teach do two years with us, then straight into year three at uni (some may choose to exit with an HND after year two). We have no dealings with parents at all, and if a parent did ask to meet with me as a student’s academic tutor I would need to ask the student’s permission to do a call or in person meeting. We operate more like a uni I suppose, students come in for lectures and aren’t required to remain on campus, and we have quite a lot of mature students - the eldest person I currently teach is in their 60s!

Our teaching staff have to have a teaching qualification but most do come from an “industry background” - I worked in marketing before teaching it, which is what my degree’s in, I then have a postgrad in a similar discipline, and my teaching qualification. We have a lot of mandatory CPD around supporting students through challenges with mental health, spotting domestic violence situations etc too.

I think college is more about them being independent, and getting ready for life after. The college DS is doing his A Levels at seem to have the right balance. He and his friends appreciate that they are treated as Adults and accountable for themselves, and with that brings a different mindset from them.

Surely the college experience is closer aligned to the university experience, and also geared toward independent and well organised learners? I suspect it also trains parents for the university experience.

Ours does this but also has regular parents evenings, lots of uni and careers information, student support etc. It’s not sink or swim.

My mum went to uni when the age of majority was 21. Her parents had the right to reports about her progress and her hall of residence had a sort of matron figure who imposed a strict curfew and ban on overnight/male guests. So maybe not that far fetched.

Are you CBHE or is the system very different in Scotland? I have no experience of colleges outside of England.

I’m not sure what CBHE is but we do a combination of FE and HE in my place. Level 5 through to level 8 - eight is equivalent to second year at uni. I only teach 7/8. We also have school groups who come in to do some things, for example my colleague in the TV department teaches a school group video editing. Those learners “belong to the school” and just borrow our resources, including staff.

I am having concerns around UCAS.
More heads are better than one and unless you don't care about your child's education or you're child is in somewhere like eton i think it behoves us all to have some curiosity now and then .

What concerns do you have? All the course and uni leg work been done at home for mine - think it would have been same for their sixth form at school sadly. It's been our kids who got access way before any reports to predicted grades and test results - so we knew via them what sort of grade we were looking around.

There is a UCAS process at the college - for differing reasons slowed down older two kids applications unnecessarily - one because new person in charge struggling and next becuase one tutor was really slow with reference. There never been a parent meeting about it but kids are taught about it in some of their tutor lessons. The push to get it all submitted come from us as well.

They wrote their own personal statements did check for spelling etc - which helped DD1 when on offer day she was surprised with an interview and on back of that got a much lower offer made - as it was clear she'd written the statement. They've already had a careers fair more for Y13 but Y12 like DD2 went round it as well.

The kids collge is part of a large regional one does Level 1 courses to degrees but her campus - one many local campuses - is mainly A-levels and some GCSE re-takes.

Ah, sounds like she might have been harking back to those days, then!

Well 17 year olds do manage. My son manages to sort out a uni place, accomodation etc and presented it as a fair accompli. He's a very average kid as well, not super bright or anything He was at a FE( not a 6th form) college so many students weren't uni bound but obviously enough information or at least direction given to the students

The few people of my generation who went to uni managed to sort it for themselves as well. Was pretty unheard of parents going to open days etc. Not sure why it's changed so much

My parents came to some open days with me 30 years ago, and I remember plenty of other parents around - not that unusual.

@RubySquid because as i said you have to pay now, the gamble is far far higher ! Jobs and graduate prospects are thin on the ground,the nature of work has changed and the threat of ai no longer looks...it's here taking jobs

People can't use one average salary to buy a house.

Changing stations call a change in attitudes.

Maybe you were from a better off family where parents could afford cars etc. many of my friends parents could get together train fare for one person, not necessarily for 3 . Another friend on mine did access course to uni after having her kids. Can't imagine her parents doing that stuff. She was one of 9 and the only one with a degree.

You've had to pay for years. This isn't new. And many don't come anywhere near paying off their student loans

Yes, we were reasonably well off and had a family car. And I know it’s much more likely now than then that people would have parents who’d also been to university. But it wasn’t particularly rare then, was my point, definitely not unheard of. I was talking to my parents at the weekend and they did all the visits/interviews for themselves by train etc, so it has certainly changed, but that was 60 years ago for them, just 30 for me.

It has always been like this OP. I went to college hundreds of years ago and it appeared tutors didn't care and I was left to get on with it! Both mine stayed in sixth form its more nurturing. On a positive note your child that is in college will be better prepared for university. My son found university hard after coming out of sixth form. They have to be more independent and proactive. He often says his tutors dont seem to care and he is in a high ranking university!

Yeah totally different types of families then 3 generations is uni is fairly unusual and definitely would've been so amongst my working class cohort

I'm still not sure 95 % of parents sorted all the applications etc out for them.I just asked my partner, he laughed at the idea of being taken to a uni open day, . He figured it out for himself ( including being close enough to keep the p/t job he had) His family wouldn't have had a clue

@Mcoco but don't they get less pay if their students fail ? Isn't there any accountability?

Teacher pay is not linked to grades, no. It never was. There was an outbreak of "performance related pay" for a while but "performance" wasn't just grades and it was value added anyway.

A sixth form college might be closer to a school, but even then they're very much supposed to manage their own timetables and responsibilities. They won't be given detentions for non attendance or lack of work, they'll just be dropped. Well, not immediately, but they won't give them 'punishments' as they're adults. Or nearly adults.

The theory is everyone is choosing to be there in FE. So the tutors aren't going to force you to learn if you're not interested.

I went to FE college for A levels and we were left to your own devices to turn up and do the work.

That is a good point I am not sure. I do hope so as its all quite shocking really!

The advantage of the hands off approach is that those who do well in it are much better prepared for uni.