Why is 6th form thought of more highly than attending FE college ?

[Summersunshinee]

I can never understand why if you say that you attend 6th form at school you are thought of more so than if you attended FE college.

I would feel that if anything it would be more impressive to attend FE college as you made the decision to go somewhere else and try something different /

@Summersunshinee LOADS of posters on this thread have been "pro college".
You are only seeing what you want to see for some strange reason.
Out of curiosity how old are you? Did you go to 6th Form or College? What was your reason why you did what you did?
(I know I said "I give up" but this thread is hypnotic...)

I`m not going to say how old i am.

I went to FE college.

My reason is I was unhappy at school by the end and wanted to escape and do something else.

Well, your anti-school OP has rather attracted people who have had a positive experience of school. I can't comment on college because it wasn't the appropriate choice for any of my DC.

Since you didn't go to 6th form, perhaps you should not be commenting on 6th forms either? And perhaps you should listen to those with actual experience?

FWIW I have a friend whose two oldest DC are definitely going to FE college post 16. One wants to be a butcher (and there's a skilled trade we need!) and the other wants to do hair and beauty. And that's great. She's not pushing them towards 6th form open days though because she know that wouldn't benefit them.

@pointythings I have friends who went to 6th form as did my sister.

@pointythings On a curious note how/what do you study to be a Butcher ?

Im not takeing the mick, im interested.

That's great. And whether they went there after visiting FE colleges or not doesn't matter - they presumably did what was right for them.

Which is the whole point - let our young people choose their own path, trust them, support them when they ask it of us, not push them off their path when they have chosen it.

@Summersunshinee it's done through an apprenticeship scheme, very specialist. The young man in question had been working in the butcher's shop as a Saturday job, impressed with his passion and dedication and was asked if he'd be interested. He jumped at it. Again, following his chosen path and making his own decisions.

@Summersunshinee so you basically did what 1000s and 1000s of teens did - something that is perfectly 'normal' and most people don't give a second thought about which choice a 16 year old takes.
If someone in your life is giving you a bad time over your choice you need to tell them to shut the f up about it because it's clearly causing you some kind of upset that you can't seem to let this subject rest.
If I had my time over I wish I had gone down a completely different path. But it was 30 years ago. I can't change it now.

Some were pushed into going to 6th Form.

Personally i think my sister should have gone to college but it`s done now.

@Needmorelego What would you have done differently ?

@Summersunshinee does your sister think she should have gone to college? Because frankly, what you think about is does not matter in the least. Only her voice matters.

Your statement about 'some were pushed' is deeply ironic, given that you are encouraging us to push our determinedly academic children into options they are not interested in. Can't you see that? In this scenario, we are the ones who are giving our children autonomy, not the ones pushing them in an inappropriate direction.

I don`t know tbh as i have never talked at great length to her about it.

I`m not lying they wanted to go to college but their parents said no.

It sounds like that is something that shouldn't have happened, but I have to ask you again: can you not see the horrible irony in your relentless push to make us (parents of very academic children who know what they want) push our own children in a direction not of their choosing? Honestly, if any of mine had expressed the slightest interest in going to FE college I'd have taken them to open days, taster days, the lot. But they didn't, so I didn't. Post 16 it has to be led by them.

@Summersunshinee I don't know exactly what I would have done differently.
My issue was I had no guidance about what subjects to choose for GCSE, no one spoke to me about my interests, what I enjoyed doing, what I could do in the future. At my school we were pretty much left to ourselves to choose.
So basically I picked my GCSEs based on what my friends were doing and teachers I liked.
I look back now as an adult 30 years later and I am more clear about what interests me and what I like doing - some of which I enjoyed doing as a child - and I now know I could have taken a path that could have led to a career by choosing a completely different set of GCSEs.
But I didn't know any of that at 14 so unless I have an actual time machine and can go back with knowledge I have now - I can't really change it.
I often think "I wish I had....." but to be honest I didn't know those options existed at 14/16 so I probably wouldn't have chosen different anyway.

Isn't that just a way of getting rid of trouble makers ?
Gosh, you've really got a downer on schools haven't you? One minute they are failing to share info on alternative provision because they want to make money out of pupils, next they are sharing info to get rid of troublemakers. Damned if they do, damned if they don't!
True, I don't suppose any teacher particularly wants pupils in their A level classes that don't have the inclination or apptitude to do well - that isn't in anyone's best interests - and I know some of my children's friends have been steered away from particular courses. Not because they are trouble makers at all, but because their teachers are experienced and know that it's unlikely to go well for them. Believe it or not, there are school staff who actually want the best for their young people and in my observations the careers advisors at my children's school put a lot of effort in supporting pupils who want to go elsewhere after year 11.
There are some dire schools in this country I don't doubt it, and probably some dire colleges too. But there are also some very good places of both types thankfully.

@MrsAvocet Just recounting my experience.

The problem is that you have a tendency to extrapolate from your experience in a way that isn't rational or justifiable.

Anyone have experience of starting and 6th form and them transferring to college ?

Also anyone study a mixture of academic and vocational, i.e x2 a level and x1 nvq ?

Can some people just not hack college or anything vocational or not hack 6th form or A levels ?

Also why not let your kids try both by going to an open day/taster day at both ? what is there to lose ?

Several friends of my DD1 started at 6th form and then went on to college in Yr12. One was doing PE and really struggled with the science part of it so decided a more vocational track was better. She did well and was happy. She was one of those who found GCSEs easy but was then shocked by how much harder A levels were - can happen to anyone.

Round my way there isn't a single educational institution that offers both NVQs and A levels so I can't help you there. I've done two NVQs myself - piece of cake, but I needed them to get a foot in the door in the UK. I did two assessor awards at the same time, so 4 qualifications simultaneously alongside a full time job.

I'd imagine that there are as many people who start in college thinking it's what they want and then end up changing, especially if they have the GCSE grades for A levels. While a lot of young people do know what they want and how to get there, it doesn't work for everyone, which is why it's good there are options.

As for your last question, you've asked this so many times. There's nothing wrong with letting your DC experience open days and taster days. There's everything wrong with forcing them to do so when they already know what they want. That really ought to be simple.

@pointythings So you have a low opinion of NVQ`s ?

@Summersunshinee no, not at all. When you're in the right working environment, they're a great way of evidencing and improving your skills.

But they are not difficult to do in the academic sense, not if you have a pragmatic mindset and the willingness to work hard. There's no theoretical element to them at all. I personally see that as a strength because pragmatism is so underrated. NVQs allow you to bring your organisational skills to bear - putting a portfolio together requires focus, concentration and the ability to see the connections between elements of the job you are doing. NVQs suit the kind of young people the UK needs - people who aren't interested in the theoretical but have all the skills for the practical.

I just happen to be lucky enough that my brain can accommodate both things. As a qualified NVQ assessor who used to work in the business I am about as far from looking down on NVQs as it is possible to get!

@pointythings

That good and yes they have there uses and if i`m honest they are abit under rated and could be better used 14-16.

It`s nice to see someone on here who doesn't have a dim view of them.

But your own kids didn't do any ?

@Summersunshinee no, my own kids didn't do any because NVQs were not relevant to what they wanted to do for their studies and their career. Their chosen paths were highly specialist and they both decided by age 14 what they wanted. The only pathway to it was university so they both worked their backsides off to get the grades and subjects needed to get there.

I don't think you can do NVQs at age 14 to 16 because they are a workplace based qualification and young people that age are not allowed to work the hours you would need to develop in a workplace and do the NVQ. Post 16 they should be an option, but the problem there is that many employers see their NVQ staff as cheap labour - a lot of the time they won't even keep the young person on to do their NVQ level 3 because they can get a fresh 16 year old for less money. If there were serious financial incentives for employers to train these young people up properly, we'd be in a much better state in the UK.

@pointythings Ok fair dues NVQ`s between 14-16.

But there must be alternatives to GCSE`s between 14-16 that are vocation based.

@Summersunshinee there are. They're called BTECs and our stupid government has already phased out many of them and wants to get rid of them completely. Because they only value academia, not vocational. Your ire in terms of opinions on vocational education should really be directed at them, not at the people who have posted on this thread.

@pointythings So that`s why people are turning their backs.

Sad really.