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 /

@biarritz , it's currently unclear but not helped by the DfE and a minister for education with no interest in 6th forms. The long term aim is A levels / T levels / apprenticeships but in reality T levels will probably become more like Btecs and be allowed to combine with A levels.

@redrobin75 i was not talking about T levels as I don’t know anything about them but the difference between six form colleges which do A levels and the more technical colleges which do more vocational courses. Some people seem to confuse the two.

I mean I don’t understand what job would find it useful to have the ones in subjects like
art, media, business etc. eg

• Art, Design and Media.
• Business, Administration, Finance and Law.
• Cleaning and Facilities Management.
• Computer Science, ICT and Digital Skills.
• Design and Technology.
• Early Years and Working with Children.
• Economics.
• Engineering and Manufacturing.

When these are studied at age 16, what job would recruit and want a Btec in business in an 18 yr old?

There are also higher level Btecs which can be combined with A levels and used to access higher education courses eg Human biology btech

16 year olds have to be in education or work or some other sort of training. If they don't get high enough grades for A Levels, then their choices are a vocational course (usually in college, because schools do fewer vocational courses), work or training/apprenticeship. Of those options,college is the relatively "easy" option. So no, I wouldn't commend it en masse, though I would commend any individual young person who had a clear sighted view of what they wanted to do - I know a boy who will get very few GCSEs but is committed to being a barber. He will do well at that and be succesful, so yes, I commend him more than another who drifts into sixth form and wastes the opportunities given.

Yeah. I’m just talking about the level two ones. Those done at 16-18 instead of a level. I’m aware I’m missing something and trying to work it out.

@CindersAgain it depends. At 18 you can study the next level up, learn while working by being 'entry level' at a job using the knowledge you've learned, do an apprenticeship, go on to university.
It's basically a way of opening the door to a job.
Many jobs will take on an 18 year old to train up. There are more likely to employ the 18 year old who has the Btec Level 3 in the relevant subject for that industry than the 18 year old who doesn't.

You can leave education totally at 16 in scotland, for interest.

In my experience the ones that went to college did so to get out of high school as they were often getting in trouble. The more academic and studious stayed at high school.

It might depend on area, where I did my GCSEs it was accepted that if you were academic then you went to 6th form. If you weren't, you went to college to do childcare, hairdressing or a trade.

Schools didn't do BTECs and colleges didn't do A Levels.

@CindersAgain if a 16 year old is doing Level 2 they usually do that in one year, followed by the Level 3 for another two years so leaving college at 19.
Level 2 is equivalent to GCSE so most 16 year olds don't do Level 2 at college. They do Level 2 Btec alongside GCSE.

Most 16 year olds who choose Btec do Level 3 unless they didn’t get high enough GCSE grades.

in many industries BTEC is better preparation than A levels. (I have children who did both).

Students with btecs in any of those subjects can either go to university to study a related subject, do a degree apprentiship, or get a job.

You can do A levels at either. School sixth forms do A levels only, pretty much and sixth form colleges generally do A level and/or BTECS. You can go to university on BTECS, or maybe A levels and a BTEC, but generally, getting to university needs A levels. Kids that go to sixth form college are more likely to do an apprentichip/trade. Less do this from sixth form at school, unless it's a degree apprenticeship, which are increasingly popular. There is a crossover between both of course. But that's why sixth form at school is seen as 'more acdemic' - doesn't mean better of course.

Some of the FE colleges in my area no longer do A levels because the uptake was low.

Same in Wales.

As for the question another poster has asked about the point of Btecs, Alevels obviously don't suit everyone! Btec tend to be more coursework based, applied rather than theoretical etc. At level 3 they are equivalent to AL so can still lead to uni, but may also mean better preparation for a job or apprenticeship at 18 than a purely theoretical course. At level 1 or 2 they are a stepping stone to higher study for those who don't get the GCSE grades initially, or again as a preparation for work / apprenticeships.

There are plenty of young people out there who don't really suit A levels, or may not be ready for employment or apprenticeship at 16, but can benefit in many ways from a more vocational style of learning. They are also good if you want to focus on one career area rather than having to take 3 different A levels (a big appeal for subjects like art and design or Computing in my experience).

Oh I mean level three then, just done a quick google and must have got it wrong.

Is it not area specific?
In my town the sixth form school has better results by far compared to the fe college. Next city over from us has better results at the fe college. So in my area fe college is looked down upon but the next city over is the opposite

My DD did a BtEC in health and social care , she got 3 distinction stars which was 168 UCAS points which is the sames as 3 A *. She went to uni did an OT degree and is now a professionally qualified OT

When I was at school in the 90s, the general feeling was that sixth form colleges were for people who wanted to party and socialize, and school-based sixth form was for people who were serious and were OK with more structure and discipline. Definitely, the academically weaker people tended to leave. I don’t know how true this is nowadays.

Yup, that was it. The ones who left were the ones who tended to be in trouble more at school and were glad to leave.

Where I grew up none of the state schools had sixth forms. They all fed into one sixth form college that only offered A Levels (and GCSE retakes), no BTECS. There was another college that offered those. I enjoyed it but I can see that I didn't have the opportunities that many of my peers got from being in a school sixth form as it was very much "show up for lessons and the rest of the time's your own". There was minimal sport, music etc. I totally stopped doing any sport at that stage and didn't restart until Uni, when it was so much easier to get involved.

But I know many of my teacher friends way prefer teaching A level classes to further down the school, so maybe the advantage of the sixth form model is teacher recruitment?

Nearly all the schools in my area have sixth forms. Those who go to the local college either didn’t meet the entrance requirements of the sixth form or are on day release for a vocational career like carpentry or hairdressing. Most families avoid it due to high level disruption and it is seen as place kids have to be because they failed their maths and English GCSEs and are having to repeat.

Serious vocational students travel many miles to another college that has a good reputation for vocational courses.

It certainly depends which college rather than all colleges as to whether it is perceived as better or worse.

I do wish when the OP(s) start these threads they would be more clear whether they are talking about the institutions (college / 6th form in a school) or the courses (A levels / vocational BTECs etc).