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 I have absolutely no idea. I'm Dutch but I live in the UK, and the Dutch system absolutely does value vocational education. I can't get my head around the status of academia in the UK (and both my DC are academic, youngest still at uni). And what do we get? T levels, which you can only access with GCSEs at grades 7 - 9. It's almost as if this (and previous) government don't want a system where we train up our own skilled people.

I dont necessarily agree. Lots of my dc's friends went through the apprenticeship route, just becaues you dont read about it on MN doesnt mean it is not happening. The company my DS works for takes on 5 degree apprenticeship students a year. As i said above DD did BTEC to get to a top uni.
I know a lovely Dutch girl (she is really sweet) but who referred to the kids who didnt get into the VWO? as the "thick kids" so it does seem they are looked down on.

At our local college you only need 4 or 5s to access T levels

A friend of my DS's is applying for degree apprenticeships this year. He's one of the brightest in his year group and has offers from 5 highly regarded Universities. But he actively prefers an apprenticeship, and from talking to him about what he will earn if he gets a place compared to the debt that my DS is currently accruing studying a similar subject at University, I can understand the logic. I'm beginning to wonder if DS made the right choice, though I do think that there is more to going to University than just getting your degree.
I have to confess that I had thought that apprenticeships were what those who couldn't get into University did, as basically that was the case when I was the relevant age. But it's clearly all changed! The selection process for the schemes our young friend is applying for is extremely rigorous and very competitive. He didn't get shortlisted for the one he really wanted which surprised me, but he tells me he isn't too disappointed as there were 13 000 applicants for a handful of places. He's down to the final stage for his second choice though, so fingers crossed. And this is a young man who has received offers from some of the most sought after Universities in the country. His experience has certainly changed my views on the apprenticeship route.

Mine too.

My DS had worked at his place a couple of years before he went on apprenticeship degree. He had good A levels but dropped out of uni. He got a temp job there, offered perm position, then a year apprenticeship, then the apprentice degree.

What i dont understand is at 16 post GCSEs why would you want to stay at school ?

Why not have a change and go to college ?

Try reading the responses and you'll find the reasons.

Well you dont have to wear uniform, your around people your own age, no annoying year 7s etc, wider range of subjects

You do t wear uniform in 6th form and they have their common room and areas for 6th form
But as @TeenDivided says just read your own thread and you have the answers to the question you asked in the first place

Actually at ds’s old school 6th formers do wear uniform. The only difference is a different colour tie.

For the hard of thinking at the back:

Some students prefer to stay at 6th form in their school because of some/all of:

• it offers A levels when their local colleges don't and they want to study A levels
• it is more conveniently located
• it gets better results
• they have friends there
• they know their teachers and their teachers know them
• they don't want the disruption of settling in somewhere new

to name but a few.

It’s not a one size fits all.

my son was desperate to leave school and go to college to a more adult environment.

But others thrive in the school environment.

The ideal would be a true choice for all.

On the flip side of that.

College offers a more diverse range of subjects and some do offer A levels.

Not necessarily better located and also going to a new place gets you out of your comfort zone.

6th form at school may not get better results so that's a bit of an assumption.

Its good to meet new people, expand your social circle as you wont hand around with the same people forever.

After 5 years of the same voice teaching you, why not have a different voice, a different approach and outlook ?

Life is about change, you can`t stay in the same place forever.

@Summersunshinee You seem incapable (or possibly downright unwilling) of understanding that different people have different views / priorities on this. Of course your points pro college are valid, but so are the points that are pro 6th form. So much depends on the individual and the available institutions. Different people have different options, needs, desires and priorities.

It's not that hard to get is it?

I`m just giving my opinion. You made your points, I have made mine and someone else will give their views

Also @Summersunshinee You don't need to PM to say I don't like college, you can say it on the thread, and it isn't true anyway.

We have very good colleges in Hampshire, and both my DDs went to college for vocational courses. I'm just capable of seeing that different things suit different people. In the same way that I can understand why people vote for different political parties, or like different sports etc. I'm just not blinkered towards 'the one true way'.

See what you wrote. You said you can't understand not that you disagree. Those are separate things.

It`s just my opinion.

As you have alluded to people have different views.

Our local FE college couldn't compete with the sixth forms and as a result, no longer does A levels and Academic Studies dept has been closed. Basically the sixth form consistently got better results

Of course you are allowed your opinion.

But when you write 'you can't understand' something, other people I think are reasonably allowed to think that you are saying you can't understand the arguments, rather than you do understand them but you disagree. The word for disagreeing is disagree.

Personally I think that someone who appears to be trying to claim that college is always better than 6th form irrespective of the courses on offer, the location, and the individual student is somewhat blinkered and at this point (well ages ago given this is the 3rd thread) no longer worth engaging with.

I will try not to get sucked back in again. I'll probably fail.

Why do you think the results for academic subjects at your local college were inferior to 6th form ?

It's just a different environment. The sixth form still has that school feel of discipline but with more freedoms of no uniforms, etc. In the FE college the teachers were great and they still had the legalities surrounding them being 16, but there was no control of who they mixed within the college premises so maybe there were a lot more distractions.
I guess the sixth form just kept them on track better than the college could.

But the students need to take some responsibility too in a school or college environment it`s not all down to the tutors.

At 16 you are on your way to being an adult after all.

What I meant was that the teachers weren't sub-par to teachers at the sixth form. And they did lots of pastoral care material. I agree it's down to the students to take responsibility but many of them didn't. They're 16, let out of the reasonably protected environment of school and now they're in the company of all sorts of interesting people, with all sorts of interesting things going on. Suddenly study is not the highest thing on their agenda.