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Cuts continue to bite Sixth Form Colleges

Kev Blog

By: Kevin Gill

Marketing Projects Leader

Thursday 24 September 2015

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The Sixth Form Colleges Association recently released its 2015 funding impact survey report, with 72 of the 93 sixth form colleges in England taking part.

With some Sixth Form Colleges losing up to a third of their funding between 2011 and 2016, the results of the survey highlight just how much sixth form college management and staff are feeling the financial pressure of continued funding cuts.

Written by James Kewin and Laura Janowski and published by the Sixth Form College Association, the report illustrates starkly how the changes are affecting curriculum delivery.

72% of respondents said that funding cuts had led to courses being dropped from the college offering. 76% of respondents had also had to reduce or remove enrichment activities leading to a reduction in their offer to learners.

Indeed the wider frustration that the funding restrictions are causing Sixth Form Colleges is stark. 68% of Sixth Form Colleges disagree that the amount of 16-19 funding that they will be allocated in 2016/17 will be sufficient to provide students with the skills and qualifications required to fulfil their potential.

58% of those surveyed also said that they have been forced to limit the size of their study programmes.

However, there is at least one positive message in all of this. 24% of those surveyed have managed to maintain their enrichment activities. This is good news and while it’s still just under a quarter, it infers the value of enrichment activities.

Here at NCFE we see how our enrichment qualifications are used to great effect all the time and we strongly believe in their benefit. So to see this 24% hold out despite all the pressures that funding cuts bring is great news. It shows that despite everything some colleges are still managing to protect a vital part of their learner’s personal development enrichment.

For more information about the findings, view the full copy of the SFCA funding impact survey report 2015.

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