Colleges axing STEM courses

Results taken from a recent Sixth Form Colleges Association (SFCA) online questionnaire - in which 72 colleges responded - found that 24% of those surveyed had been forced to drop STEM courses as a direct result of funding cuts.

According to the SFCA’s funding impact survey report 2015, some Sixth Form Colleges will have lost a third of their funding between 2011 and 2016.

The sector cannot survive on starvation rations

SFCA deputy chief executive James Kewin

“This report highlights the damage to students caused by the three funding cuts imposed on Sixth Form Colleges since 2011,” said James Kewin, SFCA deputy chief executive.

The cuts include the reduction of entitlement funding in 2011 - used to provide tutorials, enrichment activities, additional courses, for instance – from 114 hours per year to 30; whereas the new 16-19 funding formula, introduced in 2013 has seen the average Sixth Form College lose 6% of its funding; while the reduction in funding for those aged 18, which was introduced in 2014, left Sixth Form Colleges a further 1.2% worse off, the report says.

“The sector cannot survive on starvation rations, and without more investment, Sixth Form Colleges will be unable to provide young people with the high quality education they need to progress to higher education and employment,” Kewin said.

The future is “equally bleak”, the report suggests, as the 16-19 education budget is not protected from government budget cuts.

“The Government should conduct an urgent review of funding across all stages of education and end the funding inequalities that exist between Sixth Form Colleges and school/academy sixth forms – particularly the absence of a VAT refund scheme that, according to our report, left the average Sixth Form College with £317,964 less to spend on the front line education of students last year,” Kewin said.

In response to the SFCA’s report, building services consultancy BSRIA said it was ”concerned” that science A-levels will be cut due to a ‘cash squeeze’ – as a result of financial pressures.

“This will hinder the search for suitable, skilled engineering graduates, which is of great concern to BSRIA as it is now unclear where and how such key education will take place,” the consultancy said.

A-level results

Meanwhile, today’s A-level results present a mixed bag for business, according to manufacturing organisation EEF, as the number of students studying chemistry and physics has fallen, while three times more boys than girls are studying physics.

EEF senior skills policy adviser Verity O’Keefe said: ”Industry applauds all those young people who have chosen to study challenging STEM subjects and the 4% jump in the number of young people taking maths at A-level is encouraging. But there are some worrying trends, including minor decreases in the numbers achieving top grades in subjects like physics, maths and chemistry and a dip overall in the number of students taking the sciences.

“Government, schools and industry need to work harder to encourage more girls to take up STEM subjects. While the gap closed slightly again for physics the pace is too slow and, for maths, the gender gap has actually widened.”

O’Keefe said the door to a career in manufacturing is “wide open” - especially to those young people that have made the grade in the sciences and maths.

”But manufacturers can only grow and prosper when they have ready access to a wide pool of talent,” she said.

”Without greater encouragement for girls to take up key subjects such as maths and physics, that pool remains worryingly shallow.”