User:Whisperingchicken

By Fathima Iqbal

Date published; 06 December 2020

Sixth form; The Challenge of Change

In the present advancing education sector, challenges facing school 6th forms to defend their  presence and stay significantly appealing to pupils/adults, and searching for a 'school style' experience is more grander now than it was many years ago. Today, students have more alternatives and experiences open to them as they go into the following phase of their educational excursion.

This new influx of students know exactly what they need, requiring bespoke schooling that addresses students issues, beliefs and expectations. These days, students pine for something new, something original at this stage,  additionally a feeling of having a place and 'energy'  which should be stimulating for students in helping them engage with new ideas alongside an invigorating learning environment.

They want to be awarded; they want more choice, more noteworthy adaptability and an abundance of front line wealth of cutting-edge technology and resources at their fingertips. The genuine test or challenge is the manner by which schools decipher and understand or ra, take to these demands. For sixth form to survive, sixth forms needs to be appealing to the students who expect autonomy, excellence and independence, which is  a world away from 'school life' as we probably are aware it.

The change

Just as the overall view of 'opportunity and freedom', financing versus the scope of qualifications on offer can likewise demonstrate trying for some schools. Generating an energising, optimistic atmosphere that reflects a 'school/ sixth form' presence is no simple accomplishment within the domains of a conventional school building. However sixth form arrangement, even five years prior, has started to look somewhat drained and obsolete.

Students want a sixth form to be similar to a college environment as they feel  they need to have a 'change' from the constraints of their past school life, however this explicitly can be precarious for schools. While the requirement for 'change' can mean a considerable number of things, a central point for students is the requirement for more noteworthy opportunities, in the case of sixth form schools that could revisit current recompenses offered at Key Stage 5. For some students, it is about the need to move as distant from being that Year 11 school student (who maybe or may not have done well or did not enjoy school at KS5). This gives a student in sixth form the opportunity to make a change in life and start over again.

Is it hard ?

Schools need to consider what they can offer well, which is different to other schools and colleges  can't. Where sixth form schools have an advantaged position in that the relationship with the Year 11 students is already formed, it means staff can shape new associations with external students rapidly with a set-up of transitional arrangements and school inductions, marketing and promotional events.

We as teachers can likewise use prior knowledge on existing students in order to convey that individuals’ requirements would be better met in a sixth form school where they are known, where their ‘at the time’ standard of work is known and hence will get more consideration, help and more academic support.