Schools could be forced to question the long-term “viability” of their sixth forms if funding levels are not increased, leaders have told Tes.
In the chancellor’s Autumn Statement last month schools were awarded a two-year funding boost of £2.3 billion per year from 2023, but post-16 settings were not given any extra cash.
The Department for Education said this means schools with sixth forms attached will be allocated money based on their 11-16 students, leading some trust and school leaders to say they could have to make “difficult decisions” on their post-16 provision.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, has said that the “unsustainable” funding situation could affect the viability of some sixth forms, “leading to closures and reducing the student choice available”.
School business experts have said that schools will in many cases have to make a choice between subsidising their sixth form from their 11-16 funding - which will “squeeze” their core provision - or scaling back their sixth forms.
Funding crisis could mean sixth-form closures
Lee Miller, deputy CEO of The Thinking Schools Academy Trust - which has nine secondary schools, including seven with sixth forms - told Tes that in some cases, 11-16 funding was already used to support post-16 education, and that without extra funding, the situation would become “even more challenging”.
“Ultimately, that could lead to school and trust leaders needing to make difficult decisions around the long-term viability of sixth forms - which would be catastrophic for students after their GCSEs,” he added.
Mr Barton said that school sixth forms had suffered “massive real-terms cuts over the past decade” and the lack of additional funding for them in the Autumn Statement would “make matters worse”.
“This situation is clearly unsustainable and will put pressure on staffing numbers, course options, class sizes and student support services. It may affect the viability of some sixth forms, leading to closures and reducing the student choice available,” he said.
Stephen Morales, chief executive of the Institute of School Business Leadership, said that schools with sixth forms would generally have to go down one of two routes when they receive their extra funding allocation from the DfE.
“You squeeze your core provision [by cross-subsidising your sixth form with 11-16 funding] or you scale back your sixth-form provision. Whichever way you look at it, it reduces the quality, it stretches the workforce beyond reasonable levels”, he said.
“What’s going to go, I would have thought, is those courses where there are fewer numbers.”
Other trust leaders also told Tes that they were already facing funding difficulties, and that these had been exacerbated by the lack of extra money for 16-plus provision in the Autumn Statement.
Rob McDonough, chief executive of the East Midlands Education Trust, said that sixth-form funding had been an issue for several years, and it was “not getting any better”.
He said the only way to manage the issue was by having very large sixth forms and class sizes but this “is not normally something a typical secondary school can generate”.
Nick Hudson, chief executive officer at Ormiston Academies Trust - which includes 12 secondary schools with sixth forms - said he was awaiting the detail of exactly how the funding boost from the Autumn Statement would be distributed with “considerable interest”, as he said sixth-form funding was “already insufficient”, and that the rising costs schools were facing “affect sixth forms, too”.
The narrowing of post-16 provision
Sam Tuckett, associate director at the Education Policy Institute (EPI) think tank, said that it was “highly disappointing” that school sixth forms and colleges received no additional funding in the Autumn Statement and that the EPI’s recent research had “demonstrated the link between the underfunding of the post-16 phase and a narrowing of post-16 provision”.
“Overlooking the funding shortfalls in post-16 settings, as well as in the early years, only creates wider challenges throughout the whole system,” he said.
Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU teaching union, said it was “unbelievable” that sixth-form provision was excluded from additional funding in the Autumn Statement, and said the decision would have “serious consequences for the education provision of thousands of students at a crucial stage in their education”.
The DfE said that while there was not specific extra funding for the 16-19 age groups in the Autumn Statement, schools can use the funding allocated to them on any age group, including their sixth forms. It said it would confirm full plans for exactly how the money would be distributed shortly.
It added that 16-plus settings were given a funding uplift in last year’s spending review.
A DfE spokesperson said: “We are investing an extra £2 billion into our schools next year and the year after. This will be the highest real terms spending on schools in history, totalling £57.3 billion by 2024-25.
“This is backed up by significant funding for 16-19 education, with an extra £1.6 billion being invested in education and training in 2024-25 compared to 2021-22. This includes an up-front cash boost which has seen the overall average rate of funding per student increased by 9.5 per cent in 2022-23.”
