Schools should cover costs of GCSE re-takes to support FE colleges, says think tank
The report, entitled ‘Crossing the line: improving success rates among students retaking English and maths GCSEs’, found that FE colleges took on approximately five times more students retaking English and maths than schools.
In raw numbers, 100,239 students retook English at an FE college compared to 20,544 who stayed in school and 8,738 who went to a sixth form college. Additionally, 110,811 students retook maths at an FE college, compared to 27,579 at school and 11,193 at a sixth form college.
Based on these findings, the Policy Exchange recommends that a ‘resit levy’ should be put in place, so that schools can help support the additional burden taken on by FE colleges. The recommendations suggest that the levy would only apply when the student has both failed to get a C grade and achieved a negative score on the new Progress 8 benchmark; where the pupil has been on the roll of the secondary schools for a sufficient length of time; and where the student has particular special educational needs and/or disabilities.
Furthermore, the think tank recommends that there should be a cap on the levy for any one particular school, to provide some surety in financial planning.
Commenting on the report, Russell Hobby, general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT said: “this report misdiagnoses the funding crisis we are seeing in post-16 education; merely shifting funding from one setting to another will not get around that fact. A further economic sanction on schools, at a time when money is tight, will do little to help schools and pupils.
“The report assumes that not getting a grade C is a sign that the school has ‘not satisfactorily educated the 16 year old’. This over simplistic assumption misses the fundamental point of education; it is about helping children realise their potential, whatever that may be.
“At a time when all post-16 providers are facing a worsening funding position it is surely time to explore ways in which colleges and schools can work together rather than proposing divisive and ill-conceived measures.”
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