Tradition, Culture and Ethos: The Impact of the Further and Higher Education Act (1992) on Sixth Form Colleges and Their Futures

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The Further and Higher Education Act (F and HE Act) (1992) brought two very different sorts of post-16 education institutions into one sector. For sixth form colleges (SF colleges), the transition to independent status appears to have been more problematic than it does for further education (FE) colleges. This paper draws on interviews with a sample of SF college principals to try to establish how the origins and traditions of SF colleges which have given rise to a particular sort of institutional ethos might act as a barrier to the sorts of changes which the F and HE Act sought to bring about. These changes were in accord with the embedding of Thatcherite principles of choice and competition through the workings of the market. This paper attempts to show how the ethos of SF colleges is at odds with those principles and questions whether such changes are positive changes.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: