§ Baroness Davidasked Her Majesty's Government:
Why, and under what statutory authority, sixth form colleges operate under schools regulations when further education is defined as full-time or part-time education and training for persons over compulsory school leaving age, which is what sixth form colleges provide.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Education and Science (Baroness Hooper)The 1944 Act defines further education to include full-time and part-time education for persons over compulsory school age. But it states that further education may be provided only in accordance with an approved scheme of further education. At present sixth-form colleges count as schools because they are provided in pursuance of the LEA's duty under the 1944 Act to secure the provision of secondary education, and not in accordance with FE schemes.
Because the provisions of the 1944 Act on FE schemes are obsolete, Clause 99 of the Education Reform Bill proposes to repeal them and amend the definitions of secondary and further education. As drafted, Clause 99 defined further education to include all full-time and part-time education and training for persons over compulsory school age, other than higher education. This would cover provision in sixth-form colleges.
In order to maintain the present differentiation, the Government amended Clause 99 specifically to exclude sixth-form colleges from the definition of further education by stating that full-time provision for 16–18 year-olds made in institutions which do not cater for part-time students, or students aged 19 or over, counts as secondary education and not further education.