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Students do better in Sixth Form Colleges

Students in Sixth Form Colleges are 15% more likely to get a higher grade in each subject than in a school Sixth Form.

Research by Professor Daniel Muijs at Southampton University studied

1. the effectiveness of the sixth form college model
2. the relationship between collaboration and competition, and their respective role in furthering effectiveness in the Wessex Group.

The research shows:

1. Wessex Group Sixth Form Colleges significantly outperformed a matched sample of FE colleges
2. Wessex Group Sixth Form Colleges significantly outperformed a matched sample of school sixth forms

Students in Wessex group colleges show significantly higher levels of performance than their peers in comparison school sixth forms in most analyses. This is particularly apparent for number of passes at A*-A grades and AS-level passes.

There is some evidence of significant differences between students in Wessex group colleges and students in other sixth form colleges. Where differences are found it is mainly in total points score and AS level passes.

Wessex group membership explains up to a third of college level variance in student outcomes, a practically significant amount that indicates that Wessex group colleges outperform the matched comparison sample of FE colleges.

The differences between the Wessex group sixth form colleges and comparator FE colleges are greater than for any of the other comparisons.

Collaboration within the network is largely seen as a highly positive factor for its members.

The report can be downloaded here.