Sixth-form College Strikes: Sussex

Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—(Anna Turley.)

22:00:00

In my constituency, our young people are fortunate to have several highly regarded sixth-form options, including three brilliant colleges just over the constituency boundary in Brighton, Hove and Horsham. Varndean is one of only a handful of state-funded colleges offering the prestigious international baccalaureate; students at BHASVIC—Brighton, Hove and Sussex sixth-form college—received over 50 offers to study at Oxford and Cambridge last year; and Collyer’s has the best results in west Sussex and is in the top 15 colleges nationally for value added. Since late November, those three local colleges have been among 32 across England, including one in the Minister’s constituency, that have held seven strike days—four before Christmas and, to date, three in January. I secured this debate having already submitted written parliamentary questions, the answers to which further frustrated those caught up in the dispute. In my opinion, the Government have dropped the ball on fairly and adequately funding non-academised sixth-form colleges. I feel that teachers are being treated unfairly and that students in Mid Sussex and beyond are being badly failed as a result.

I thank the hon. Member for raising this issue, which also affects Scarborough sixth-form college in my constituency. There are high levels of deprivation in parts of Scarborough, and the sixth-form college is a key route to higher education or employment opportunities for young people. Will she join me in praising the dedication and hard work of staff at sixth-form colleges not just in Scarborough, but across the country, who enable students to reach their full potential?

I agree that sixth-form college teachers do a huge amount of good, supporting students from a vast variety of backgrounds, including disadvantaged backgrounds. This evening, I was pleased to meet in Parliament my constituent Amelie Lockhart, a year 13 student at Varndean, and Fleur Hemmings, a philosophy teacher at Varndean. Amelie told me that the strikes are limiting the time left for year 13 students to finish their subject content, and she and her friends are worrying about hitting their grades for university. Sam, a BHASVIC student from Haywards Heath, said: “I’m worried about learning all the content for my A-levels at this crucial point in my life but I support the teachers in this strike.” Similarly, a year 12 double maths student from BHASVIC told me that because they complete A-level maths in just one year, the strikes mean that he has already missed out on the teaching of several full topics of learning crucial to his exams in June. In addition, BTec students started exams last week just as three days of strikes took effect, and university applicants who need extra support—often students from more disadvantaged backgrounds or with special educational needs—have been impacted just before the end of January application deadline. Lily from Haywards Heath, who studies at Collyer’s, says: “These strikes disrupted my learning during mocks week. I didn’t have the proper class time to prepare for my exams. Of course I support the teachers. I think they should get the proper salary they deserve.”

I commend the hon. Lady for securing the debate. I spoke to her beforehand to mention an example and support her position. There have been similar strikes in Northern Ireland, and teachers’ strikes are approaching. The main thing my constituents tell me is that students, who are already under enormous pressure during exam periods, must not be left struggling under undue duress and pressure. When it comes to sorting out these problems, does she agree that, although wage increases for teachers are important, the issues facing students must not be ignored?

I thank the hon. Member for his intervention and agree that the impact on students is at the centre of the debate. Emma, a parent from Hurstpierpoint, has said to me that it is madness for the Government to think that they could agree a deal with one set of teachers and exclude another. Meanwhile, a BHASVIC parent told me that they support the teachers but are frustrated that their children, who were let down during covid by a Conservative Government, are now being let down by a Labour Government, too. So it is that teachers such as Fleur decided to go on strike, with a heavy heart. They are mindful that students get just two short years at college to study and prepare for their futures and that every day counts. For our year 12 and year 13 students, this is just the latest round of disruption that their education has been subject to: they were in years 7 and 8 when the first covid lockdown was announced and did not get back into school for six months. That had a profound impact not just on their learning but on their social and emotional development, with soaring rates of mental ill health and school absenteeism still being widely reported five years later. Then, during 2022 and 2023, there were further rounds of strikes in those students’ schools. As Arianne from Haywards Heath, who is a BHASVIC student, said this week: “The most frustrating thing is the loss of routine. The strikes have made it hard to integrate back into college after Christmas. We can’t get as much support from teachers for coursework, which might affect our grades. It feels very disengaging. None the less, I still support the teacher strikes and understand that if change is going to happen you have got to do something disruptive.”

On Friday, I was at Marple college, where a number of young learners talked to me about the really important elements of quality teaching and how they help, just as my hon. Friend laid out. She has mentioned a number of her constituents who have made exactly the same point. I have also been contacted by Danny Pearson, the principal of Aquinas college, who knew that my hon. Friend had secured the debate. I want to share one sentence of his. He said: “We really should be putting students and their education first and it seems a great shame that we cannot avert these strikes and get sixth form teachers back where they belong, in front of our students.” Does my hon. Friend agree with me and Danny that the Government should do more to get brilliant teachers back in front of their students, where they belong?

I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention. I absolutely agree that more needs to be done, and with urgency. Why would sixth-form teachers take this step and cause more disruption to their students? I think that these strikes have come about because of sheer frustration at an illogical pay offer that effectively creates a two-tier sixth-form system. In July, the Government accepted the recommendation of the School Teachers’ Review Body to increase the pay of teachers in schools by 5.5%, and £1.2 billion of funding was provided for that pay award, but the Government excluded teachers at non-academised sixth-form colleges, yet they do exactly the same job as those in academised sixth-form colleges and at maintained schools. So far, the Government have provided two explanations for that illogical decision. First, in response to my parliamentary question, they said: “The government is not responsible for setting or making recommendations about teacher pay in further education…colleges, including sixth form colleges.” One college principal I have talked to described that explanation as “inaccurate at best, deceptive at worst”. In fact, the Government have made a choice. They could have chosen to provide more funding to colleges to help fund pay awards, but they did not. There is precedent for making that choice: in 2023, the then Conservative Education Secretary chose to provide more money for all colleges through the 16 to 19 funding formula. This choice is costing some students valuable teaching time, while others—in some cases at schools just down the road—are having no such trouble. The Government’s second explanation is that they are facing a “very challenging fiscal context”. They were able to find £1.2 billion for the initial pay award but said they could not provide the extra £19 million needed to end the strikes. That relatively small amount would ensure pay parity for teachers everywhere in the country and, in doing so, stop students from needlessly missing out on vital days of education. As the 2023 funding settlement proves, it is absolutely possible to extend support to all sixth-form colleges and there is no legal or technical reason to prevent it. It is a choice in the gift of the Government. To add insult to injury, sixth-form colleges are already facing significant funding inequalities. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Government spending on students in those colleges is 26% lower than it is for students in secondary schools, and unlike schools and academies they cannot reclaim VAT, costing them around £350,000 per year on average. There are also the longer-term implications of the widening pay gap. The IFS has estimated that as a result of last year’s 5.5% pay award for schoolteachers and the 2.5% increase for college teachers, the pay gap in this academic year will be the highest on record—£7,000, or 18%. My constituent Jo, a senior sixth-form college teacher and a mentor for early-career teachers, told me that one of her mentees has already had to leave Brighton and return to Newcastle as he could not afford to live in the south-east, and another of her current mentees is finding it difficult to survive on his teaching salary. She said that the erosion of teachers’ pay over the past decade, together with the high cost of living in this part of the country, means that Sussex is losing very good teachers. In her words, that is a direct threat to current and future students. The Government must take urgent action to ensure that teachers in sixth-form colleges receive the 5.5% pay award, backdated from 1 September 2024. That is essential if we want to ensure that students’ education is not further disrupted. As we have heard, there is a clear and compelling case for providing funding to sixth-form colleges. The Government must change course. They appear to have belatedly realised that they made the wrong choice and have recently offered a staggered pay rise, with the 5.5% pay award applying from 1 April. However, that would still leave a pay discrepancy of £2,000 for no logical reason, other than—I presume—not being seen to backtrack completely from their ridiculous initial decision. The Government must prioritise the education of students from Sussex and across the country, and must ensure that sixth-form colleges can continue to recruit and retain excellent teaching staff. Varndean, BHASVIC and Collyer’s are currently offering some of the very best opportunities within the state sector to our country’s 16 to 18-year-olds, but that is at risk if the Labour Government do not urgently address the inequality they are exacerbating in the sector. I close in the strongest terms, by urging the Minister and the Government to reconsider their approach; to find the small amount of money remaining to ensure that teachers are paid the same for the same job; and to finally put this cohort of students, whose education was most affected by covid disruption, at the centre of decisions made by Government that affect them.

22:12:00

I congratulate the hon. Member for Mid Sussex (Alison Bennett) on securing a debate on this important subject. I will endeavour to respond to as many of the points as possible. Since taking on the role of Minister for Skills, my noble Friend in the other place has met many of our amazing teachers, support staff and leaders in the further education sector, including our sixth-form college sector. I thank all those people for the excellent work that they do, day in and day out. Alongside schools, FE colleges and other FE providers, sixth-form colleges play a vital role in transforming the lives of our young people, breaking down their barriers to opportunity and ensuring they can progress into further training, higher education and higher-quality careers. This is central to our mission of delivering economic growth, ensuring and enabling success not just for individuals but for our communities, our companies and our country. Colleges, teachers, technicians, and everyone who supports students are important to us, and this Government will treat them with the value and respect they deserve. The Government believe—as Labour Governments always do—that education is about opportunity, and that the role of government is to extend opportunity to young people from every background and every corner of this country. The Government’s commitment to the education of young people was plain to see in our Chancellor’s Budget announcement of an additional £300 million for further education, to ensure young people are gaining the education and skills that they and this country need. Our fantastic sixth-form colleges will benefit from that increase, and we announced on Friday that we are making approximately £15 million of that funding available to sixth-form colleges and general FE colleges for April to July 2025. This one-off grant will enable colleges to respond to current priorities and challenges, including workforce recruitment and retention. The remaining funding will be made available in 16-to-19 funding rates for the academic year 2025-26, with the aim of ensuring that all 16-to-19 providers are funded on an equitable basis from 2025 to 2026. This was in the context of a very challenging fiscal landscape, and it demonstrates the value we place on further education. I do of course acknowledge the challenges that sixth-form colleges and their teachers face, and the concerns about the disparity with schoolteachers following the schoolteachers pay award in July. The schoolteachers award was made in line with the recommendations of the independent School Teachers Review Body. However, pay in the FE sector, including in sixth-form colleges, is a matter for colleges themselves, not the Government. Colleges are able to base pay on their specific needs and are not bound by the schoolteachers pay award or related terms and conditions. As Members will know, FE colleges, including sixth-form colleges, were incorporated under the terms of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992, which gave them autonomy over the pay and the contractual terms and conditions of their staff. On the six-day strike action that had taken place in this academic year, I know that both sixth-form college teachers and leaders are always concerned to ensure that the impact on young people is minimised as far as possible, and I acknowledge the information that the hon. Lady has shared about some of those students’ experiences. As I have said, I know that both sixth-form college teachers and leaders are always concerned about the impact on young people. Some of their arrangements include providing online learning where possible, and keeping libraries and learning centres open to allow for independent study. I know that both sixth-form college teachers and leaders will continue to consider and mitigate the impact of strikes on young people during the course of any industrial action. We encourage open and constructive dialogue by all parties in the best interests of staff and students. We all have the shared goal of ensuring that our young people gain the very best education during this critical transition period. Our great FE teachers play a critical role in the lives of young people. We know that high-quality teaching generates high-quality outcomes for learners, and this is why we need more great FE teachers, including in critical subject areas. After a decade in which education was far from the heart of Government thinking, the new Labour Government are bringing about change at pace. It is for this reason that we are committed to recruiting 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools—both mainstream and specialist—and colleges over the course of this Parliament. Our measures will include getting more teachers into skills shortage subjects, supporting areas that face recruitment challenges and tackling retention issues. We have begun to make good early progress towards this key pledge. We have already rolled out our targeted retention incentive to teachers in further education, including sixth-form colleges, to boost recruitment and retention. For the first time, this gives eligible early career FE teachers in key STEM—science, technology, engineering and maths—and technical shortage subjects up to £6,000 after tax annually on top of their normal pay. In addition, the Taking Teaching Further programme makes it easier for providers to recruit and retain those with relevant industry knowledge by providing early career support to help their transition into teaching. We also continue to support recruitment and retention with teacher training bursaries worth up to £30,000, tax-free, in certain key subject areas.

This is a huge problem in my constituency. Between Sparsholt agricultural college, which provides specialist training, as has just been mentioned, and Peter Symonds sixth-form college, which is one of the biggest sixth-form colleges in the country, a total of almost 9,000 students are affected by this pay disparity and the resulting dispute just in my constituency alone. Does the Minister agree that the Government need to start viewing education as an investment not just in our young people, but to grow the economy, not purely as a cost to be cut, which seems to have been the case over the last few years?

I thank the hon. Member for mentioning those 9,000-plus students from his area. This Government are interested in and passionate about breaking down the barriers that prevent young people from progressing and, with one in eight young people not in training, education or employment, we recognise the need to give young people the skills and training that they need, and support into employment. That is one of the key focuses and missions of this Government, and we are totally committed to it. The national further education teacher recruitment campaign is raising awareness and consideration of careers in FE. To find out more and plan next steps, it encourages people to visit the website Teach in FE, which received more than 450,000 visits in 2023-24. We are committed to ensuring that we recruit and retain more teachers across schools and colleges in our country. We are taking those steps to ensure that we attract and retain high-quality teachers across our schools and colleges, which forms part of our aim to create a clear, flexible high-quality skills system that supports people of all ages, breaking down barriers to opportunity and driving economic growth. We have established Skills England to ensure that we have the highly trained workforce needed to deliver the national, regional and local skills needs of the next decade, aligned with the upcoming industrial strategy. Skills England will work closely with employers, unions, Departments, local organisations and other agencies. Skills England will ensure that the skills system is clear for employers and delivers the training that they need. It will play a key role in supporting the skilled workforce needed to deliver the Government’s five missions: driving economic growth; breaking down barriers to opportunity; supporting our NHS; safer streets; and our clean energy transition. That links to our commitment to 1.5 million more homes, and seizes the opportunity of net zero to create hundreds of thousands of good jobs. Skills England will ensure that the skills system is clear for individuals, including young people and older adults, strengthening career pathways into jobs across the economy. The Government’s dedication to skills reflects the utmost importance that we place on transforming lives and the economy. I thank the hon. Member for Mid Sussex for securing this debate on such a vital matter, and I thank other Members for their contributions. I reiterate my thanks to the wonderful teachers and leaders who make such a difference to the prospects of our young people. This debate has given me the opportunity to talk about our plans for post-16 education and skills, which are essential for breaking down the barriers to opportunity and for the country’s economic growth. The additional £300 million of funding for FE, as well as the targeted retention incentive, teacher training bursaries, the taking teaching further programme and our teach in FE campaign, demonstrate the value we place on the FE workforce, including our excellent teachers and leaders in sixth-form colleges. I pay tribute to the transformative work that FE staff do day in, day out. High-quality teaching is one of the biggest influences in positive learner outcomes, providing learners with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed. I am sure that we will continue to discuss skills and 16 to 18-year-old education in the coming months, because the Government recognise the importance of improving prospects for young people and how that links to our plans to drive economic growth. FE teachers are and will remain central to those plans. Question put and agreed to.

22:24:00