The Conservatives' sixth sense

After sweeping to victory in a leafy London suburb, the Tories are embarking on a radical rethink of sixth-form education. As sparks fly between the warring factions, George Low asks, could this be a blueprint for the country?

The landslide victory of the Conservatives in Richmond upon Thames has put the future of London's first tertiary college in doubt. Flushed with their overwhelming rout of the Liberal-Democrats and the annihilation of Labour in the local elections, Conservative councillors are claiming a popular mandate to set up sixth forms and are challenging the local learning and skills council's plans for reorganising post-16 education in the borough.

Geoffrey Samuel, the new Conservative schools spokesman, says that the spectacular gain of 25 seats proves that parents are not satisfied with the tertiary college and comprehensive schools for 11 to 16-year-olds set up 25 years ago. "Many of them would prefer a choice at 16 of a traditional school sixth form and that is why only half of Richmond's 16-year-olds go on to the tertiary college," he says. "The staying-on rate is not as high as it should be because young people have to change institutions at 16 and the existing system does not meet everybody's needs or aspirations."

Mr Samuel has already met the chairman and executive director of south London Learning and Skills Council, the quango that runs post-16 education locally. "They now have statutory responsibility for post-16 education in the area and have the money, but we have the popular support," he says. "If we can show them how we can set up sixth forms on our existing schools for 11 to 16-year-olds there is no reason why they should not accept our proposals.'

Vic Seddon, the executive director of the LSC, says the Tory plan will have to get the Education Secretary's approval, but that there is a fund of money available to develop sixth forms. "The main criteria for new sixth forms are the quality and appropriateness of education being offered in an area," he says. "We are in favour of, rather than opposed to, diversity and choice." Setting up sixth forms is expensive, he warns, and the LSC has a duty to get best value from the money it spends. "You can educate 1,000 students in an FE college for the same price as 350 students in a school sixth form."

At the moment the LSC is planning to set up a sixth-form centre in one of the two Richmond colleges, but the plans have not yet been finalised. The sixth forms would mean that the colleges would have to abandon plans to expand. "There simply will not be enough money for everybody to offer all the courses they want," he says. The LSC is, however, prepared to consider putting in two sixth forms, one on each side of the Thames.

But Mr Samuel, a former head teacher in neighbouring Hounslow, sees a whole fleet of new sixth forms developing over the next 10 years. "The population is expanding and more places will be needed at sixth-form level. There are many ways of growing sixth forms. You can build on subject specialisms or you can franchise out to another school or college." Gordons School in Surrey has just established a successful sixth form with staff and support from a nearby school, he says. "David Blunkett [the former Education Secretary] told us that any scheme that involved collaboration between schools and colleges would win his approval."

Nevertheless, the plan is likely to run into opposition from local heads and governors, especially in schools that are unsuccessful in winning approval for sixth-form funding. A likely first candidate would be Christ's School in Richmond, an ecumenical school that has already had a sixth form rejected. Many of the other heads also have secret plans in their filing cabinets, but would fiercely resist their neighbours getting in ahead of them. Both Shene and Greycourt Schools can claim larger numbers and better results than Christ's. Richmond upon Thames College will also claim that it can provide sixth-form courses in schools at higher quality and lower cost. Mrs Joan Sallis, the chairman of the Richmond Association for the Advancement of State Education and a former governor of the tertiary college, denounces the Conservative policy.

"It is disastrous – not just for the college, but for a whole generation of young people in the borough," she says. "It is a blatant attempt to undermine the comprehensives by creating a two-tier school system with a grammar school on either side of the river."

The original comprehensive scheme introduced by the Conservatives 30 years ago had two sixth-form colleges, but these were merged into one tertiary college because they were not considered viable. "School sixth forms can only offer a very limited package of A-levels, whereas the tertiary college can provide a bespoke curriculum for every student from a wide range of courses," says Mrs Sallis who is planning to call a meeting of parents and governors to alert them to the threat to comprehensive education in the borough.

"If the Conservatives think they can steamroller this through they are making a mistake," she says. "We had to fight for comprehensive education a generation ago and it looks as if we will have to do so again. Creating specialist schools is bad enough, but adding sixth forms as well is bound to create a two-tier system."

The scheme will fail to attract more youngsters to stay on in full-time education and young people will vote with their feet, says Mrs Sallis. "Most of them can't wait to leave school and go on to the adult atmosphere at the tertiary college. Good sixth -form teachers are in short supply everywhere in London and setting up a lot of small sixth forms will only make matters worse for everybody."

Meanwhile, the alarm bells are ringing in Downing Street where sixth-form funding is beginning to become a political issue. Learning and Skills Councils officials have been called in for urgent talks with policy advisers. The transfer of planning and control from the local authorities to the new LSCs in April has not proved as smooth as ministers had hoped: many schools have lost as much as £100,000 from their budgets under the new regime.

The policy of setting up separate sixth-form centres for A-level students has also proved unpopular – and the Richmond Conservatives were able to capitalise on the widespread discontent. As Mr Samuel (once himself a Labour councillor) puts it: "Labour ministers thought that they had written the local education authorities out of the script on post-16 education and training. We have just shown that they are still very much in there and that local democracy is alive and well – at least in Richmond."

Is Ian Duncan Smith taking notes?

education@independent.co.uk