Just how effective has the 16-19 bursary scheme been? Has it affected post-16 numbers? And if the scheme isn’t working, what should replace it? Leaders share their views.

Failing to deliver?

Time-consuming

The major issue for us as a sixth form has been the time it has taken to set up and administer the scheme. I have had to write the policy and pass it through the leadership and governors for ratification. The workload of my sixth form receptionist has also expanded. Under the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) she only had to collate attendance data and send it to EMA via SIMS. She still has to collate data but also organise payments – which also involves the finance office – as well as answer any queries. Previously, parents who had questions were put on to EMA. It is another burdensome piece of time-consuming bureaucracy.

In terms of encouraging students to continue studying post-16, it has had a limited effect. We have a number of students from low income families but the students work to help support themselves.

Richard Taylor
Director, Hellesdon-Taverham Sixth Form Centre, Norwich

FE perspective

The new bursaries have generally worked well, with staff able to effectively assess and administer the awards. However, there are areas of concern. In particular, the money earmarked for guaranteed bursaries was far higher than we had expected, which, whilst clearly good for participation, meant we had less money for other students.

To help more students, the college established its own Charitable Foundation with the board agreeing to put in 1 per cent of revenue a year in addition to money raised by the foundation.Most of the support was given in the form of travel passes so we could be certain the money was used as intended. Other institutions offered cash, which may not necessarily have been used to support studies but were clearly attractive to potential students.

Overall the bursary has added another aspect to an already highly competitive market in the North East.

John Holt
Deputy Principal, Gateshead College

Added stress

The delegation of responsibility for awarding the post-16 bursary has increased the workload and stress levels for me and my staff. The beauty of EMA was that there were clear levels of entitlement. Moreover, decision-making about that entitlement was at arm’s length from the school.

The experience of the post-16 bursary has been that there has been a scramble by families to secure the resource for their children – with the sharpestelbowed and loudest-voiced making unreasonable demands on our time and patience.

It has created ill-feeling between the school and its parents despite our very best efforts to have a clear and transparent system – which, by the way, we have had to make up without adequate guidance from the government.

Mark Mallett
Head, Chew Valley School, Chew Magna, Bristol

Difficult decisions

The impact of the 16-19 bursary scheme has been significant in our sixth form of 450 students. Our allocation was only 13 per cent of the amount that our students drew down under the EMA, so making the decisions about who gets the money and what that money has been worth to our students, has been a difficult process. The biggest impact for us is that a significant number of students are working more outside of school to fund their education.

Louise Moir
Director of Learning 15-19, Thomas Deacon Academy, Peterborough

On the job

I preferred the EMA scheme as it was available to more pupils. Some pupils who don’t qualify for the bursary receive a bus pass but even that is not available to all students. We have seen an increase in students taking jobs alongside their studies and this has, at times, had a negative impact on student progress and meeting deadlines. On occasion students have even taken shifts offered to them during the school day. We are worried about the long-term effects of this on their achievements.

Marie McMahon
Head, Hodge Hill Sports and Enterprise College, Birmingham

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