Means-tested bursaries for colleges proposed
CLEVER children from poorer families could have places at the colleges funded by taxpayers from the year after next.
The States would fully or partially fund fees at Blanchelande, Elizabeth and Ladies’ College for at least 30 students a year at an estimated annual cost of between £1.6m. and £3.2m.
The proposal for means-tested places, led by John Dyke, will be put to a vote at this week’s States meeting after it was published yesterday as an amendment to Education, Sport & Culture’s policy letter on colleges’ funding. The bursary scheme would re-introduce a form of academic selection from the 2027/28 school year, nearly a decade after the 11-plus was scrapped for primary school leavers.
‘The guiding principle is to enable access to the colleges based on merit rather than ability to pay,’ said Deputy Dyke.
‘In reality, an element of academic selection is likely, as funded places are likely to be substantially over-subscribed.
‘Testing need not be on the basis of general ability, as subject-specific attainment could be decided, to facilitate talented pupils from all backgrounds to enter the island’s top-performing schools.’
The amendment asks the States to direct ESC to return to the Assembly within a year of the general election with options for a new bursary scheme.
The next committee and the grant-aided colleges would have to agree the number of bursary places to be offered at each college and how to allocate over-subscribed places.
Deputy Dyke and the seconder of his amendment, Deputy Aidan Matthews, have described their idea as an ‘open access’ scheme which would eventually provide States-funded places at the colleges for more than 200 students between the ages of 11 and 18 whose parents would not otherwise be able to afford the fees.
‘Enabling a form of open access would increase social mobility and reduce social segregation,’ said Deputy Dyke.
‘This allows students from non-privileged backgrounds to access the same education opportunities as those from privileged backgrounds.
‘A sliding scale means middle-income families could receive partial funding, making a co-payment for the remainder, such that no family would be denied the opportunity to attend.’
A bursary scheme would recreate some elements of the special place holders scheme which operated until 2018 and under which the States paid college fees for up to 52 students a year selected through the 11-plus aptitude test.
But supporters of bursaries believe they would avoid some of the criticism levelled at the previous scheme by excluding children whose parents could afford to pay fees if they wished.
It has been estimated that the scheme would cost the States a maximum of £450,000 in its first year of operation and up to £3.2m. annually after seven years, once all bursaries had been allocated, if all places were 100% funded by taxpayers, or up to £1.6m. annually if the average bursary paid 50% of fees.
Figures in ESC’s policy letter indicate that the equivalent cost of places in States secondary schools is about £2.1m. a year.
‘There is potential for part-funded places to introduce new funding to the education system, in the form of partial co-payment of fees by middle-income families who are assessed as able to afford some but not all of the full fee amount at the colleges,’ said Deputy Dyke.
‘In general terms, this can equate to a net saving for the revenue budget requirement for education, and a more efficient use of limited States resources.’
He said he had undertaken ‘some consultation’ with the colleges and ESC during the preparation of his amendment.
