A Levels

Data from the initial questionnaire sought to establish how new students negotiated the new field of FE having transitioned from school. Interestingly, over half the cohort already had friends in the sixth form and 22% knew people in both the sixth form and the vocational faculties. Only 19% knew no one at the start of term. Despite coming from disparate feeder schools, they appeared to be well connected already before attending college, many talked of staying friends with others from both primary and secondary schools. The overwhelming priority was making friends, who arguably helped them to settle faster and allowed them to explore the new field of FE together. Many reported using social networks to stay in touch with people and used these platforms to see what others were doing and look at photos. Later, some of these friendship groups turned into informal communities of practice as students began to help each other with academic work. Trepidation was also evident with many reporting being “scared” about making new friends and “fitting in”. Such fears were quickly dispelled as it was acknowledged generally, “it’s not that bad now that I’m here”, as one stated. All were optimistic about being at college, with several expecting to be “less miserable” than at school. Some expecting less bullying, that their peers would be less disruptive in class, and many anticipated being treated more like adults, relishing the freedom to come and go as they pleased. This suggested independence was a novelty however as many did not know what do with long breaks between lessons. The field expectation or doxa in FE is that students will utilise such time for self-directed study, revise or prepare for their next lesson, and my observations as their teacher were that this was not realised until the second year of A level in many cases, if at all.