Post 16 education has changed in keeping with the demands of industry. It was felt that the traditional ‘A’ level route was too restrictive on the development of many young people. This conclusion has led to an increased breadth of the choices open to Sixth Formers. We, in Edmund Rice College, were ideally placed to implement these changes as the College has, for many years, offered our pupils a very wide choice of both academic and vocational courses. The changes can be summarised as follows:

• All sixth form courses have been broken into specified units or modules of study.

• We offer A Levels, BTEC Nationals and OCR Technicals.

• A Levels are also broken into modules, this makes it more accessible for the students and offers them a variety of exams and coursework. These are graded using A - E. This will allow Universities to equilibrate the two types of course.

• BTEC Nationals on offer are six unit Subsidiary Diploma. They are graded D (Distinction), M (Merit) or P (Pass).

• An OCR Technical Diploma is also offered. This has 6 units and is equivalent to one A level. It is graded D (Distinction), M (Merit) or P (Pass).