A pioneering project could point the way more co-operation between two traditional competitors: school sixth forms and further education colleges.

It could mean sixth-formers being able to study for vocational as well as academic qualifications.

Usually, students who want to continue their education after sitting GCSEs face two distinct options.

They can either stay on at school to study A levels in the sixth form, or move to a further education college to take courses with a more vocational slant.

But the pilot project saw eight secondary schools in Cardiff dispense with legal and financial barriers to link up with the city's Glan Hafren College and provide sixth form pupils with the chance of taking work-related GNVQ courses alongside the more traditional academic subjects.

Fitzalan High is one of the eight schools taking part. It offers GNVQ courses in business, health and social policy, manufacturing, hospitality and catering, and leisure and tourism.

Some students take the vocational courses to intermediate level at the school before transferring to the college to continue with the more specialised advanced level.

Schools can offer more varied courses by linking up with colleges

The headteacher, Angus Dunphy, said the subjects were chosen with an eye on future employment opportunities in Cardiff.

"We have attracted young people who did not appear to have much of a future and provided them with opportunities to progress to higher education or jobs that are not dead ends," he said.

"Sixth form students at Fitzalan now take different routes. Some go on to university or jobs by the traditional A Level route, others through GNVQs, and some through a mix of the two."

The school-based courses were set up with the help of the local education authority and South Glamorgan Training and Enterprise Council.

Co-operation between the college and sixth forms has replaced the previous situation in which they were in competition with each other.

"It focuses scarce resources far more effectively and allows more continuity of study for the students," said Mr Dunphy.

The Association of Further Education Colleges of Wales also supports the concept.

"We have long argued for a common funding mechanism to replace the current situation in which school sixth forms receive more per student than further education colleges," said a spokesman.

Barriers

Legal and funding barriers would normally make such arrangements impossible, but the Welsh Office gave the partners special dispensation to carry out the pilot.

Its success can be measured by the fact that clauses of the School Standards and Framework Bill, due to pass into law in summer 1998, will enable Welsh further education colleges to provide full- and part-time courses in their local schools.

The clauses also allow the Further Education Funding Council for Wales to provide financial support to local education authorities whose schools engage in such arrangements.

Ministers at the Department for Education and Employment are watching developments with interest, to see if this Welsh experiment can be transplanted into England.

Comprehensive curriculum

The Welsh Office Minister with responsibility for education, Peter Hain, describes the legislation as a way of extending choice for 16- to 18-year-olds at the same time as reducing costs.

"It will enable the delivery of a comprehensive further education curriculum in our secondary schools," he said.

"Jointly-planned, locally-based learning opportunities will increase choice and widen participation in further education, particularly for young people in areas of social and economic deprivation."

Mr Dunphy is more forthright.

"It's got to be the right move, putting the interests of young people before bureaucratic rules," he said.