Decades of constant changes to education policy have had a disproportionate effect on Further Education, as compared to the environment facing secondary schools and universities. As the measures introduced in last year’s Skills and Post-16 Education Act start to take effect, Andy Forbes takes stock of the challenges facing Further Education colleges today.
There’s no doubt that the profile and status of General FE Colleges has risen steadily over the past two decades. From being labelled the “Cinderella sector” – an image attributed to Ken Baker, then Secretary of State for Education, back in 1989 – there is now an unprecedented consensus across the political spectrum about the importance of the FE sector in delivering modern industrial skills for the UK’s economic growth.
But while the image may have transformed, the tough environment in which FE operates has not. In fact, in many ways it’s got worse; while there’s a far higher number of demands now being heaped on the sector, funding for delivery has stagnated and declined. “Do more, but do it for less!” appears to be the mantra of recent governments.
The Augar Review of Post-18 education memorably cited the evidence of extraordinary policy volatility in relation to FE: “Norris and Adam (2017) have described how further education has been unusually subject to policy churn, with, since the 1980s, 28 major pieces of legislation bearing on FE, 48 secretaries of state with responsibility for the sector and many agencies, such as the Further Education Funding Council, the Learning and Skills Council and the UK Commission for Employment and Skills coming and going.” (Augar Report, p122)
