In this series of 10 short blogs – which will issue in rapid succession – I will consider in turn the top themes that have emerged from 50 interviews with teachers, leaders, policy-makers, academics and other from across and beyond the English FE system. Each blog will end with a question which I hope will generate debate on LinkedIn, where the blogs are signposted.
The core question considered has been “what might be the features of a self-improving FE system?” Interviewees have also considered the key features of the FE system as it stands, and what is holding it back from being self-improving.
A theme widely considered by interviewees was whether we have good alignment between what gets measured in FE and what the true purpose is. This is very important in any system, because if the measures used to judge whether the system is working well are not very close to what the system is actually trying to do there will always be frustration and misunderstanding, as well as perverse incentives and the risk of gaming.
