n this series of 10 short blogs – which will issue in rapid succession – I will consider in turn the top themes that have emerged from 60 interviews with teachers, leaders, policy-makers, academics and others 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.
In this blog I will wrap up three more of the minor themes that my interviewees discussed – not the “big 7”, but pretty interesting nevertheless, and each mentioned between two and five times. These three are all about employers, one way or another. They were all mentioned separately by different interviewees, and they are:
- Our FE system has weak links to the labour market
- Employers have power over our system with no responsibility
- Everything’s better in Germany (paraphrasing).
