Further education to play key role in government’s skills strategy

In March 2006, the UK government announced wide-ranging reforms to further education designed to equip colleges to play a central role in delivering its skills strategy.

On 27 March 2006, the Labour government published a white paper, Further education: Raising skills, improving life chances, setting out a ‘new economic mission’ for the further education sector. The white paper identified further education as a ‘key driver of economic growth and competitiveness, and an engine of social justice and equality of opportunity’. It represents the government’s response to the review of further education colleges by Sir Andrew Foster. The paper also recommends a programme of reforms designed to ensure that the sector equips young people and adults with the right skills to meet the demands of the economy.

Key points of white paper

The white paper follows an interim report by Lord Sandy Leitch on the UK’s skills needs for 2020. This report, published in December 2005, found that the UK ranks 24th of 29 developed nations, in relation to the proportion of young people staying on in education and training after the age of 16. According to the report’s findings, the UK also lags behind France and Germany in terms of the proportion of young adults holding ‘level 3’ qualifications and comes 17th out of 30 countries in relation to the proportion of adults without a ‘level 2’ qualification.

The reforms announced in the white paper aim to remedy this deficit and include:

• free tuition for 19–25 year olds studying for their first level 3 qualification ( two A levels or equivalent);

• GBP 11 million (over €15.7 million) in funding allocated for a national roll-out of the Adult Learning Grant to support low income adults aged 19 years or over, who are studying for level 2 (5 GCSEs A*-C or equivalent) or level 3 qualifications;

• the introduction of new ‘learner accounts’ aimed at subsidising the cost of courses for learners studying for level 3 technician, skilled trade and associate professional qualifications;

• a tougher inspection regime designed to enhance standards, including ending funding for colleges that fail to improve standards; enabling good colleges to form federations with weaker colleges; and allowing private companies to tender for the management of poorly performing colleges;

• GBP 11 million (over €15.7 million) in funding allocated for programmes designed to recruit and retain high-quality teaching staff.

Launching the white paper, Education Secretary, Ruth Kelly, commented: ‘For a modern, competitive and just economy, our aspirations should be for all young people to be in education and training, for all adults to be able to continue gaining new and valuable skills, and for all employers to see training as an essential investment in their workforces.’

The white paper aims to focus resources on young adults who leave school with few or no qualifications and who may lack a sound platform for future employability. Nonetheless, for people over 25 years of age, the cost of vocational courses at level 3 is expected to double by 2010; at the same time, those wishing to engage in so-called ‘pleasure and leisure’ learning, such as music, art and modern languages, may have to pay out the full cost themselves. Director of funding and development at the Association of Colleges, Julian Gravatt, predicted ‘the end of the night school’, warning that as many as one-third of the 3.4 million adult places currently available could be lost by 2010.

Responses

The white paper drew a positive response from the social partners. Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), Sir Digby Jones, responded that: ‘Constant upskilling and retraining will be the hallmark of a competitive economy in the twenty-first century. The government must put employability at the heart of further education if it wants to help business to compete, and equip people to enjoy fulfilling and varied careers.’ He argued that the government should go further in allowing the private sector to bid for funding in all areas of further education, and not just in cases where colleges were failing or where there was a gap in provision.

General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Brendan Barber, said the white paper was ‘a welcome boost for employees who want to advance their careers through improved skills and training’. However, Head of Colleges for NATFHE, the University and College Lecturers’ Union, Barry Lovejoy, gave a more cautious response. While recognising that the white paper contained ‘some really good initiatives’, he warned: ‘Overall, it’s difficult to see how colleges will be able to rise to the government’s skills challenge when their workforce is demoralised by job insecurity, the spectre of private takeover, and the ever-increasing pay gap between college lecturers and schoolteachers.’

Jonathan Payne, Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (SKOPE), University of Warwick