Moving from competence to excellence: the role of training managers in providing pedagogical leadership in UK further education

ABSTRACT

The quality of provision in the further education sector in the United Kingdom has long been contested. An ongoing issue in further education colleges has been the focus upon minimum competence in qualifications. Yet, there are examples of high standards in teaching and learning. Drawing on interview data with 24 WorldSkills Training Managers working in the vocational education and training system in the UK, the potential contributions of their expertise is examined. Many well-documented pressures exist in further education which counteract an approach to teaching and learning aimed at excellence rather than competence and the Training Managers articulated these. However, a supportive senior management team and continuing professional development was cited as an enabling factors allowing these teaching professionals to draw on their expert practice and flourish. Building on the experience of Training Managers, could be a fruitful avenue for the pursuit of vocational excellence in further education when few other such drivers are currently available in the system.

KEYWORDS:

• Further education
• pedagogical leadership
• phronesis
• excellence
• vocational education and training
• skills competitions

Acknowledgments

Thank you to WorldSkills UK (WSUK) for helping with access to the Training Managers involved in this research, and for their ongoing support in understanding better the benefits of developing vocational excellence. This article stems from a report written for WSUK.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. http://www.worldskills.org/

2. Competitors must have been at least 16 years of age on 1 September 2013 to be eligible to compete during the 2013/14 competition cycle. Some skill areas such as Manufacturing Team Challenge have an upper age limit of 25.

3. TeamUK does not compete in every skill area.

4. http://worldskillsuk.org/

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Susan James Relly

Dr Susan James Relly is the Co-Director of the Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (SKOPE) research centre, and Director of Graduate Studies and an Associate Professor in the Department of Education, University of Oxford. Susan’s entire career has been in education; she taught in secondary schools in Australia and England before starting her academic career. Susan completed a B.Ed at the Queensland University of Technology, Australia and read for a M.Sc in Comparative and International Education and a D.Phil in Education at the University of Oxford. Her research interests include Vocational Education and Training (VET) systems and policy; vocational excellence; apprenticeship; vocational assessment; work-based learning; on-the-job and off-the-job training; teaching and learning in Further Education; and social mobility. She has published widely on these topics in journals and books.