The state of professional practice and policy in the English further education system: a view from below

Abstract

This paper addresses a recurring theme regarding the UK’s Vocational Education and Training policy in which further education (FE) and training are primarily driven by employer demand. It explores the tensions associated with this process on the everyday working practices of FE practitioners and institutions and its impact on FE’s contribution to the wider processes of social and economic inclusion. At a time when Ofsted and employer-led organisations have cast doubt on the contribution of FE, we explore pedagogies of practice that are often unacknowledged by the current audit demands of officialdom. We argue that such practice provides a more enlightened view of the sector and the challenges it faces in addressing wider issues of social justice, employability and civic regeneration. At the same time, the irony of introducing laissez-faire initiatives designed to remove statutory qualifications for FE teachers ignores the progress made over the past decade in raising the professional profile and status of teachers and trainers in the sector. In addressing such issues, the paper explores the limits and possibilities of constructing professional and vocational knowledge from networks and communities of practice, schools, universities, business, employers and local authorities, in which FE already operates.

Keywords:

• vocational education and training (VET)
• further education (FE)
• professionalism
• teacher identity
• educational research

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The 157 Group is a consortium drawn from amongst the UK's largest FE colleges. It was formed in 2006 in response to paragraph 157 of Sir Andrew Foster's report on the future of further education colleges, in which he argued that principals of large successful colleges should play a greater role in policymaking.

2. ESRC = Economic and Social Research Council; TLRP = Teaching and Learning Research Programme; LLAKES = Learning and Life Chances in Knowledge Economies and Societies.

Additional information

Funding

The UCU (2013) report referred to in this article was a national project funded by the University and College Union.