The experience of incorporation, 1993–95: principals' impressions

Abstract

This article is based on research carried out for a postgraduate degree at the University of Birmingham. The work focuses on the individual experiences of participants elicited through interviews conducted in 1995. The term ‘Incorporation’ is used throughout the article as a shorthand description of the impact of the Further and Higher Education Act of 1992 which separated further education, tertiary and sixth form colleges from the local education authorities (LEAs), creating a new sector with independent incorporated institutions. Detailed exploration of the reactions of 13 principals to the experience are reported in this article; a further report on interviews with some 30 staff from three colleges will follow. The research uses insights from studies in innovation, organisation culture, micro politics and relevant literature from the field of further education to illuminate its analysis. The picture of Incorporation which emerges is a complex one which is analysed in terms of the direct results of the research and in its implications for the future. Features which are highlighted are the multiplicity of change, the influences of local history, labour relations, ideological aspects, continuity in teaching, financial changes, the role of support staff and governance.