Learning in and learning from FE and skills policy in Wales: a relational approach

ABSTRACT

In the context of devolution, this paper argues that there is a distinctively Welsh flavour to FE and Skills policy, but that its nature and formation needs to be understood both intrinsically and relationally, especially in terms of its relationship to parallel policy developments in England. Consideration is given to structural aspects and significant changes in the ‘economic narrative’, and also to the reflection of certain values in policy and policy mechanisms. It is argued that policy learning of a sort visible in the realm of economic innovation is not yet apparent in the FE and Skills arena in Wales, where an avoidance of key features of English policy remains a touchstone. Finally, the paper sets out how a ‘relational’ approach is particularly helpful in appreciating these issues and in understanding the challenges in a major FE and Skills reform process in Wales.

KEYWORDS:

• Further education
• skills
• policy learning
• Wales

Acknowledgments

I am grateful to Rachel Bowen, Tracy Irwin, Kevin Morgan, Huw Morris, Gareth Rees, Ken Spours and the anonymous referees for their comments on an earlier version of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. Clearly, Wales is a country rather than a ‘region’. However, the term is commonly used in research of the kind cited which compares different parts of the UK.

2. In Williams’ ‘cultural materialism’, the ‘material’ refers to historical and social pressure on cultural practices, whilst the ‘cultural’ is far from some kind of ‘superstructural’ product of economic relations. Culture does not just respond to power and economics, but it shapes the moral world in which power and economic activity are conceived and played out.

3. The Wales Employment and Skills Board was chaired by the Wales Commissioner to the UK Commission for Employment and Skills until the latter body was disbanded in 2016. It is now chaired in rotation by the three chairs of the Regional Skills Partnerships, all of whom are major employers.

4. In recent years, the main components of the education landscape in Wales have been the subject of major commissioned reviews. These include: the Diamond Review of higher education funding and student finance (Welsh Government 2016); the Donaldson Review of the school curriculum and assessment (Welsh Government 2015b); and reviews of teacher education & professional development, including those by Tabberer (2013) and Furlong (2015).

5. Within the remit of the review is the WG view that we are now at ‘ … an appropriate time to review and align the arrangements for the oversight of governance in and between institutions involved in the provision of post-compulsory education’ (ibid, section 1).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

David James

David James is Professor of Sociology of Education in the School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, and was until recently Director of the ESRC Wales Doctoral Training Partnership. He is Editor of a leading international journal, the British Journal of Sociology of Education. His research covers curriculum, learning, assessment and governance in schools, FE and HE and the relationship between educational policy/practice and social inequality. David has been responsible for many research projects and evaluations, and co-designed and co-directed the only large independent study of teaching and learning in English FE to date. He has published extensively for a range of different academic, practitioner and policy audiences, including Government departments. Current research includes an ESRC-funded project Processes and Practices of Governing in Further Education Colleges in the UK (with C. Watson, A. Bathmaker & G. Husband). He was recently appointed as chair of the Education sub-panel for the UK REF 2021. For further details of his profile please see: http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/people/view/38032-james-david or http://cardiff.academia.edu/DavidJames