Nearly 2 million people study in a further education (FE) college each year. More young people study in FE colleges than in school sixth forms. As policy initiatives come and go, colleges remain, in the eyes of their local populations and business communities, the place to go to learn new skills. They focus clearly on this core purpose.
We believe that, in order to build a world-class technical education system that is responsive to local economic needs, colleges should be trusted to play the leading role.
Colleges are already in the vanguard of educational innovation to develop the skills needed by our communities and our economy. They are leading the change towards the more flexible, diversified and responsive sector we need. Colleges have increased their apprenticeship offer faster than all other types of provider; they cater to increasing numbers of students at levels 3 and 4; they do this in conjunction with a growing offer of accessible higher education; and they are at the forefront of national efforts to guarantee high standards of English and maths for all students.
Yet there is more to be done. Colleges are continuing to improve their links with local employers, which will allow the development of a greater variety of tailored routes to higher-level and technician-level skills. Increasing the work colleges do in literacy and numeracy, in catering to a diverse range of young people and in providing opportunities for lifelong learning is the only way we can ensure a world-class skills sector.
To enable colleges to continue to be at the centre of a such a world-class, rejuvenated skills system, government policy must be based around four key principles: stable structures, equal treatment, freedom to innovate and durable funding. We believe that, given durable and equitable funding arrangements, and the autonomy to innovate and to lead change, colleges can play the leading role in creating a self-improving skills system. Please click here to download the full Future Colleges report.
We believe that a step change is needed by both colleges and businesses to develop relationships that go beyond the transactional. Colleges and businesses need challenge themselves, and each other to reflect on current practice and consider whether what they are doing will make the difference that is needed. We want to identify examples of where this is working well, what helps to support this type of collaboration and what gets in the way. More detail about the work is available in the Building Strategic Relationship for Economic Growth - Summary Paper.