Further Education Colleges In England Research Articles

Creating Feminist Futures by Imagining Lessons Differently: Using Speculative Fabulation and Poetic Inquiry as Methods to Trouble Classroom Expectations

ABSTRACT This article employs speculative fabulation and poetic inquiry as methods to explore the role of the body and embodied experiences in the classroom. We read ethnographic material from secondary schools in Finland and Further Education colleges in England with Donna Haraway, Karen Barad, Rosi Braidotti and Jane Bennett to trouble the practices and expectations in mainstream classrooms. By fabulating stories we demonstrate how seeing classrooms as sites of intra-action allows us as educators to see the relationships between humans and non-humans differently. By turning ethnographic data into poems we create shared experiences of lessons, perhaps invoking shared feelings and memories from our past. Above all, we strive towards a feminist future that challenges the prevailing mind/body dualism in the classroom and calls for better understanding of the diverse needs of our students by asking what if things were done differently in our mainstream classrooms?

The conditions enabling and constraining BTEC higher education decision-making in an English further education college

ABSTRACT Previous studies have identified a deficit with the higher education (HE) decision-making support offered by further education (FE) colleges, compared with other post-16 providers. However, there has been little research as to why this might be the case. This paper explores this issue by considering the HE choice-making experiences of Level 3 Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) students and the staff supporting them in an FE college in England. Data are viewed through the theoretical lens of the Theory of Practice Architectures, a framework which illuminates the pre-existing conditions holding the practices of HE choice-making in place. The investigation reveals inconsistent College HE choice support, with a reliance on tutors and local universities that can both enable and constrain the programme. Factors underlying the construction of the programme include the structural parameters of both the BTEC qualification and the College, competing College priorities and the varying relationships the College has with different types of universities. The paper concludes by highlighting the complexity of the tensions and conflicts inherent in FE and making a number of practical recommendations as to the underlying conditions that would need to change in order for FE HE choice support to fulfil its potential.

“Not just go into a field to turn the soil over, they’ve got to understand the science behind it.” using pedagogic content knowledge to uncover teaching practice in agriculture

ABSTRACT This study explores the approach taken to teaching agriculture in further education colleges in England. There is almost no literature that focuses specifically on this group and therefore little is known about the teaching of this specialist subject area. The article begins by providing background both to the FE sector and agriculture. It then considers pedagogic content knowledge and its use as a tool for investigating and understanding practice. The findings from interviews with 17 practitioners involved in teaching agriculture are presented. These focus on beliefs on preparing learners for a career in the sector, the decision-making process when planning sessions and accounts of teaching practice. The findings suggest that there are a number of features that make teaching agriculture distinct from a more general pedagogical approach. These include the impact of context on pedagogical decisions, the value placed on theoretical and practical aspects and proximity to industry through resourcing. It is hoped that making these visible will enable the transfer of knowledge within the teaching community and promote a greater understanding of this area of provision within the further education sector.

Yes, but what happens next? Succession planning in English further education colleges

ABSTRACT In this article, we examine the role of the Principal within Further Education colleges in England and explore the often neglected issue of succession planning in the sector. To provide background and context to the current situation, key policies and developments over the past 30 years are reviewed and challenges identified. Interviews with serving Principals designed to explore the role, what leadership development was in place and whether succession planning was used have been carried out. The findings demonstrate that succession planning within colleges is underdeveloped, something particularly concerning when linked to the fact that the role is often a short term one with the turnover of people at the top of the organisation being a major concern. Whilst in some cases individual organisations took steps to identify and support those who wanted to progress this was limited and impacted by the sector environment. The participants’ responses reinforced findings from literature that the importance of succession planning was often paramount to the success of an organisation and included some suggestions as how to increase the pool of potential future leaders for the sector.

Academic staff governors’ power and professional status in the governance of further education colleges in England

ABSTRACT At a time of the British government’s heightened interest in Further Education (FE) college governance, this paper explores Academic Staff Governor (ASG)’s professional and power status at three colleges in England. The study draws upon relevant literature to identify concepts related to ASGs’ power and professional status in governance. An interpretivist stance is used to collect predominantly qualitative data through a combined methods approach. During fieldwork, evidence from semi-structured interviews; questionnaire responses, observations of governance meetings and governance documents was analysed. Findings suggest that ASGs’ insiderness; relationships, professional status and the decision-making circumstances may limit their influence in the governance of the colleges, with implications for governance quality. From the exploration, ‘The Restricted Professional Model’ has been developed to highlight the restricted nature of the ASG role with implications for good governance. For governors, organisations and policymakers, the research recommends avoiding low-power and low-status governance roles; taking action to develop ASGs’ professionality as educators; removing structural and power barriers and allowing more opportunities for ASGs to contribute to governance. Finally, future research is identified including research to establish ASGs’ professional profiles in FE and the wider impact educators’ professionality has on governance in a variety of educational institutions.

The bachelor’s degree in college systems: history, evidence and argument from England

Across major anglophone college systems, institutions in various jurisdictions have gained the authority to award the bachelor’s degree. That prospect has come late to further education colleges in England. With its long history of teaching for the bachelor’s degree, the English road to awarding powers has features in common with and different from those in North America and Australia. In the modern-day literature on college higher education in England, little attention has been given to the bachelor’s degree in its own right. Accordingly, a summary history and a digest of quantitative and qualitative evidence are assembled. Domestic debates are reviewed. Issues for policy and research are signalled. In this way, a platform is provided by which to better connect with international debates and comparisons.

An examination of the factors influencing students' decisions to study higher education courses in further education colleges in the UK

Although there has been much research into why young people choose whether to participate in higher education (HE), there has been far less insight into why they may choose perceived lower status institutions, even though approximately 10% of students attend HE courses in further education (FE) colleges in UK. Students from backgrounds not traditionally associated with HE participation are much more likely to attend such institutions. Explanations for this pattern of participation look to 'barriers to participation' such as academic ability, costs or identity which problematise the students' attitudes to debt and HE. This research is based on interviews with 15 students who were studying HE qualifications at a further education college in England. It finds that although the barriers to participation have an effect, many students are making strategic and even rational decisions to attend the perceived lower status institutions. Their decisions suggest that there needs to be greater recognition of the differing role that HE plays in individual life plans and greater variety in what is on offer.

Moving beyond immobility: Spatial stories of undergraduate mobility at the “local” college

AbstractIn the English higher education context, “going to” university is commonly associated with leaving the familial home at the age of 18 and moving to a new city. This article sets out to problematise dominant narratives of student mobilities, by focusing on the everyday and imagined mobilities of students who stay in place for their degree education. On the basis of data from a case study of undergraduate education in further education colleges in England, the article sets out three challenges to the binary opposition between student mobilities and immobilities. First, the simple association between immobility, disadvantage, and deficit is challenged. The second challenge complicates perceptions of traditionally mobile undergraduates. Finally, the imagined “other lives” of local students challenge their characterisation as unable or unwilling to imagine student mobility. The article both highlights and seeks to resist powerful popular understandings of mobilities and undergraduate education.

In-service teachers’ practice of learning to teach, the theory of practice architectures and further education-based teacher education classes in England

ABSTRACT This paper uses the theories of practice architectures and learning to teach to study in-service teachers’ practice of learning to teaching within a further education (FE)-based initial teacher education (ITE) classes at one further education college (FEC) in England. It seeks to answer two research questions: How do in-service teachers learn how to teach within a teacher education classes at a general FE college in England? What site-based factors shape the in-service teachers’ practice of learning to teach? Using an action research methodology, the researcher, a university-based teacher educator, worked with a team of six FE-based teacher educators and their 35 in-service teachers to answer these questions. Drawing on data from six ‘teacher talk’ meetings with the teacher educators and three focus groups with the in-service teachers, the paper builds on and adds to international maps of existing research and knowledge of their practice of learning to teach.

Place and student subjectivities in Higher Education ‘cold spots’

This article uses an analytical framework informed by social geographies to explore the complex relationships between Higher Education Institution, undergraduate student and place. Drawing on findings from a qualitative study exploring the experiences of college-based Higher Education students studying degree courses in Further Education Colleges in England, the article sees student subjectivities as structured through inequalities of institutional positioning in a stratified system as well as through layered local histories of industrial loss. Taken as an instance of undergraduate education in a massified and geographically unequal national context, the findings in this article offer an insight into the contradictory role played by Higher Education in its local area, particularly where a local area is defined by both a lack of and a need for increased educational opportunity.

Area-based reviews and their aftermath: moving to a post-incorporation model for further education in England?

ABSTRACT This article draws on research into the further education (FE) Area-Based Review (ABR) process in London, England over the period 2016–2018 to suggest that the significance of ABRs can be judged as to the extent they reinforce or challenge the historical marketised model of FE. The implications of ABR are viewed historically through the conceptual lens of two governance continua – market/public (economic) and centralised/devolved (political). The research, involving repeated interviews with a range of FE social partners over a three-year period, developed the concept of two inter-related logics – a dominant ‘Logic A’ focused on FE college viability and merger and a subordinate ‘Logic B’ focused on regional skills strategies and greater collaboration between social partners. The significance of ABRs is assessed in relation to the wider English policy contexts that point to a need for greater skills coordination. At the same time, a comparison of ABRs in England with the ‘regionalisation’ of FE colleges in the other three countries of the UK highlights its relatively unplanned character. The article concludes with a discussion around the evolving relationship between the two Logics and argues that, albeit hesitantly, FE colleges in England may be moving towards a ‘Post-Incorporation’ phase.

Mathematics education policy enactment in England’s Further Education colleges

England’s Further Education (FE) sector is in permanent flux with policy interpretations and translations taking place at multiple levels within increasingly large and complex multi-site organisations. Devolved responsibility gives managers considerable influence in policy enactment processes which can lead to within-college tensions between vocational and mathematics teachers. This paper examines two within-college policies affecting students’ mathematics learning opportunities: (1) subject choice, and (2) examination entry levels. These policies have produced inequitable opportunities for students on different vocational study programmes. Given the strategic importance of improving mathematics education, this paper explains how multiple actors and structures interact in the enactment of policy in complex FE college settings. Such understandings are needed to inform better policy design and implementation that in turn can improve mathematics education in Further Education colleges in England.

Reimagining academic staff governors’ role in further education college governance

This paper aims to explore Academic Staff Governor (ASG) roles at three further education colleges in England. Uniquely, the research focuses on ASG activities, the understanding of ASG roles, and aspects of the role that can be reimagined, which may be of benefit to practising governors, particularly ASGs such as further education (FE) teacher governors. The study draws upon relevant literature to identify concepts related to governors’ roles and activities. An interpretivist stance is used to collect predominantly qualitative data through a combined methods approach, and to engage with ASGs and external governors. During fieldwork, qualitative and quantitative evidence was analysed from semi-structured interviews, questionnaire responses, observations of governance meetings and governance documents. Findings suggest that ASGs’ insiderness, their affiliation with other groups and decision-making circumstances may influence their governing activities. Activities rooted in operational settings such as professional-information giving were highly valued by other governors, while there were uncertainties about the benefit of having managerial staff as ASGs. There was evidence indicating uncertainty among the college staff regarding the role of an ASG in the colleges’ boards. As a result of the study, to conceptualise an ASG’s role in FE colleges, ‘The 3 RaPs (Roles as Position/Perceived/Practice) Framework’ for an ASG’s role has been developed. The research recommends clear and specific role descriptions for ASG posts; action to allow more opportunities for ASGs to act as governors in order to transform the scope of the role. Finally, several recommendations are set out in order to address ASGs’ insiderness, to promote ASGs’ professional profiles in the FE sector and to improve the methodological approach for use in similar future research.

Nurturing resilient future citizens through value consistency vs. the retreat from multiculturalism and securitisation in the promotion of British values in schools in the UK

The controversial duty to promote British values in Schools and Further Education Colleges in England, Scotland and Wales was introduced in the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015. This duty is described by some as the introduction of securitising mechanism into British Schools, for others it is a symptom of the UK Government’s further retreat from Multiculturalism. In this article, we present the duty as the most recent reconstructive intervention designed to remedy alleged failings in the education system to produce liberal British citizens and to counter the growth of extremism. In the article, we will explore how local institutions such as schools and colleges have implemented the duty in a way that defuses some of the securitising aspects of the Statutory Duty through celebrating the UK as a multi-racial, multi-faith and multi-cultural society and through ensuring that their promotion of British values is consistent with their existing value system and ethos which includes the promotion of pupils’ Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development.

The professional identities of teacher educators in three further education colleges: an entanglement of discourse and practice

Initial teacher education programmes have been identified as crucial to meeting the twin policy aims of professionalising the further education (FE) workforce and achieving improved learner outcomes, yet college-based teacher educators are underrepresented in published research and commentary. Drawing on a case study of teacher educators employed by three FE colleges in England, this paper argues that the contested and politicised nature of the FE sector presents a unique set of circumstances that distinguishes this population from other members of their professional group and severely restricts the identities available to them. Through a thematic discursive analysis of documentation, observation and interview data, it is argued that FE positions teacher educator identity through political governance, through the business practices of colleges and through the sector’s historical relationships with vocational and higher education. Within this distinctive context, teacher educators experience competing identities of ‘qualified and credible’, ‘teacher’, ‘different from others’, ‘part of FE’ and ‘employee’ that are entangled with the dominant discourses of English further education. After discussing the implications of these findings for a professional profile of teacher educators, the paper concludes that teacher educators are better understood as a heterogeneous occupational group in order to avoid obscuring professional concerns linked to policy landscapes.

How might your staff react to news of an institutional merger? A psychological contract approach

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand the nature of staff/employee (i.e. learning and teaching, curriculum support and administrative staff) perceptions, anxieties and worries about early merger change in the UK further education (FE) sector.Design/methodology/approachSurvey data were collected from 128 out of 562 employees to examine perceptions of psychological contract (post-merger announcement) on an FE college in England. Paired t-tests were used to analyse quantitative data. Additionally, a content analysis of open-ended questions was incorporated as part of a combined methods survey evaluation approach for discussion and triangulation purposes.FindingsQuantitative results from t-tests showed there had been a decrease in the perception of fulfilled obligations in nine of the ten areas of the psychological contract. Qualitative results indicated that communications, job security and uncertainty were common negative outcomes post-merger announcement. Implications for education managers from the case study include: a need for improved organizational communication; developing trust and mentorship for greater employee support, as well as; promoting further employee training and new opportunities for teamwork.Research limitations/implicationsPsychological contract theories for evaluating organizational change are useful given the recent interest in sharing public services and institutional mergers in the UK. This research demonstrates the benefits of using psychological contract, as well as how to apply such an evaluation for understanding staff concerns.Originality/valueThe paper demonstrates a usable (psychological contract) survey evaluation approach for studying the impact of early merger change on staff in the FE, or higher education sectors in the UK (or elsewhere).

Accessibility and use of VLEs by students in further education

The research examines further education (FE) students’ engagement with virtual learning environments (VLEs) and, in particular, the barriers that may affect the students’ access and use of Moodle. To date, existing research related to VLEs has been conducted primarily within higher education (HE) contexts. In contrast, this study explores the views of both students and teachers in an FE college in England and aims to provide insights into the factors which impact FE learners’ participation in online learning through a VLE. The outcomes of this study indicate that the course design, which is understood as a process, had the most significant effect on the students’ engagement with the VLE, and specifically: (1) its pedagogical focus, (2) the VLE programmes’ accessibility characteristics, and (3) the consideration for students’ individual needs, circumstances and expectations. To address the identified issues, recommendations are provided for teacher training and a strategic approach towards the VLE use. The findings and the associated suggestions may be of value to a wide FE context.

The Coming of Age for FE? Reflections on the past and future role of further education colleges in England, edited by Ann Hodgson

The Coming of Age for FE? Reflections on the past and future role of further education colleges in England, edited by Ann Hodgson

Higher apprenticeships and the new apprenticeship standards

Purpose The UK government is actively promoting higher apprenticeships and degree apprenticeships and this agenda has been gaining momentum amongst the various providers of apprenticeships. The purpose of this paper is to draw on an exploratory study on English further education (FE) colleges and highlight some of the key drivers of delivery, and possible challenges that can be faced by the providers in any expansion of this provision. Staff perceptions on the new apprenticeship standards are also presented in the paper. Design/methodology/approach This paper draws on a qualitative exploratory study with ten FE colleges in England. As part of the study, 19 in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with college staff and managers. Findings Higher apprenticeships have the potential to offer work-focussed alternatives to the conventional full-time degree models of higher education, however, the paper sheds light on a number of factors can limit the uptake of higher and degree apprenticeships. Practical implications The paper presents some practical challenges in developing higher apprenticeships and outlines some successful instances of higher apprenticeships which will be useful for those involved in the design and delivery of apprenticeships at FE colleges as well as at other providers. Originality/value This paper draws on research with FE colleges and will be of particular significance to FE colleges and universities that may consider delivering higher apprenticeships. The paper presents insights into institutional experiences and decision-making associated with higher and degree apprenticeships and, in doing so, the paper offers valuable contributions to the body of knowledge in this under-researched area.

The logic of the Incorporation of further education colleges in England 1993–2015: towards an understanding of marketisation, change and instability

This paper addresses a particular gap in the further education (FE) literature offering an analysis of Incorporation within a theory of social change developed by Fligstein and McAdam, in their work ‘A Theory of Fields’. The authors argue that FE was subjected to the introduction of a quasi-market in advance of wider neoliberal reforms in the English public sector. The paper analyses the development of Incorporation arguing the marketisation of the sector developed a logic of its own which the authors term the ‘logic of Incorporation’. This logic overdeveloped areas of ‘market’ interest while neglecting other crucial areas such as teaching and learning, professionalism and the curriculum. These neglected areas are explained using the concept of ‘unorganised social space’ (taken from an undeveloped concept in Fligstein and McAdam’s work) which remain unstable and unresolved because the very logic of Incorporation blocks the discussion of other logics, discourses or alternatives. The paper concludes that the logic of Incorporation leaves many important areas underdeveloped including the strategic place or purpose of FE itself. It proposes that FE has yet to find the stability of a ‘strategic action field’ needed to maintain itself and should be returned to some form of local or regional government ownership and control.