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The Dearing Report advocated that the traditionally separate post-compulsory education sectors of English higher education (HE) and further education (FE) should bring together the academic and vocational in a working partnership. This has led to significant changes in the working practices of colleges, lecturers and support staff. Drawing on the experiences of a sample of HE lecturers in colleges in south west England and a synthesis of relevant literature, this paper begins to examine the practice styles of HE lecturers working in FE institutions and the opportunities they are presented to engage with scholarship. The research acknowledges the issues involved in positioning HE in FE by considering the traditional roles of FE and HE lecturers, the competing demands of HE and FE and the necessary re-conceptualisation of the HE in FE lecturer as a teacher, a researcher and a scholar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses learner progression within further education (FE) colleges in England and the role that both internal college practices and wider system factors play in the transition of 16-19 year olds from school to further study and the workplace. Focusing on a sample of 118 learners from 19 lower level courses in a large general FE college and using a series of interviews with learners and 23 of their tutors, this paper raises issues about how far current policy levers promote the concept of progression and how inclusive practices are in FE colleges. The article concludes by suggesting that changes need to be made at both institutional and national policy levels in order to ensure effective learner progression from school, through further education to employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws from the Literacies for Learning in Further Education research project, funded through the Teaching and Learning Research Programme. Drawing on the empirical study of literacy practices in eight childcare courses in Scotland and England, we seek to demonstrate that, integral to the learning careers of students are literacy careers through which their learning is mediated. In the process, by drawing upon the lens of literacy, we also challenge some of the common-sense understandings of learning in childcare. In particular, we suggest that the literacy practices of lower level courses can be more diverse than those of higher level courses, producing potentially confusing literacy careers for the students involved. We also highlight the complexity of the range of literacy practices in childcare, which can go unrecognised as requiring explicit tuition, and unacknowledged even when students use them appropriately. Courses in childcare are textually mediated in many different ways, which vary depending on the level of study. A greater acknowledgement of this multiplicity and diversity could lead to more appropriate forms of assessment, and more relevant ways of interpreting the curriculum. We argue that students on vocational courses have more complex literacy careers than is often assumed and that a literacies approach to learning helps to reveal this complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article surveys three strands of development in the further education of young people in England since the Second World War: its institutional evolution, some aspects of the experience of its students and staff, and the political and economic imperatives that have given it shape and direction. The account draws upon a wide range of primary secondary sources, from the literatures of professional and social research, economics, political science and political history. Toward the end of the paper, a broader comparative perspective is adopted in order to pin down the distinctiveness of the English experience, before overall conclusions are drawn. These discuss the extent to which further education in England remains a local enterprise and the areas of continuity that, as whole, account both for its identity and its place in English culture and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on data from secondary sources and in-depth interviews to explore the question: What is the impact of policy on teaching, learning, assessment and inclusion in Adult and Community Learning (ACL) Skills for Life (SfL) provision? In particular, it focuses on the government's use of five policy-steering mechanisms - funding, inspection, planning, targets and policy initiatives (in this case SfL). The design of the study allows us to use evidence from four sets of interviews with teachers, learners and managers of ACL in eight sites of learning (four in London and four in the North East) over a period of 26 months of considerable policy turbulence. We argue, first, that there is a symbiotic relationship between ACL and SfL provision; and second, that while the combined effects of targets and funding have the most powerful effects on tutor and manager actions, inspection, planning and tutors' and managers' own professional values also have an important role in shaping the teaching of literacy and numeracy in ACL sites. We conclude by suggesting that professionals at the local level should be allowed to play a greater role in SfL policy-making to ensure effective policy and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]