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This paper discusses the role of trust and shared goals in relation to participation in inter-organisational and multi-agency partnerships. It draws on a study of partnership working in England and focuses in particular on the perspectives of senior managers of post-16 education and training providers with substantial experience of working in local and regional partnerships. The research explored the concept and practice of partnership through a qualitative case study of a sub-regional partnership and the main methods used for data collection were observations of partnership meetings, documentary evidence of partnership working and semi-structured interviews with members of the partnership. The findings presented in this paper emanate principally from the interview data and reveal the importance and differentiated nature of trust in partnership working and the place of both trust and shared goals in effective and sustained partnerships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last 30 years have witnessed ongoing calls for the reform of post-14 education, to make it more responsive to the needs of employers and the economy, and overcome the academic-vocational divide. This article maps out recent proposals and changes in 14-19 education to remind us that they are rooted in a complex past, and while they might appear to be a solution to current problems, they often give rise to other issues. The publication of the most recent White Paper 14-19 Education and Skills marks no more than another episode in the development of this crucial phase and the failure to address wholesale reform simply adds to the complexities of the inherent incrementalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the beginnings of courses of teacher training for teachers in technical and further education in England. First the development of the technical education sector and its distinctive part-time nature is traced, alongside the activities of the three associations representing the colleges and their staffs. The views of these on the proposals of the Board of Education to introduce an experiment in technical teacher training in the late 1930s are considered. The wartime planning of technical teacher training as part of the emergency teacher training scheme is discussed, and the setting-up of three centres for teacher training in technical colleges and their work up to 1950 are outlined. [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 article compares and contrasts the policy context of Vocational Education Teacher Training (VETT) in Scotland and England by setting this within its wider socio-economic context, one emphasising lifelong learning and competitiveness. This facilitates a comparison of the two nations and enables an analysis of VETT responses to globalisation and lifelong learning. It allows an exploration of policy continuities and breaks across Scotland and England, leading to a consideration of the limits and possibilities of the different 'solutions' adopted. In these nations VETT is somewhat marginal having only recently become mandatory, unlike many other European responses. The article's policy analysis is complemented by a small scale illuminative case study of VETT educators in Scotland and England, which explores the way policy is lived and mediated at the site of practice. The research suggests that whilst both systems are compromised, VETT educators seek to work on the 'good' side of the system in which they are placed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the development of teacher training for teachers in technical and further education in England through the memories of the staff of Bolton Technical Teachers College, one of the first national centres set up for this purpose. After a brief account of the origins and the development of the college up to its merger with the Bolton Institute in 1982, the article summarises data obtained through interviews with former staff. These sections consider the staff's perceptions of their work; the organisation and content of teacher training; and the culture of the institution. The article then considers these data in the light of the changing context of teacher training and of the work of further education colleges in England during this period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article originates from the collaborative efforts of a group of teachers working in a range of PCE establishments across the West Midlands and Black Country, and in the 'field' of Literacy education. Drawing on the reflective journals kept by in-service students as part of an Integrated Certificate in Education course, the project sought to provide an overview of the Literacy provision they were involved in. The aim was to identify whether distinctions exist between the Literacy education offered by different providers (in this case FE colleges as opposed to training providers) and if so to begin to account for these. A key finding was that there are important factors that impact on the quality of the provision offered by some training providers. Following this analysis, participants aimed to produce a set of questions that practitioners can ask of the provision they are involved in order to identify whether it facilitates effective Literacy education to best address students' interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research on post-compulsory teacher educators in England suggests that there is a high degree of feminisation of this workforce, particularly where further and higher education partnerships are concerned. This process of feminisation has taken place against a background in which English post-compulsory education has increasingly been brought under state control and direction, with profound consequences for those engaged in the professional development of teachers in the sector. Although teacher education is also highly feminised in other sectors and in many countries, the recent history of post-compulsory education in England has a number of characteristics that have strongly influenced the gender distribution of its teacher educators. This article examines the locus of power driving the gendered division of labour in post-compulsory teacher education and attempts to account for it by means of the intersection of structuralist and poststructuralist perspectives. It is argued that the trends taking place in the teacher educator workforce can only be understood through situating the subjective identities of teacher educators within the discourse of government policies on further education from the 1980s onwards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]