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The institutional move associated with embarking upon post-16 study is part of the learner journey taken by many young people in England, including those from widening participation (WP) backgrounds. However, it can present a challenge, although one that has received comparatively little attention from researchers, practitioners and policy makers. To understand the nature of the challenge, this article draws on the experiences of two groups of WP students: those yet to experience this move and their older counterparts who have made the transition. It is also from the same two groups that suggestions are made for how the move from school to college can be supported. The English regulator for higher education, the Office for Students, has asked universities to work more closely with schools in widening access. The evidence presented here highlights the importance of universities, and those overseeing outreach, developing strong working relations with colleges as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concerns about racism and race equality have been widely reported in the first decades of the 21st century, following the Black Lives Matter protests and campaigns such as 'Rhodes Must Fall'. Yet 'race' remains largely absent from policy debate and research concerning further education colleges in the four countries of the UK, particularly in relationship to leadership and governance. The focus of this paper is on who governs and why it matters. Governors and trustees play an increasingly visible and significant role in public, private and charity sector organisations, but diversity on governing bodies of further education across the UK remains patchy and is seen as a major challenge. The paper reports on what is known about the composition of governing bodies and what this tells us about the involvement of governors from black and minority ethnic backgrounds at the present time, drawing on a three-year project which examined the processes and practices of governing in the four countries of the UK. The findings highlight the continuing absence of governors from black and minority ethnic backgrounds on college governing boards and suggest that normative, invisible assumptions of how governing gets done persist, with black and minority ethnic governors often little more than a token gesture of adding diversity to the faces on the board. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If an English higher education institution wishes to charge higher tuition fees it must produce an access and participation plan to indicate how it intends to recruit students from under-represented backgrounds. This article evaluates the impact that the regime for producing access and participation plans (APPs) in England has had on further education colleges [FECs] that offer higher education courses. It explores the history of the introduction of APPs and how they are produced. Comparisons are made of paired universities and further education colleges. In particular, consideration is given to the content of the plans and the work imposed on the institutions in producing plans, with questions raised over whether the same APP regime should be imposed on colleges considering the major differences in character and focus between FECs and universities. The article concludes by advocating changes to the process of completing APPs by colleges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The English further education (FE) sector caters for young learners who are regularly defined as at risk due to a range of economic and social challenges, as transitions from youth to adulthood become more protracted, and inequalities amongst young people and between generations persist and deepen. At a time when policy places increasing responsibilities on governors and leaders to balance college performance and cost‐effectiveness against FE's long‐standing social justice mission, this article analyses how this tension plays out through the discursive construction of young learners by two English college governing boards. We use a critical discourse analysis approach to connect how young learners are 'talked into being' through the micro‐level processes of governing within the wider context in which college governing operates. We argue that, despite a wider drive for governors to interact with learners, their understanding of learners is dominated by data, through which young learners in particular are constituted as a risk rather than at risk. We explore the discursive constructions of young learners that ensue in this data‐dominated context, and the social practices governing boards use to manage the risks posed by young learners. We highlight the different positionings of governors and college senior managers within these constitutive practices, arguing that the ways young learners are discursively constructed is revealing of a central tension in college governing practices—that between the high‐performing and the socially just college. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Sexually active young people attending London further education (FE) colleges have high rates of chlamydia, but screening rates are low. We will conduct a cluster randomised feasibility trial of frequent, rapid, on-site chlamydia testing and same-day treatment (Test and Treat (TnT)) in six FE colleges (with parallel qualitative and economic assessments) to assess the feasibility of conducting a future trial to investigate if TnT reduces chlamydia rates. Methods We will recruit 80 sexually active students aged 16–24 years from public areas at each of six colleges. All participants (total n = 480) will be asked to provide samples (urine for males, self-taken vaginal swabs for females) and complete questionnaires on sexual lifestyle and healthcare use at baseline and after 7 months. Participants will be informed that baseline samples will not be tested for 7 months and be advised to get screened separately. Colleges will be randomly allocated to the intervention (TnT) or the control group (no TnT). One and 4 months after recruitment, participants at each intervention college (n = 3) will be texted and invited for on-site chlamydia tests using the 90-min Cepheid GeneXpert system. Students with positive results will be asked to see a visiting nurse health adviser for same-day treatment and partner notification, (backed by genitourinary medicine follow-up). Participants in control colleges (n = 3) will receive ‘thank you’ texts 1 and 4 months after recruitment. Seven months after recruitment, participants from both groups will be invited to complete questionnaires and provide samples for TnT. All samples will be tested, and same-day treatment offered to students with positive results. Acceptability of TnT will be assessed by qualitative interviews of purposively sampled students (n = 30) and college staff (n = 12). We will collect data on costs of TnT and usual healthcare. Discussion Findings will provide key values to inform feasibility, sample size and timescales of a future definitive trial of TnT in FE colleges, including:Recruitment ratesTnT uptake ratesFollow-up ratesPrevalence of chlamydia in participants at baseline and 7 monthsAcceptability of TnT to students and college staffEstimate of the cost per person screened/treated in TnT versus usual care Trial registration International Standard Randomised Controlled Trials Registry, ID: ISRCTN58038795, Registered on 31 August 2016.

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

England's further education (FE) sector has been characterised by instability and policy churn for at least three decades during which time reform of vocational education and training (VET) has been piled on top of reform, with few resulting in lasting change. In the context of another ambitious new reform of VET in England, this article reports on a study that examined the chronic difficulties in recruiting teachers of vocational science, engineering and technology (SET) to FE colleges. We argue that these difficulties in recruiting SET teachers reveal persistent weaknesses in policy planning for the English VET sector and help to explain the serial failure of VET policy in England. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education providers and employers working together to prepare young people and adults for employment is internationally accepted as a key factor in effective technical and vocational education. In the English context, however, we argue that two related orthodoxies have prevailed – 'employer engagement' and 'skills supply' – in which education providers have striven to gain employer involvement in their programmes and meet their skills needs. The effectiveness of these twin orthodoxies has been limited by the 'New Low Skills Equilibrium' (NLSE) involving a symbiosis of weaknesses on both the education and employer sides. The article draws on findings of a two-year research and development programme in East London which explored the process of education-employer partnership working to support inclusive growth in key economic sectors. The research suggested that this aim was best supported by processes of 'co-production' that actively involved both partners in attempting to address features of the NLSE. The research also pointed to constraining factors. The article concludes by identifying the conditions required for the realisation of co-production approaches that include the development of new collaborative structures – High Progression and Skills Networks (HPSNs) – involving a wide range of social partners at the local and regional levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper revisits the liberal studies movement, a significant feature of the English further education (FE) sector from the 1950s until the beginning of the 1980s. Its central argument is that liberal and general studies (LS/GS) and similar provision offered a vehicle where, at least in some circumstances, certain politically-motivated FE teachers were able to engage in forms of mutual, dialogic teaching and learning which can be conceptualised as critical pedagogy—or at least as close to critical pedagogy as can be achieved within the formal education system in a nation such as England. The paper draws on interviews with former FE lecturers who taught various forms of liberal studies to vocational students in FE colleges across England during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Whilst it is recognised that LS/GS was always contested terrain, data presented in this paper provide evidence to suggest that the spirit of critical pedagogy existed amongst a certain strand within the liberal studies movement, at least for a time—even if not all learners wished to be emancipated by their studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

‘Further education’ (FE) is a substantial sector in the education system in England. It has funding of approximately £8 billion annually and educates close to three million students. Within the sector are 231 FE colleges which provide a range of courses that are typically vocational/skills-based. They vary in scale and scope with the largest colleges having a turnover in excess of £100 million and over 15,000 students. For a variety of reasons, the FE sector is experiencing various pressures which are presenting FE college governors with a range of significant, substantial, simultaneous and synergistic challenges. In this article we describe and analyse the challenges and the implications. We make the point that these challenges are in addition to FE governors’ ongoing governing work. For FE governing bodies, the challenges may prove to be overwhelming and so they may proceed with undue caution. On the other hand, they may be an opportunity for governing bodies to strengthen college governance and leadership creatively and to enhance opportunities for their learners – again creatively - for the benefit of their communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adult participation in higher education has frequently entailed mature students studying part time in lower-ranked institutions. In England, higher education policies have increasingly emphasised higher education provision in vocational further education colleges, settings which have extensive adult traditions but which mainly teach employment-based skills and are widely regarded as 'outside' higher education. This paper interrogates the significance of these dimensions of college higher education, through a qualitative study of identity formation by adult part-time students. Their accounts, developed through individual interviews and focus groups, emphasised the significance of work to their interpretations of higher education participation: these are compared here to a range of conceptualisations of identity that have been applied in relation to work organisations. This analysis indicates some of the ways in which pathways which adults may interpret as meaningful in terms of work-related identities may correspondingly be constrained by a narrow discourse of work-based skills and credentials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the evolution of further education colleges in England is marked by both continuities and change, and provides evidence to show that they retain many of the characteristics and the underlying rationale present at the turn of the twentieth century. A defining characteristic remains the colleges’ need to respond to student demand in a continued climate of voluntarism and lack of policy commitment to the education of young people beyond school-leaving age. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper considers the concept of professionalism via perceptions (real or imagined) of lecturers delivering higher education business programmes (HEBPs) in further education colleges in England. The study comprised 26 in-depth interviews conducted in the Yorkshire and Humber region in the UK. The study builds on Perkin’s views of a professional society, which is then applied to education. The paper will add to existing knowledge by identifying that the term profession is not only complex and subjective, but Janus-faced, which may lead to role conflict. It was not surprising that the interviewees found it difficult to define professionalism; nevertheless, it was found that many did hold to a perceived individual professional code of praxis and/or idea of expected behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article explores the purpose of governance in the further education (FE) sector in England and the increasing tasks demands that are expected from the governors of standards committees (SC) as part of their changing role. It will then examine how these task demands impact SC governors’ perceptions of FE governance. This research is done at a critical time when central government challenges the sector to strike a balance on the purpose of FE governance as: maximizing institutional performance and success; accountability and compliance; and governance for representation and democracy. A multi-case study design was used: six principals and 14 SC governors from six FE colleges in the English Midlands region were purposefully selected to participate in this study. Data were obtained from individually, digitally recorded face-to-face semi-structured interviews. Findings suggest that FE governance is very important but that the purpose(s) that it serves are ambiguous, and that the task demands expected from SC governors have greatly increased, causing detrimental effects on their perception of FE governance. In order to help improve practice, a new role conceptualization for SC governors is suggested. [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]

The rhetoric of 'partnership' is ubiquitous in UK policy at national, regional, local and organizational levels. Self-styled partnership activity is espoused by most schools in England and Wales. This article considers the implications of the growth of partnership for conceptualizing leadership. It draws on evidence of interviews with young people, parents, teachers/trainers and support services staff in relation to the upper high school phase (14-19-year-olds) in two local education authorities in England and one in Wales. It uses the data as a vehicle to consider how leadership of a school might be conceived, given that what is increasingly demanded by policy is corporate leadership of a local system, rather than leadership of an individual organization. The adoption of collective aims to raise achievement for all within a local area, rather than just those in one's own school, poses radical challenges to the autonomy and culture of schools and their leaders. The article suggests that there are implications for research and theory, and particularly distributed leadership theory, if the situation within which leadership is constructed is taken to be the multiple players and organizations involved in a partnership, rather than only those of one school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the implications of adopting social audit approaches in order to implement equality policies in Scottish FE colleges, exploring the tension between surface compliance and deep institutional engagement. It provides a brief overview of the Scottish further education context, before turning to a consideration of social audit and equalities within the sector. The data reported comes from a research study funded by the Scottish Further Education Unit which examined college policies and practices in relation to equalities. The study involved analysis of statistical data, a questionnaire survey of all Scottish colleges and in-depth case studies in five colleges. The paper examines the pros and cons of social audit as a means of achieving institutional changes in the field of equality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There are high rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in ethnically diverse, sexually active students aged 16-24 years attending London further education (FE) colleges. However, uptake of chlamydia screening remains low. The TnT study aims to assess the feasibility of conducting a future trial in FE colleges to investigate if frequent, rapid, on-site testing and treatment (TnT) reduces chlamydia rates. This article presents the statistical analysis plan for the main study publication as approved and signed off by the Trial Management Group prior to the first data extraction for the final report.Methods/design: TnT is a cluster-randomised feasibility trial conducted over 7 months with parallel qualitative and economic assessments. Colleges will be randomly allocated into the intervention (TnT) or the control group (no TnT). Six FE colleges in London will be included. At each college for 2 days, 80 consecutive sexually active students aged 16-24 years (total 480 students across all six colleges) will be recruited from public areas and asked to provide baseline samples. One and 4 months after recruitment intervention colleges will be visited on two consecutive days by the TnT team where participating students will be texted and invited to come for same-day, on-site, rapid chlamydia testing and, if positive, treatment. Participants in the control colleges will receive 'thank you' texts 1 and 4 months after recruitment. Seven months after recruitment, participants from both groups will be invited to complete questionnaires and provide samples for TnT. All samples will be tested, and same-day treatment offered to participants with positive results. Key feasibility outcomes include: recruitment rates, testing and treatment uptake rates (at 1 and 4 months) and follow-up rates (at 7 months).Trial Registration: ISRCTN 58038795 . Registered on 31 August 2016. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]