Launched in January, the Making Further Education Fit for the Future inquiry is examining how the FE and Skills sector can better equip young people with the skills and qualifications needed to tackle labour shortages.
Wide-ranging in its scope, it recognises the contribution of our sector in addressing growing skills gaps and facilitating the government’s mission-led agenda.
One critical area of focus is how the FE and skills workforce can be supported to achieve the highest standards of teaching to deliver the best opportunities and outcomes for learners.
Current barriers to this objective include recruitment and retention challenges, inconsistent pedagogical approaches, lack of consistency in training opportunities and difficulties embedding essential/basic skills, English, maths and digital skills into teaching and learning.
In our written submission to the inquiry, the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) made three recommendations: a kitemarking system for Initial Teacher Education (ITE) providers to ensure consistent, rigorous standards; a targeted national workforce strategy to help recruit, retain and develop those who work in FE and Skills; and devolved funding to regional bodies so they can invest in data-driven solutions tailored to local growth and skills needs.
Giving evidence to the inquiry’s select committee in late April, ETF CEO Dr Katerina Kolyva built on these recommendations, emphasising the value of dual professionalism and the need to support up-to-date training for our sector’s workforce.
She called for parity of esteem with other parts of the education system, reminding the committee of the role we all play in ‘talking up’ the sector and its vital contributions to our economy and society.
Kitemarking for quality
Those contributions are facilitated by high-quality teaching and training, and the Department of Education has recognised that variation in ITE is a barrier to consistent standards.
A kitemarking system for ITE providers would ensure teacher training programmes adhere to rigorous standards so they deliver value for those new to the profession, and thus improve outcomes for students.
Workforce strategy
Beyond ITE, a national workforce development strategy would enable a coordinated approach to identify and address skills shortages and inconsistencies in professional development across the FE and Skills workforce.
Unlike other sectors, including healthcare and schools, FE and Skills does not have a systematic mechanism for workforce planning, and there is no overarching structure for tracking and forecasting teaching capacity.
A bespoke strategy for FE and Skills would support our diverse and complex sector to address its challenges, from ineffective and disjointed approaches to professional development to persistently high levels of attrition and vacancies in some subjects.
Devolution and data
Within the framework of national workforce planning, regional and local skills needs must be considered.
Colleges and independent training providers are the institutions closest to learners, employers, and communities. They have the expertise, infrastructure and professional knowledge to meet local skills needs.
The devolution of skills funding offers an opportunity to shape provision around local labour markets, aligning workforce training with employer demand and responding directly to community priorities.
This means improved data to support place-based metrics, recognition of technical and vocational pedagogy and ring-fenced funding for CPD and pedagogical innovation.
The challenge in all this lies in managing this shift in ways that neither dilute national standards nor entrench existing power imbalances within the tertiary education landscape – particularly between FE and higher education institutions.
Without clear national oversight and shared standards, there is a risk workforce development pathways could fragment, leading to regional disparities in CPD access, expertise and expectations.
While local autonomy can drive innovation, it must be balanced with a strong, national framework and consistent investment in the professionalism and capacity of the whole FE and Skills workforce.
By taking this whole-system approach we can ensure our sector has the right professional development support to deliver the best experiences and outcomes for learners.
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