The government?s strategy for raising standards in the further education and training sector is outlined in the DfES discussion document ?Success for All: Reforming Further Education and Training? released in June 2002.

In the document, Estelle Morris recognises the diversity of the provision in the sector which serves some six million learners in a variety of settings, from classroom based provision to e-learning through learndirect centres, and training in the workplace. The 400 further education (FE) sector colleges are identified as forming the largest element in the sector, which also includes:

  • some higher education institutions which offer further education
  • sixth form colleges
  • specialist colleges
  • school sixth forms
  • local authority adult education institutions and
  • private and voluntary sector providers.

Calling upon the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) to work in conjunction with the Department to deliver a strategy for reform, the Secretary of State for Education and Skills outlined four goals for sector providers to meet, and identified strategies for them to implement to achieve reform, as outlined here:

  • Meeting needs, improving choices

Providers within the sector are required to develop clear education and training missions that reflect the needs of local learners and employers and to concentrate on the best of their provision rather than pursuing all new initiatives, making decisions in the light of inspection reports. The duty of the LSC is seen as ensuring sufficient breadth of provision and to take action in conjunction with the network of 47 local Learning and Skills Councils to close gaps and to provide quality across the whole of the sector. The Sector Skills Councils and the Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVEs) are seen as core elements in the strategy for improving skills training, with a further 69 CoVEs to be created in the spring and summer of 2002;

  • Putting teaching and learning at the heart of what we do

The use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) is seen as playing a vital role in developing effective teaching and learning methods; in addition, new ?Teaching and Learning Frameworks? in core curriculum areas are proposed. A national e-learning strategy is to be developed building on the recommendations of the Department?s e-learning Task Force report, ?Get on with IT?, and the LSC?s Distributed and E-Learning Group (DELG) report. Staff training is recognised as essential to develop the necessary competences and skills in the staff delivering and supporting learning;

  • Developing the teachers and leaders of the future

The Learning and Skills Standards Fund has been earmarked to provide resources to enable providers to invest in staff training. Key players in the setting of standards for the sector are the Further Education National Training Organisation (FENTO) and Employment National Training Organisation (ENTO). The Teaching Pay Initiative (TPI) is seen as allowing colleges to reward high performing staff in FE colleges with increased pay and more attractive career structures between 2003-4;

  • Developing a framework for quality and success

Variation in performance across the sector is targeted for change. The sector, it has claimed, has placed insufficient emphasis on standards and the development of excellence. To improve standards, top performers are to be rewarded and 'robust action' taken where providers are seen as failing their learners.

Opportunities for practitioners across the sector to comment on these proposals were made available during a consultation phase which concluded on 30 September 2002.