You won’t find many teachers arguing against consistency in teaching (unless it’s 4.30pm and you’re in the pub, because then I’d argue that up is down just for chuckles).

Consistency is one of the driving forces of an effective classroom. When you’re consistent in routines, behaviour management and marking, it instils a sense of trust. Learners understand the expectations placed on them. If you’re consistent, it goes a long way towards making sure those you teach achieve their potential.

Without consistency, things can go downhill fast. Students are unsure of what is expected of them, so their work suffers. There can be frustration when there are changes to aims, targets or even timetables. This often leads to behaviour issues and a mistrust of the institution that is supposed to be providing them with the things they need to progress.

I don’t often make statements about good teaching (I’m just about competent on my best day), but I’m certain that without a consistent approach, you’re pretty much scuppered. Consistency breeds confidence, confidence breeds effort and effort breeds results.

There has been upheaval in every educational area, but FE wins the prize for most tinkered with sector

So why is it that FE is in a constant state of flux? Yes, there’s been upheaval in just about every educational area, but it seems to me that FE wins the prize for most tinkered with sector. Incorporation, mergers, funding changes, more funding changes, priority shifts and (my own personal bugbear) maths and English provision: things transform seemingly by the minute. This has all taken its toll. You can play catch-up for only so long before getting an almighty stitch.

I often wonder why FE bears the brunt. I suspect it’s something to do with the socioeconomic status of the majority of students. The powers that be understand that it doesn’t really matter how much they mess with it, saying, “Let’s move forward with this new initiative that will transform things again, OK? No, I don’t know what the benefits are and I haven’t thought it through but, y’know, change. Change!”

It’s not just the fact that FE is the perfect size and shape to be the political football in a horrendously refereed game. Sometimes I throw my hands up at the unquestioning acceptance of these wide-ranging changes. The next person who tells me that yet another cut is an “opportunity in disguise” will receive a series of opportunities from something pointy and rusty.

If consistency is the key to progress, then the macrocosm of the sector needs to reflect the microcosm of the classroom. The question is, how do we go about this? Whatever we do, let’s do it consistently.

Tom Starkey teaches English at a college in the North of England @tstarkey1212