The ink is now dry on the FE White Paper, Skills for Jobs. Everyone has given their hot takes, and the caravan has moved on. I set out back in June 2020 some 15 questions that the White Paper would address if it was going to be positively revolutionary. How did the government do?
Well, despite the hype, the truth is that the paper is more evolution than revolution, and none the worse for that. The focus on employer engagement is more sensible than novel, and the promises on partnership, entitlements and funding simplification are all very welcome.
But what about the stuff that really matters the most? We can all agree that any White Paper on the education and training system should have at its heart the real business of education and training. Many things are relevant to that business - funding, qualifications, employer partnerships, equipment, access. But the most important thing is the process of learning itself, and the people who make that happen. Traditionally education has been 100 per cent about what the teachers do (except in rare cases where people teach themselves). Now in a hybrid world of online and face-to-face education, it is still 100 per cent about what the teachers do; they just need to do different things.
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My 15 questions put teaching and learning at the heart of the policy process. Some have been ignored. Some have been touched on. But at least five of them have been tackled head-on, in the areas of teacher recruitment, initial training, professional development and professional exchange. This represents a major swing in government thinking, putting workforce issues, especially training and development, centre-stage.
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Nothing happens in government by accident, and while fads come and go, this rising focus on professional development and teaching quality is actually the coming to fruition of its own long-term policy. In 2013 the government came together with the FE sector to create the Education and Training Foundation, and it has since then recommitted to us every year to build us into the serious, high-quality development body we are today. Our membership arm - the Society for Education and Training - gives us an additional close relationship with the sector that enhances the original vision.
The White Paper announced many individual programmes being created or extended that the ETF is responsible for delivering: Taking Teaching Further, the Apprenticeship Workforce Development programme, Centres for Excellence in Maths, support for online teaching skills, our suite of leadership and governance programmes, T levels professional development and more.
But the really important thing is not the eye-catching initiatives - excellent though they may be - it is the fact that the paper heralds a completely new phase in government thinking, where outstanding teaching is given a high priority; and where it is explicitly recognised that a focus on staff recruitment, retention, training and development is the key that unlocks excellence in the system.
The education secretary says “FE is the future”. We can all agree wholeheartedly. At the ETF we believe not only in the future of FE, but also in a system delivering excellent outcomes for learners that is continually improving thanks to its own strength, not from external interference. A self-improving system is our goal, with outstanding teaching for all as the vision. Sector professionals who join the Society for Education and Training will be at the forefront of shaping how we achieve that over the coming years.
With insights from the sector coupled with the strategic view that we can take with our partners and government, we are inspired by the possibilities of the future for our sector. In the coming years, FE will be needed more than ever, to create Skills for Jobs and so much more besides. Together, working in collaboration, our sector is unstoppable in what it can achieve.
David Russell is chief executive of the Education and Training Foundation
