Earlier this week, representatives of many aspects of FE grabbed their hammers and proceeded to smash the nail firmly on the head of one of the major problems with our sector’s funding (or, rather, the lack of it).

The white-elephant issue of core funding was highlighted repeatedly during a House of Commons Education Select Committee oral-evidence session on FE funding, and this in itself would ordinarily be enough. But what I found most interesting was that a number of the commentators identified something that has been troubling me ever since I started working in the sector. It has always seemed to me like there has been an almost constant campaign of gaslighting with regards to the primary problem of core funding within FE. Instead of tackling the issue, focus is continually shifted to “new” and “innovative” initiatives which, ironically, get old really fast.

I’m the cynical type and, being cynical, I would suggest that this frequent introduction of the new might well be - while not exactly a conscious diversionary tactic - a symptom of not wanting to prioritise the very real financial problems of our sector. But instead, there’s an ever-present tinkering around the edges coupled with periodic “revolutions” every year or two.

‘Don’t mention the cash’

It’s an obvious problem that has not been addressed. But why is this the case? To me, it’s indicative of an attitude that surrounds FE. Experimentation is OK. Innovation is OK. Being a guinea pig is OK. Let’s make everything new. But don’t mention the cash. Or if you do, make sure it’s in reference to EXCITING NEW REVENUE STREAMS (the pursuit of which can often lead to organisational overreach and, in the most tragic failings, the loss of jobs, like in the recent case of Northumberland College).

As I’ve mentioned before, I think the attitude stems from the import placed on the “type” of students who access FE, their relative standing in society, and a lack of a voice when it comes to policy decision-making.

It all feels like a magician’s trick - flash and smoke, but at the end of the show, FE’s financial situation continues to be in decline in real terms.

So, well done to those on the panel that refused to be gaslighted on the very large, very obvious problem that FE faces. They made the thing, the thing. And at the same time, well done to them for suggesting that the answer is probably not yet another initiative; that endless change is nothing more than a sideshow; and that what our students so desperately need is stability. A stability that comes from fair and proper funding.

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