It is no secret that I care very deeply about the sector I cover. And that concern goes beyond the “normal things” people get excited about, such as further education’s ability to change lives and create opportunities for people who thought they had none.

Only a few weeks ago, for example, the Scottish Funding Council published the latest college accounts; there are very few more exciting days in my work calendar. And yes, I realise I am possibly alone in that. Maybe it is not too surprising, then, that I can even manage to get concerned about something that is essentially no more than a tax. But there is a good reason the apprenticeship levy has been on my mind.

Let me explain. The levy was introduced just over a year ago by the Westminster government to finance its target of 3 million apprenticeship starts by 2020. It is paid by every large employer in the UK with a pay bill of more than £3 million, and while businesses in England are able to access training to the value of their contribution, Scotland’s colleges, for example, quite commonly pay more than £100,000 (see pages 12-13), with no direct return for their investment. They pay it just like any other tax - because they have to.

Colleges have a right to funding

And that is just so typical of the way colleges work. This week, we report that only a handful of them have so far benefited from the Scottish government’s Flexible Workforce Development Fund - the fund that allows levy payers to access £10,000 (£15,000 next year) worth of training for their workforce in return for their levy payment. Why, you may ask? Well, colleges have told Tes Scotland that, to them, it seemed inappropriate to take action that could limit access to a finite fund for other employers. And even among those that did access the fund, one told us it only did so after it became clear that not enough other employers were applying to exhaust the funds available.

Colleges have the same rights to funding as every other employer. It is already a very small drop in the ocean of levy money - barely a tenth of what they pay out. But that just isn’t the FE way.

It is indicative of a much wider issue that the sector invariably fails to tackle. All week, like everyone else, I have stumbled upon advertisements for towels and crockery for students “off to university”, and posters asking if you are “ready for school”. Once again, colleges are not in the spotlight.

How many college students did you see as exam-success case studies in your local paper? How many college students did you watch on TV, anxiously opening a results envelope with a breakfast TV microphone ready to capture their reaction?

FE does not shout about its successes or its concerns. It doesn’t stamp its feet or kick up a fuss. It simply quietly gets things done, sometimes even backing off to make sure opportunities are not narrowed elsewhere.

But colleges cannot remain in the background. They need to speak up for themselves or they will always be drowned out. They have to tell their story, stand up proud. And, just occasionally, they should take what is theirs - even if it is just a relatively small training fund.

@JBelgutay