Education secretary Gavin Williamson has told college leaders his focus is "further education, further education, further education".
Speaking at the Skills and Education Group and Association of Colleges’ Midlands colleges parliamentary reception today, Mr Williamson said had told the prime minister he wanted further education to be one of the key areas he concentrated on while secretary of state for education. "I would simply say further education, further education, further education,” he told the audience.
He added: “There are immense challenges, I recognise that, but you will not have moments where there is an education secretary more interested, more engaged, and just simply willing to put as much time and effort to make this sector really sing.”
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Williamson said that the AoC had repeatedly raised the issue of money, and he wanted to back up his “warm words with cold hard cash".
"I have tried in my time as education secretary to make sure that I don’t just utter warm words about the importance of education but that I back it up with cold hard cash. I recognise that whatever I deliver you’ll probably always ask for more, and I’d be disappointed if that wasn’t the case,” he said.
Last week, the Department of Education announced plans to invest almost £14 million in improving leadership and governance across the further education sector, including a £9 million “college collaboration fund”. Meanwhile, £4.5 million will go towards CPD programmes for FE leaders and governors. The sector is hoping that more will be offered in next week’s budget.
Leaving Cinderella behind
Mr Williamson said that FE shouldn’t be seen in “purely the context of money.”
He said: “We also have to recognise what has been achieved and so often we talk about the challenges and have the opportunity to look back at how this sector is providing the learning opportunities for so many more people - literally tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands more than it was in 1990s.
“The fact that you’ve been able to absorb so many more young people into the college network and make the resources work so incredibly hard - [...] we applaud all of you over what you’ve been able to achieve.”
He said that it was time to stop talking about the sector as the “Cinderella” of education, and ensure that everyone understands what the college network can achieve.
He said: “I want to talk about what we’re going to do, what we’re going to achieve, how we are going to make sure that everyone understands the college network is going to be pushing the boundaries more than any other part of the education sector, that other people look at what you do and how do we copy that? How do we make sure we deliver the very best not just for the children in our country, but how do we make a service that people around the world say 'how do we copy that?'”
