With a minority of college staff and students slowly returning to complete 2019-20, thoughts have quickly turned to preparing for 2020-21. With a myriad of issues to contemplate (social distancing, staffing, student numbers), senior leaders have their work cut out for them. With new guidance also seemingly released on a daily basis, senior leaders have been more vocal than ever before about the support they will require in 2020-21 to achieve high standards and outstanding educational opportunities for young people.

With this in mind, below is an outline of the areas the government must address as a priority to give colleges the best opportunity to thrive in 2020-21.

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Increased funding for colleges

With a minimum of a 12 per cent drop in funding since 2010, the post-16 sector has perhaps most harshly felt the funding cuts that have been made in education. With minimum focus on this in the public domain, there has been little the sector could do to prevent it, but with the many changes required due to Covid-19, the government must now start to better fund sixth-form and FE provision.

From an increase in overall funding, to funding set aside for salary increases, there is much to be done with additional funding. Added to this, all colleges will now need to fund resources for “the new normal” (personal protective equipment, soap dispensers and additional cleaning materials, etc.).

Renewed resources for transition

With all students making the transition to post-16 education having missed at least March to June, there are significant skills gaps in student knowledge and understanding of the majority of topics they studied in KS4. For those already in post-16, they, too, will have significant gaps, which will extend into vocational areas, leaving students at a disadvantage when transitioning to L2, L3 and beyond.

Closing these skills gaps is a priority for all colleges, but all settings will need additional support to effectively do this. Whether this comes in the form of summer (or the controversial weekend) interventions or added sessions during 2020-21, at the very least, staff will work additional hours and should be rewarded for this.

A focus on tech

With educators’ use and application of technology thrust to the fore in March, much has been made of the effectiveness of technology in creating high-quality education with school buildings out of bounds. With that particular genie now firmly out of the bottle, it is unlikely that remote/distance learning will retreat any time soon.

However, in stark contrast to these successes have been the difficulties disadvantaged students and communities have had in accessing many of these tools. With a lack of high-speed internet and readily available technology, there are some students who have not been able to access any learning materials for extended periods. To combat this, the government must act and fully and properly fund provision for these students, ensuring they have the tools they require and the training to use it.

Delay T levels

For some time, one of the many discussion points around T levels has been an inability to source enough student placements (for a variety of reasons). With furlough schemes in operation across the country (and potentially extended until October), this problem has worsened during lockdown

Added to this, as another consequence of lockdown, the additional training and professional development that has been earmarked by the government, DfE, ETF and others has not materialised and looks to be some way off, as other areas of education are rightly prioritised. With this in mind, a delay of T levels whilst other issues are resolved looks the only way to move ahead.

Fully funded CPD

In line with this, and with the lack of available resources for some students, the gaps in staff knowledge and understanding in a range of areas have become apparent during lockdown.

Though some CPD has been made available online during lockdown, this should be further extended (and fully funded) to ensure that staff are fully versed in the new skills they will need to acquire and apply over the next few months and 2020-21.

With training on everything from HR processes to getting the best out of distance learning tools and remote assessment, this should also be treated as a priority, as it is key to student engagement and achievement in the future.

With a raft of new measures proposed for 2020-21 and beyond, students, practitioners and leaders are likely to face challenging decisions. With this in mind, it is vital the government looks to the priorities that the sector has highlighted and provides the relevant resources and funding to help our young people thrive during ‘the new normal’.

The writer is an FE lecturer at a college in England