Government's new enrichment strategy needs to come with investment in FE, says AoC

David Hughes, Chief Executive, Association of Colleges, said: “AoC welcomes the publication of the government’s new enrichment strategy and benchmarks launched today and we support the aim of ensuring that every young person can benefit from activities that build their skills, confidence and community engagement regardless of where they study.

“Colleges provide a wide range of excellent enrichment activities for their students across all the key areas: social action and civic engagement, visual and performing arts and culture, outdoor activity and sport and physical activity through AoC Sport as well as skills competitions and international projects and visits. It is good to see this work acknowledged in the document with several brilliant college case studies referenced.

“Many of the enrichment funding strands exclude colleges and for the strategy to fulfil its ambitions for young people across the country, there will need to be additional investment in FE.

“Colleges will find the benchmarks and self-assessment tools useful, but they also need practical support to do the planning and build the partnerships which are needed to ensure that every young person can benefit from enrichment wherever they study. We have demonstrated that regional enrichment support can work with additional funding and this could be rolled out across the country.”