What Works Centre' for FE called for by Social Mobility Commission - AoC responds

Responding to today's research from the Social Mobility Commission recommending that the government should invest £20 million over five years to establish a What Works Centre for further education. The SMC have said that the government and the centre should focus on: what works across all stages of the learner journey - from participation to longer term socio-economic outcomes what works for specific groups of learners Responding to the research ahead of the Social Mobility Commission's one year anniversary and report launch event, Deputy Chief Exuective Julian Gravatt said: "The Social Mobility Commission evidence review on 63 studies about what works in FE will be a useful point of reference. There is a good case for a more sustained effort to research what works in FE and that a What Works Centre might be a good idea because it would involve funding on a slightly longer term basis to an organisation that would then be able to work out what it needs to do. However, it is not that clear from the outside what DfE spends on research so it’s hard to comment on how £20 million over five years compares to their existing spending and what they might not be able to do if they went ahead with this" The full report and evidence review is available here.