Colleges have become the flexible solution to the country’s challenges

By Gerry McDonald CBE, Group Principal and CEO of New City College and AoC President

By accident or design, colleges have become the flexible solution to the country’s challenges. We are like the nation’s WD40: not sure what to do, spray on a bit of FE. But too often, we are the fix, not the system designer.

In the last quarter of a century or so, we have supported widening participation, pioneered basic literacy, reformed apprenticeships, attempted to tackle parity of esteem, embraced the learning age, developed Centres of Vocational Excellence and now Technical Excellence Colleges, contemplated our purpose, navigated a two way street with employers, designed new study programmes,  thought about simplification (although not very much), stepped our way through area based reviews and re-classification and the devolution of adult funding. 

But in my view, I think that’s kind of brilliant. Sometimes, and I know it has felt like it to many of us, especially during austerity, it seemed that we were being ignored. But actually we never were. We were certainly badly funded, and for our work with adults especially, that remains a huge challenge. But we have, and always will be, not just anchor institutions but critical national infrastructure. 

Our real reach and power lies, I believe, in our collective wisdom. None of us knows all the answers individually, but together, we can leverage the creativity, talent and resourcefulness that shapes our sector. 

And arguably, it’s more important now than ever that we are bold in our thinking. The opportunities ahead of us are considerable, but so, too, is the peril. 

If it isn’t top of our agenda already then devolution of funding for young people certainly will be very soon. And in my view, it’s a knife edge policy. Devolution could be the structural change we have long needed; strengthening the connection between curriculum and the local economy, ending unhelpful duplication and competition, integrating 16-18 and adult budgets, creating a new era of local prosperity with colleges right at the centre. Or not. It could all go the other way too; hard borders on the Central Line between London and Essex. Different rules, entitlements and funding in Yorkshire’s four strategic authorities. The postcode lottery cliché becomes the description of the system we create. 

So how do we pool our collective experience and create a road map that understands both the opportunities and pitfalls? The only way, I believe, is to do it together. But in doing so, we must be prepared to each do a bit less. White papers need green edges. We need to be bold in saying this might work in Havering but good luck in Kirklees. In other words, we need to embrace the uncertainty that comes with new system design. We must have the courage to say we don’t know. In practice that means that we need to build slowly, co-designing with our civil servant colleagues a blueprint for devolution that is adaptive and outward looking. There can be a beauty in a jigsaw designed by all of us.

The same will be true of our response to Milburn. Each area, each postcode, will require a nuanced understanding of people, place and local labour markets. If we start with an understanding of difference, we can have real, lasting impact. The NEET story in Middlesbrough is different to that in Exeter. The young person who had 20% attendance in school and despite Herculean efforts from his college didn’t make it to day 42 does not have the same NEET story as the young person who couldn’t get onto an electrical installation course because demand far outstripped the availability of places. We know the approach to NEETs must embrace all of this. We can design a system that works for all our young people but it won’t be easy, and it must reflect the lived reality of those we seek to engage.

At the same time, none of us have lost sight of the transformation of our qualification system that is now underway. Here my ask is much simpler. As we roll out V levels, new level 2 qualifications, reformed T levels and more, can we be involved more deeply in their creation? Can we be bold enough to leave holes in specifications: to create doughnut shaped qualifications where content is filled in and developed by colleges and employers, responding to local need. What if 80% of a qualification was written by an awarding organisation (AO) and 20% was AO quality assured but written by a college. Core essential knowledge with a dynamic, agile, responsive, frequently updated centre. With the voice of employers, students and our sector we can show how standards can still be maintained but with a fresh approach to qualification design we can move more rapidly than ever before in creating a world beating productive workforce, engaged with local economies and the future challenges of our ever changing world.

Much of the focus of reform and renewal is on young people. That is understandable. But it isn’t enough. For almost the whole time I have been coming to AoC Annual Conference, and this week, I attended my 25th, we have ignored our national responsibility to adult learners. I say this from a deep sense of personal connection. Not just because I can see every day what deep impact adult learning has on the communities served by my own college but because of my own mother’s story. In the late 1970s, in her mid 30s, and having left school at 15, she attended what is now part of City of Bristol College to study for O- levels in English and Maths. From there she went on to take an Open University Degree, and later a Masters, and enjoyed a long career as a social worker. This is the power of adult education. And we have ignored it to our shame.

So can we, together design a system for all, one that  builds on our incredible history of innovation and adaption. A system that is not written, complete and sufficient by any one of us but is rather a glorious patchwork of ideas from all of us. 

I may be foolish, but I think we could be at the start of a new era for further education. An era cocreated by colleges, independent training providers, civil servants, awarding organisations and our fantastic sector bodies, working together to create the system our students deserve. All of us together.

And how will we know if we have succeeded? We will need a new test. Our own Makerfield test; that the system we create together works for every young person, every apprentice and every adult learner. With the experience, talent and aspiration that is so evident in our sector, I have no doubt we can do it.