From coordination to competition – are we really learning?

By David Warnes, Chief Executive of Chelmsford College

“Oh, the irony!” I posted on LinkedIn recently. It was a moment of real frustration – and I’m not someone prone to dramatic outbursts. But having sat in meetings, hearing emphatic talk about moving from "competition to coordination" as a central principle of the new Post-16 Skills Strategy, I was left bemused to then see the launch of the new Construction Technical Excellence Colleges (CTECs) – a process that is, quite clearly, competitive.

Don’t get me wrong: the concept of CTECs is strong. The investment – £100 million of government funding – is welcome, much needed and aligned with real skills gaps in construction. But what’s baffling is the complete contradiction between what the strategy says and what’s now being implemented.

CTECs, as currently designed, pit colleges against one another. And while I see leaders trying to do the right thing – many colleges are endorsing each other’s bids out of goodwill and a sense of sector solidarity – the reality is that we are being asked to compete. That’s not coordination or collaboration, but the very environment the DfE assured us it was trying to move away from.

What makes this even more frustrating is how closely this follows the rollout of the LSIF (Local Skills Improvement Fund). LSIF has been a real step forward in partnership working – a clear and practical example of colleges working together across a region to meet skills priorities identified in their LSIPs. The funding mechanisms, the reporting infrastructure, the shared leadership and outcomes – they all encouraged collaborative behaviour and ensured equitable investment. And the FE sector has really embraced this, with some fantastic projects developed and implemented across the country.

So why not use this ready-made framework for CTECs? Why not take the £100m earmarked for construction and distribute it through the LSIF networks – where colleges have already spent the last year building strong partnerships and regional plans?

Construction likely appears in every LSIP. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel or launch a rush-job competition that undercuts the trust and collaboration we have worked so hard to build.

Instead, we now face a model where one college in a region will receive funding, while others are left out – even if they have strengths to offer. The successful providers will have access to revenue funding – which risks leading to a bidding war for staff, especially in a sector like construction where recruitment and retention are already a serious issue. One college might use their revenue uplift to offer bonuses, while another just down the road loses the very staff they need to keep their provision going. How is that helping learners or serving employers?

It doesn’t need to be this way. I led a Centre of Vocational Excellence (CoVE) under the last Labour government – ours was in sport. Each CoVE had a national collaboration requirement. We had 15 partner colleges. Our college focused on sports coaching, another on sports science – we weren’t competing for the same students. Each was excellent in its niche and together we offered a joined-up solution that supported industry need.

Construction is no different, in fact it is arguably even more fragmented. We need specialisms in trades, surveying, modern methods of construction, retrofit, site management and more. Yet this current CTEC model assumes a single hub can do it all. Where is the conversation about who is best placed to deliver what? Who is convening the table of experts?

There is talk of a hub and spoke model where multiple colleges work together within a region, but the mechanics of how this would work and how revenue and capital funding will follow are currently very vague. We need systems thinking from the DfE to foster cross collaborating partners, support specialisms and play to strengths – this is what will create real impact.

As more TECs are likely to follow – in digital, health, defence and other key sectors – we have a chance to pause and rethink. For sectors like health and digital, there are already LSIP-backed partnerships ready to go. For narrower sectors like defence, pooling funding across specialist colleges would have even more impact. But none of this works if we fall back into siloed, zero-sum funding competitions.

LSIF has already shown that colleges can and want to collaborate. This would help us build a stronger, more joined-up system which benefits everyone.