F.E. Management Under Scrutiny

While lecturers up and down the country have this notion of F.E. being a business drumed into them by managers in order to instill concern over meeting targets, do F.E. managers understand that F.E. is a business to a degree appropriate for their role?

Why do I ask? One side effect of the new teacher training courses (DTLLS and GDTLLS) especially in year 2, is that lecturers are encouraged to explore, examine and criticise the business functions of their institution. As such, management suddenly come under scrutiny from their subordinates to a degree previously un-encountered. Gone are the days of generic moaning about policy and management demands - this has now been replaced by serious study, research and analysis - level 5 and Level 6 analysis at that. All in all, the new graduates, when they moan, will be doing it with new authority. Managers and policies are being appraised by their subordinates as never before.

What then are these lecturers finding in their research? What recommendations are coming out of their analysis?

At this point I can only comment on my own findings (though feel free to leave comments). Early findings indicate the following:

• Short Term and Medium Term business goals are in conflict.
• Lack of synergy between important areas of business function.
• Marketing can and should be more closely aligned to business objectives.
• Pressure to pass sub-standard student work to meet targets diminishes staff morale and respect for management.

Are the managers aware of these issues and taking appropriate action? Do they listen to fresh ideas from the ground floor?

I suggest that the degree to which these two questions can be answered in the affirmative is a primary indicator of the degree to which managers understand that F.E. is a business, and treat it as such.

One very heartening thing I can say in favour of our new management... we have been invited to give feedback, we have been asked to tell them the things they may not want to hear. This is very refreshing. However, I wonder how many will dare to do it? It very much depends on whether the aim of management is to root out and squash the criticisms, or whether they are truly open to new ideas, and willing to hear them out non-judgementally.

Remove bad teachers?

"Sub-standard teachers should be removed from schools to make way for better colleagues, a key government education adviser has suggested.

"Sir Cyril Taylor said there were about 17,000 "poor" teachers in England. "(BBC)

On the other hand...

"Teacher Frances Gilbert said problems they had to deal with included parents unwilling to accept the disciplining of their child, government paperwork, and head teachers who would not back them up."(BBC)

However while there is unlikely to be agreement about who is to blame, there are some areas against which a teacher's ability may be more easily assessed:

"'Obvious' weaknesses, such as not knowing enough about their subject or being unable to keep control of a class..."(BBC)

So what is this discussion all about? We know the UK has some of the worse qualification stats for adults, we know many students leave the school system with few or no qualifications. But this does seem to be one attempt at placing a large part of the blame on poor teachers.

Sure there are good teachers and bad teachers, but this suggestion from the "key education adviser" misses some other important points - such as the number of teachers leaving the profession because they are "burned out" - such as broken homes - such as poor parenting - such as expulsion/exclusion targets.

It's easy to go teacher bashing, but this is becoming a worrying trend. In fact the problem is not that simple. Yes lets look at the impact of poor teachers, but lets also look at the impact of increasing discipline, of holding parents responsible for their children's behaviour, of holding students themselves responsible for their own learning. This will take a whole society approach, and is much more complex than removing poor teachers.

HAVE YOUR SAY - read what teachers and the public have to say on the issue >

Law change to raise learning age

The BBC reports: "There will be an 'educational opportunity' Bill so all young people can stay in education or training to the age of 18, Gordon Brown told MPs.

"The measure - one of several announced in the Commons - is an effort to drive up the 'staying on' rate. "

Read more >

This basically is a nice way of saying that education or training will be compulsory for 16-18 year olds who are unemployed. It is part of a bigger strategy to deal with the NEET (Not in Education Employment or Training) problem and is due to come into force for 17 year olds in 2013 and 18 years olds in 2015. How effective it will be remains to be seen and it is not without it's opponents - especially when the proposals include fining young people who are NEET - effectively criminalising them for doing nothing.

For one I welcome a proposal that makes it less attractive to be an unproductive future benefit leech, however to insist that young people do something, and criminalising them if they don't, even if they are supported by parents and not benefits does seem to encroach on individual choice.

Is this where left wing socialism reaches so far that it meets right wing capitalism round the back? "You will want to better yourself even if we have to make you do it".

Radio 4's PM discussed the issue this evening. Listen to an interview with Jim Knight, the Schools Minister and Adam Hildreth, who left school at 16 after setting up his first company when he was 14:

LISTEN HERE (Download the item in MP3 format) >

School creativity 'needs support'

The BBC reports that "Creativity in schools needs to be taken 'far more seriously' if it is to avoid being squeezed out of a crowded curriculum, says a report from MPs.

"The Commons education committee warns that creativity is a 'second-order priority' in England's schools. "

Read more >

I am glad to see that this issue has been brought back to our attention. While the focus is so much on standards and attainment as Britain's solution to global competition, we must not miss, in the delivery of education, the one factor that could make those other things truly competitive - creative thinking.

Time to re-look at the Cox Review of creativity in business commissioned in 2005 by the Treasury. The review "sets out the steps that the Government and the business, broadcasting and education sectors should take to ensure that UK businesses harness the world-class creative talents that the UK possesses."

Read the Cox Review on Creativity in Business >

Read more on the value of creativity:

The Design Council >
Design Council introduction to the Cox review on creativity in business >

A-Levels may be scrapped (still... or is it again?)

This issue seems to have been going on forever, we probably still don't know what is actually going to happen. However I heard an interesting news report on Radio 4's PM that discussed the issue. All the more interesting, considering that I thought the Tomlinson Report was not considered all that credible.

LISTEN HERE (Download the item in MP3 format) >

You can also read more about it here >

QIA a success - but may be streamlined

The Quality Improvement Agency (QIA), set up by the government to "streamline" efforts to raise the game across further education, has announced a saving of £23m in its first year of operations.

The quango, which might itself fall victim to streamlining if colleges are granted self-regulation by government, says it is making an impact on almost every college and training company in the country.

Read on >

Related News Websites

Your tutor probably drummed into you the importance of keeping up with the latest developments in industry, you know, that national and international viewpoint we need to be analysing against.

Anyway, here are a few news sites that might augment your reading in the Times Ed, and the FE Focus:

http://www.fenews.co.uk/
http://www.tes.co.uk/
http://education.guardian.co.uk/further/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/default.stm
http://news.independent.co.uk/education/education_news/

Dig in...

Rules and Regs

This blog is one place you can read issues and share findings related to your DTLLS or GDTLLS course. However please do not use it to swap or share assignments. Facilitating plagiarism is not one of my aims. I won't be posting mine on here, please don't try to post yours.