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There will be a Further Education (FE) College near you. It may be an imposing but now aging and crumbling structure, or a new purpose-built campus. Education isn’t all about the building though, it’s about what goes on inside. For most people, I suspect this is a bit of a mystery.   

I work in an FE college, and have done so for more years than I care to remember. We get called the “forgotten” sector or even the “Cinderella” sector (not sure about that last one, although there is a hint of pantomime about my budget). The question, though, is more about your image of your local college and what goes on inside its walls. You may not even know where your nearest college is, or perhaps you drive past every day, but never give it a thought. 

For me, at 16, the local college was where all the cool kids went instead of staying on in the sixth form. They didn’t have to wear school uniform; they could wear earrings (including the boys) and have their hair any length or colour they chose. For my dad, college was about evening classes in pottery and poetry, and a seething mass of drugged out yobs during the day. I stayed in the sixth form.

I wonder if this is what people still think about the students? Even more worrying is what they may think of the staff.  Apparently, the male staff all have beards, smoke pipes, have leather patches on the elbows of their tweed jackets and permanently carry a file of dog-eared and yellowing lecture notes. Female staff have long hair, wear glasses and long ethnic print skirts, and permanently carry a coffee mug with a “Save the Amazon Singing Toads” logo.

In contrast I sit here, clean shaven, wearing a suit, and have more than a hint of Brad Pitt about me (ok I made that last bit up) colleagues are all smartly dressed professionals who would look at home in almost any work setting. So where has this image come from, and who is to blame?

We can’t blame the newspapers, they hardly give us any coverage. Perhaps that’s the origin of the “forgotten sector” moniker. Schools and universities are sources of good copy, even making headlines in the national press. Put simply, FE does not equal big stories. Perhaps we only have ourselves to blame, we need to hire Max Clifford and catch the public eye with headlines like “Freddy Starr Eats Principal’s Hamster” or “Jordan gets her Diplomas Out”. We can’t afford to do this of course, funding is tight and getting tighter. The last thing colleges can afford to spend money on is an image consultant A threat to close a local school is guaranteed headlines. Threats to universities will prompt editorials in the national press, and even debate on television. Cuts in the FE sector hardly raise a ripple of interest, and even lose out in the local press to “Fire at Scout Hut” or “Oldest Resident Doris is 102”.

Right, I’m going to talk about funding, it’s been mentioned already and it has become the overriding factor in all decisions. Very simply we don’t get enough money (I feel your sympathy ebbing away, but stay with me for a few moments). There just isn’t enough money to fund all our provision, and all colleges must seek alternative sources from the government, from commercial work and from the EU. An enormous amount of time and money is spent not on education, but on securing this funding. You are probably thinking “So what, welcome to the real world, all firms have to compete and fight to survive”. The world of education is just as real as any other, we have real problems and deal with real people. So to answer the question; what do we do?

I’ll try to explain - colleges provide education and training to people who have no other access to it. We create highly employable, trained and educated people to strengthen the UK workforce. We work with employers to provide specific training tailored to their needs, and with Universities to ensure progression for our students. We offer courses that need no qualifications for entry, other than enthusiasm and dedication, we offer HND, Foundation degree and degree programmes, and courses at all levels in between. More importantly students can start at entry level and progress all the way to a degree within the college. We offer learning support to all students that need or want it, we offer advice and guidance with courses and careers, and we give encouragement so students can achieve. Many of our students did not have a positive experience at school and are turned off by the thought of education. Our job is to help them release their true potential, they learn that college isn’t like school and they learn to learn.

I think the college image has moved on a bit in the 21^st century. I don’t think my college offers weaving or pottery, but there is a wide range of evening classes. Our students are generally not here to explore their artistic side (and there’s nothing wrong with that if they are). They’re here to gain a qualification, to get a job, a better job, or promotion.  Many of them left school with few or no qualifications, and FE is their chance to remedy that situation. We provide support, advice and encouragement (and qualifications) and we change people’s lives. Bit of a dramatic statement that last sentence – but it’s true, my students have told me.