FIGHTING FOR FAIR FUNDING

Sad to hear the term “Cinderella sector” re-emerging once again in further education.

 This expression was doing the rounds at a time when the sector was awash with cash by today’s standards and Government ministers used to turn up on time for conference slots, stay to face questions and make themselves available to journalists before returning to Westminster.

It is very hard to interpret the current situation as anything other than a calculated attempt by the Government to undermine further education. The approach has proved to be a tough one - starve the sector of cash, breath down Principals’ necks with unprecedented scrutiny and leave it to colleges to make the publicity case for funding as if they, not the Government, own the problem.

The Government's dismissive description of colleges as "private sector institutions" in its response to the Parliamentary funding petition rather sets the scene for their position in the pecking order behind schools - but the disinterest goes wider than that.

The lack of attention from the media - largely managed by people of the same educational background as most of those who make policy - threatens to be the final nail in the coffin. 

Faces from national television news express their support when invited to speak to audiences of beleaguered Principals. For a while, we imagine that perhaps the media is getting the message. But empathetic language for the benefit of the already-converted butters no parsnips. We watch the news and the agenda remains the same. Schools are under-funded, we are told. University education is misleadingly characterised as saddling graduates with debt.

Apprenticeships get a look-in but only in the context of a prejudiced view of education which divides the population simplistically between those who are academic and those who should learn on the job.

Colleges, loved by the communities they serve, are nevertheless almost entirely overlooked, except perhaps when another Principal has been made to walk the plank for failing to keep the ship from running aground in the shallow waters of ever-decreasing income.

It is true that many colleges have the capacity to improve their finances considerably by improving their marketing operations. It is also true, indeed a truism, to say that colleges could be more efficient. 

All organisations could be more efficient, after all. Colleges, the NHS, Unilever, the Vatican, you name it. Optimum efficiency is the perpetual goal of all well-run outfits - but none ever achieve it. No private business would ever invest in its operations if first it were to wait until it had reached the Nirvana of 100 per cent efficiency.

The public understands this. Many of us all know from our own experience that the NHS does not always run like a Swiss watch, but few of us would suggest the solution would be to starve it of funds.

If colleges are going to fight back effectively, they need to build on the recent campaigning work led by the Association of Colleges.

Incorporation of colleges, which came in to effect in 1993 after legislation the previous year, has led them to operate as competitive institutions, in relation to schools and private providers, but also in relation to each other.

Competition has its place. It can make organisations more responsive to customers. It can drive quality if resources are sufficient. It also encourages colleges to shout about what they achieve and the difference they make, as indeed they should.

While colleges which market themselves effectively will be able to grow - even when in recovery - the survival of the sector as a whole requires them to work together. 

When they come together - and they must - here are some things to consider if they want to win the battle for fair funding. 

1 Ditch “Cinderella”

This word should never pass the lips of any of us in any public forum. 

If we keep repeating the idea that nobody wants us, the public could be forgiven for thinking there’s a good reason. It just doesn’t make us look very attractive. In the real world beyond Westminster and the North London studio flats of the media chatterati, colleges are far from unloved. They’re entrepreneurial in their own way, and staffed by dedicated people who often make an almost incalculable difference to people’s lives and are deeply committed professionally and often emotionally to their purpose.

We’re not waiting to be invited to the ball. We don’t have the time for that. We’ve got more important things to do. 

2 Get on the news agenda

While further education is a mystery to many journalists, skills are not. So where are colleges in the coverage about skills post-Brexit? Let’s take just one employment sector - care. Much has been made of the difficulty care businesses will have in finding staff without free movement of people.

Notwithstanding the care sector’s fundamental problem - its reliance on low pay - there are two primary sources of staff. The first is continental Europe and the second is the UK. Unless the care sector is going to be allowed to collapse entirely without free migration, we can assume it will continue to try to recruit, even if it has to make itself more enticing to potential staff.

Those potential staff need to be trained. Where is further education in this? Front and centre. Which is precisely where colleges should be in the discussion about what happens to the economy post-Brexit.

3 Draw some lines

Colleges’ purpose is more fundamental than the mere implementation of Government policy. When colleges complain about funding in one breath and, in the next, express their eagerness to embrace the latest initiative, they are at risk of being seen as a walk-over.

The sector has been complaining about resources for many years, not just during the current crisis. When push comes to shove though, it has tended to dance to the minister’s tune like a dutiful neglected partner.  

Before colleges cooperate with the next policy change, they should make it clear that there’s unfinished business to be resolved first, and that means addressing funding. 

Of course, standing up and being counted is easier said than done in a sector suffering unprecedented scrutiny. Yet some Principals have already made themselves heard, by deeds as well as words. Gerry McDonald, Principal of New City College in London, closed his campuses to allow staff and students to join the Association of Colleges’ national funding protest in Westminster. 

Just imagine the headlines if every college in England had followed suit.

Steve Hook

www.hookcommunications.co.uk