Further Education is not a marginal sector operating at theedges of the education system – we are fundamental to individuals, communities and society. Over 1.6 million learners participate in FE every year.

On the government’s terms FEis an economically strategic parts of UK public education. FE colleges deliverthe majority of technical qualifications and apprenticeships in England, we train construction workers, engineers, health and social care professionals, digital & green technology specialists and so on.

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When governments speak about economic growth, net zero transition, house building, infrastructure or productivity, they are speaking about sectors trained in FE.

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As a teacher, an educationalist – I’m inspired by the transformational nature of FE, along with the whole post-16 education sector.

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I see day in, day out that we change people’s lives. We teach courses that provide students with the skills or knowledge to progress tohigher studies or into work. But we also provide a different learning environment to school – where many people struggle due to the pressures of being a teenager,the high level of control and so forth.

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We build students confidence to speak up and try new things.Working in education is a highly social and emotional job – we’re building social relationships with our students and within the whole class. This helps all of us understand each other and learn from each other.

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Yet for over a decade FE and Adult Education has been structurally underfunded — even as the needs of our students have intensified dramatically.

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If we are serious about defending education, social mobility and social cohesion, then we must defend Further Education.

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I’m aware that much of this article could be applied to other areas of post-16 education – we need to look and highlight these areas ofunity.

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Social mobility and social cohesion

FE plays a disproportionate role in educating working-class and disadvantaged students. The Sutton Trust in its 2021 report Going Further: Further Education and Social Mobility found that 43% of young people eligible for free school meals attend FE colleges, compared to 32% of more advantaged students.

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Moreover a government-commissioned review, The Contribution of Further Education and Skills to Social Mobility (2015), found that participation in FE and skills learning has a positive impact on sixout of seven indicators on social mobility.

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FE is also ensuring that there is access to education, in some of our most deprived areas of England. Department for Education analysis on disadvantaged learners in FE shows that nearly one third of FE and adult learners come from the 20% most deprived areas in England.

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This is not incidental; it was a key reason why FE was created. And it’s even more necessary in a society where so many feel left behind, ignored and lacking hope. We see Reform UK exploiting these concerns and whipping up racist narratives.

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FE could be central to challenging these narratives and providing opportunities to overturn this despair and division.

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But adult participation in learning has fallen sharply, byroughly one third since 2010, according to analysis by the Institutefor Fiscal Studies.

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That decline represents lost second chances. It represents adults who cannot retrain, cannot upskill, cannot progress. And this is clear an issue of equality – with women gaining the opportunity to train (or retrain). My mum for instance, left school at 16, and then gave up work when she had my brother and me forced into traditional gender roles. But when I was a teenager, she went to our local FE college and then went to Uni to train as teacher.

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Without FE, education becomes something you either get right at 16, or lose access to permanently.

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Over a decade of underinvestment

Despite this central role, FE has experienced a prolongedperiod of underinvestment.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies’s report Long-run comparison of school and college spending in England, found that 16–18 funding per student in further education fell by around 14–15% in real terms between 2010 and 2019. Even with the recent improved 16 – 19 funding changes, -per student funding is still 8% less in real terms than 2010-11

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Even more shockingly adult education funding fell by around onethird in real terms over the same period.

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This means colleges have been expected to do more, forstudents who often need more – but with significantly less funding per learner.

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This isn’t just a teacher or trade union critique – ouremployer body, the AoC has raised concerns. The AoC have called out thegovernment’s underinvestment and highlighted how access to education is beingdrastically reduced – “40 per cent ofcolleges reported being forced to cancel courses because of a lack of staff”

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The AoC warned that colleges are struggling to recruit andretain staff because they cannot compete on pay with schools or industry. This situationis only going to get worse as the number of students will increase – yet westill struggle to recruit and retain teachers.

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Even Parliamentary committees have highlighted the problemsin our sector. The EducationCommittee Chair, Helen Hayes, stated

“15 years of real terms funding cuts and stagnant payhave left colleges struggling to recruit and retain teacherswho earn far less than their peers in schools. Farfrom receiving the parity of esteem it’s been promised inthe past, FE continues to be treated likethe Cinderella of the education system. 

“We call for investment in the sector and theestablishment of a statutory pay review body to make recommendationson staff salary increases”

Whilst Starmer’s government has stated they have “no plans”to create a statutory pay review body – it has raised the notion withinParliament and the government.

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And, although nothing is certain in Politics – Starmer’sgovernment hardly looks like the strongest most clearly policy driven government.With pressure, it is perfectly feasible that an FE statutory pay review bodycould be created.

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When college leaders, parliamentary committees andindependent economists all describe the same structural problem, that gives us political leverage.

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Rising needs: EHCP growth and SEND pressures

Whilst funding has fallen in real terms, not only arestudent numbers set to rise but our students’ needs have increased sharply. This is not news to any of us working in the sector, but the figures are quite stark.

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The DofE Special Educational Needs in England statistics show that the number of young people with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) has more than doubled since 2015. There are now over half a million children and young people withEHCPs, with rapid growth in the 16–25 age group.

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Many of these young people transition directly into FE colleges at 16. Colleges are therefore supporting a dramatically expanded cohort of learners with complex needs.

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Yet our Additional Learning Support departments have been cut across the sector. When I started in FE in 2010, I was part of the ALS team– there were 9 full time staff dedicated to ALS. Now there are 2. This is not isolated to my college but a sector wide problem.

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Again, the Parliamentary Education committee carried out and inquiry, and stated  “the SEND system was broken, long past needing repair, and chronically letting down children, their families and their teachers”

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I have more students in my class with EHCPs and neurodivergence, but there is no support. Instead we are sent a 2 sided document on  “Possible reasonable adjustments for students with ADHD”. I understand why our support team have created this, because they don’t have the staff to support all students. But this is woefully inadequate, it is impersonaland is limiting our students ability to succeed.

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The Mental Health Crisis

On top of this our youngpeople are facing more mental distress. The NHS Digital survey Mental Health of Children and Young People in England shows that in 2017, around 1 in 9 young people had a probable mental health disorder. By 2023, this had risen to around 1 in 5.

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Colleges are increasingly supporting students experiencinganxiety, depression and trauma — often while specialist NHS services are overstretched.

Again, this is no surprise to any of us in the sector. When we ask students why they are absent – they share their feelings, fears and struggles.The breaks between lessons are absorbed with sitting with students, supporting them and trying to signpost them to services that we have seen shrink.

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FE staff are frequently the frontline responders. This isnot acceptable or sustainable – they need proper trained support and care.

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All of this leads to increasing burnout and stress of our FEstaff.

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National binding bargaining is not just a campaign slogan

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If funding is nationally determined and policy & skills priorities are nationally determined – then bargaining cannot remain fragmented and local.

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Differences in 16 – 19 funding and 19+ funding are rooted in government decisions as the DofE sets the funding formula for both age groups.  Whilst 60% of Adult Education funding is devolved – the pot that this comes from is the DofE’s Adult Skills Fund.

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When we first raised the idea of national binding bargaining, some in our union said it was like “arguing for unicorns”.

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But the evidence is clear – there are calls in sections of Parliament, government and our employers. It is our job to push on these calls and build pressure and momentum to make sure national binding bargaining happens.

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Without national binding bargaining, we have postcode lotteries in pay, fragmented negotiations and structural competition between colleges.

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Our responsibility is to organise that evidence into collective strength and use all of our campaigning, political and industrial tools.

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If elected as UCU VP from FE, I would be out visiting branches, listening to members and discussing the current context. I would support a campaign that called on employers and, where needed, pressured our employers to support calls for national binding bargaining. At the same we can lobby government and MPs on the need to implement Parliament’s Education Committee recommendations.

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We need to do all of this, and fundamentally to ensure we win we need to organise nationally coordinated industrial action.

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Further Education is essential to social mobility, cohesion and community stability - we must fight for it.

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Defending FE, along with the rest of the post-16 education sector, requires more than words. It requires collective strength and leadership prepared to follow through.

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