A new Prime Minister with a new Cabinet and a new way of looking at education and skills! While Jacqui Smith as Home Secretary got the big headlines yesterday, the abolition of the Department for Education and Skills was hidden away rather, but will have a significant impact on the sector. The BBC article "Brown shakes up education arena" focused on the wonders of Ed Balls and his new Department for Children, Schools and Families, once again leaving adult learning and skills as the Cinderella sector.
The new Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills covers the Higher Education sector, Science, Innovation and the skills sector, but the key delivery agents for skills in many areas - the Further Education Colleges - have more than one master, as their 16 - 19 remit sits with the Department for Children. The Learning and Skills Council would appear to have some change to its remit, although not yet in the public domain as far as I can tell, as funding for 16 to 19 education will be allocated to schools and colleges via local authority education budgets (it is unclear whether schools and colleges also means private training providers).
For the LSC, the bulk of the budgets are for 16 to 19 provision so a significant transfer of power is to be expected with the movement of the funding role. In some ways, my personal view is that this is probably right, as the LSC never really got to grips with or got support for its role in school 6th form funding, and a lot of the work that continues on academic routes at 16 to 19 detracts from the support needed to tackle those who chose not to continue in any form of education or training. It would be nice if this meant that there is then a real concentration on the skills issues of adults and adult learning, however I think in reality there could just be a power struggle between local education authorities and the LSC on who determines policy and strategy for colleges. FE Colleges will have to resist the temptation to deal with these two like a child with separated parents, playing one off the other to get more and better treats.
My real concern in all of this is that the internal politics and navel gazing that will ensue at the former Department and at the LSC and the other Skills organisations will mean that it will be too much like hard work to do anything about the Leitch report and its recommendations. The report will be lost, while the sector jockeys for position, and once they return to it, it will be easy to say that it is out of date and needs refreshing, and we will wait another 2 or 3 years to see anything on improving the skills and competitiveness of the UK.
Your background within the LSC betrays you Jane, and I gather you have commented on a similar article on the BBC website called Strategic split or messy divorce? It would seem Mike Baker has picked up quite a few of your thoughts and phrases - are you related??
While you are passionate about adult skills, don't forget that we have to do the best for children, as they are the workforce of the future. With this split, there is no distracting adult and higher education to divert strategic thinking.
Posted by: Cicely Gardner | 07/02/2007 at 11:33 AM