FE News | Collaborating with the sector for impact

Dr Vikki Smith, Executive Director of Education and Standards at the Education and Training Foundation (ETF), explores the ETF’s work with the Further Education (FE) and skills sectors, the appetite for continuing professional development and professional status and standards, and the importance of FE and skills transforming people’s lives.

As a sector, our impact is far-reaching. Every day, teachers, support staff, leaders and governors in the Further Education (FE) and Skills sector change people’s lives, providing transformative opportunities that have a positive impact on individuals, their communities and wider society. From giving an adult student the confidence to embark on a new and rewarding career, to equipping a young person with the in-demand technical skills that will enable them to pursue their dream job, the impact of FE and skills on people of all ages and backgrounds is enormous and often unmeasurable.

At the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) we are committed to working closely with colleagues and partners across the sector to support the delivery of these important opportunities and enable educators and leaders to continue to deliver the best possible experiences and outcomes for their learners. When we launched our new strategy late last year, supporting this transformational impact was at the forefront, underpinned by our four strategic goals: driving professionalism to make FE and Skills a rewarding career choice; improving teaching and learning; supporting inclusiveness by tackling inequalities in the FE and Skills workforce; and enabling sector change for a thriving FE and Skills system.

Our latest impact report, published earlier this year, shows how we have worked with and supported the sector from 2021 to 2023. We are now considering how we will develop this work, with our new strategic goals and the transformative power of lifelong learning and skills at the heart of what we do.

Driving professionalism

Examples of exceptional professionalism and professional practice abound throughout our sector and ETF is proud to promote this professionalism and support professionals in the sector to maintain high standards and spread best practice. Effective sector leadership underpins these high standards. From 2021 to 2023, 3,447 people engaged in our leadership development programs, including programs for mid-level, aspiring and senior leaders. Our Professional Standards for Leaders set out expectations for leadership roles, helping you identify opportunities for development. Meanwhile, the Professional Standards for Teachers and Trainers provide a benchmark for the sector, helping practitioners improve teaching and outcomes for students.

With Society for Education and Training (SET) membership currently standing at over 22,800, between 2021 and 2023, 153 SET members achieved Advanced Teacher Status and ultimately Chartered Teacher Status. This status enables professionals to demonstrate their proficiency in teaching and learning, which in turn helps them advance to higher positions. Over the same period, a further 2,750 SET members achieved Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills status – a recognized badge of professionalism for technical and vocational teaching and training in the post-14 education sector.

Improving teaching and learning

We facilitate effective and impactful teaching and training so that students have access to the widest range of opportunities through education. High-quality teaching and training unlocks the potential of students and enables them to engage, gain confidence and thrive – with positive spill-over effects for their communities and wider society.

Part of this work includes supporting FE and Skills staff to deliver qualifications that equip students with the key skills they need now and in the future. ETF has delivered over 48,500 CPD activities through the T Level Professional Development (TLPD) program since it launched in 2019, enabling those planning and delivering T Levels to benefit from targeted support. Between 2021 and 2023, 3,596 trainers and leaders were supported through the Apprenticeship Workforce Development (AWD) programme, providing them with the teaching skills, subject knowledge and confidence needed to deliver successful apprenticeships to apprentices.

Technical education plays a vital role in tackling the key challenges we face as a society, from climate change to evolving technology. Our prestigious and competitive Technical Teaching Fellows program – run in partnership with the Royal Commission on the 1851 Exhibition – recognizes outstanding FE and Skills practitioners for their influential technical teaching. It supports fellows to develop their practice and disseminate their knowledge, so they can help improve the quality of teaching and technical training across the sector and improve student outcomes.

Supporting inclusivity

Every student and every member of FE and Skills staff should be able to feel that they belong to the group. To develop and sustain an inclusive FE and Skills sector, ETF works to embed inclusive practice in all we do, from delivering the Centers for Excellence in Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) program to supporting leaders to embrace equality, diversity and inclusion through our Inclusive program Leadership.

By being inclusive and supporting belonging, our sector can have the greatest impact on ensuring social mobility and opportunity for all, regardless of background, age, gender or ethnicity. Encouraging cross-sector collaboration to ensure students have the opportunity to develop foundational skills such as English and mathematics is part of this mission. The Centers for Excellence in Maths programme, a five-year national improvement program designed to deliver lasting improvements in mathematics outcomes for 16 to 19-year-olds up to Level 2, has brought together 21 providers to collaborate. The universities involved have successfully delivered their learning to almost 12,500 practitioners in local and regional networks to support improvements for students, including in their personal approaches to mathematics.

Supporting inclusivity and belonging across the sector is an ongoing process and there is always more work to be done, but ETF remains committed to implementing inclusive practices within its business and across the sector.

Enabling change in the sector

To best meet the needs of learners, the labor market and wider society, our sector must be dynamic and sustainable. Collaboration and research are key here. We have already seen initiatives such as the Practitioner Research Program (PRP) making an impact, enabling 62 FE and Skills professionals to conduct research to develop and improve their own practice and inspire others in the process. Building on this work, ETF is now working with the Association of Colleges (AoC) and NCFE on the Research Further project, which is helping to further drive innovation in the sector. A culture of continuous improvement and innovation drives our sector forward, enabling it to adapt to a changing landscape and evolving challenges.

Continuous influence

The current scale and pace of change in the UK is enormous as we grapple with evolving technology, changing political priorities and demographics, and a challenging economic climate. In this context, the role of FE and Skills comes to the fore. Our sector is critical to both leading and responding to these changes and, therefore, to the UK’s economic, commercial and social future.

Working with Saïd Business School, the University of Oxford (Oxford Saïd) and sector stakeholders, ETF has begun to explore how the sector can continue to be seen as relevant, resilient and responsive to complex challenges and emerging opportunities. These ideas are outlined in our recently published report ‘Further Education and Skills: Changing Systems of Change’. To continue our collective impact on FE and skills, our report recognized that simply asking people to do more is not an option. Instead, we propose that the system within which the FE and skills sector operates can be self-improving. A sustainable system would be able to continually improve its practices and infrastructure to meet the needs of learners, labor markets and wider society. Importantly, these changes will become widespread and lasting, rather than piecemeal and entail significant personal and/or organizational costs. We encourage colleagues across the sector to engage with these ideas and join us in the ‘art of the possible’: working towards a self-improving science and skills education system, so that together we can ensure that our sector continues to have a transformative impact influence on our changing world.

Dr Vikki Smith, Executive Director for Education and Standards at the Education and Training Foundation