FE Principal and CEO Darren Hankey shines a spotlight on the challenges colleges face when trying to deliver qualifications to young people under the current financial constraints of a severely underfunded and neglected sector.

Investment. Investment. Investment.

We are not far away from the new government’s first year in power and, in this time, it has clearly put down a marker to highlight the direction of travel for the next five years and beyond. 

First, we have the Plan for Change (www.gov.uk/missions), which clearly highlights the milestones for the government’s five Missions – those ambitious but long-term goals to completely transform government. Next, there is the pledge to build 1.5 million new homes, which the government hopes will help kickstart economic growth. Finally, and central to delivering economic growth, there is Invest 2035: The UK's modern industrial strategy (tinyurl.com/wsy3wtjz). At a more local level, Mayoral Strategic Authorities (MSAs) are in the process of developing Local Growth Plans (tinyurl.com/ypvwzwx9), which need to directly support the government’s economic aspirations to secure funding and strengthen devolved powers. 

As a Principal of a further education college, reading these documents and listening to announcements about them is music to my ears because it’s the knowledge, skills, and qualifications that FE colleges provide that are going to drive these three policy intentions. For example, whether it’s housebuilding, being a world leader in net zero, or focusing on key industry sectors such as advanced manufacturing, the delivery of these aspirations will require brickies, chippies, sparkies, engineers, welders, platers, fabricators, and many, many more trades and professionals, which FE colleges educate and provide training for on an annual basis. 

I think this message is getting through to young people as enrolments onto high-quality vocational and technical courses are increasing and FE colleges look to secure the relevant investment to help meet this increased demand. Furthermore, the shine seems to be taken off academic courses at university as the returns of yesteryear are no longer guaranteed while increased costs and debt are. 

So far, so good then for further education – an increased demand for its provision fuelled by the qualifications that link to the types of jobs and careers the government and MSA see as highly important. 

The evidence 

However, before we start popping the champagne corks it is worth slowing down and taking a more measured view. While many of us working in education remember Tony Blair’s “Education! Education! Education!” mantra, this should now be tweaked to highlight a key challenge for FE colleges in providing high-quality technical education: Investment! Investment! Investment! 

Before diving into the statistics, I use the word ‘investment’, as opposed to ‘funding’, as the government’s own research clearly highlights the economic return FE colleges make. For example, see this government report tinyurl.com/msremx7p that “provides further evidence of a strong return on investment in FE”. Sadly, investment into 16–18 education and training is not in a good place, as the Institute of Fiscal Studies clearly highlights in this report ifs.org.uk/educationspending/further-educationand-sixth-forms The report’s subheading tells its own story: 

“Across all areas of education spending, further education and skills saw the largest spending cuts in the decade after 2010.” 

Even though the report does acknowledge that extra investment has come into the sector in recent times – between 2019/20 and 2024/25 a real-terms increase of 4% – it also highlights that this still equates to a real-terms cut to investment in 16–18 education and training to the tune of 11%. This is not good. 

The consequences of years of underfunding 

The impact of this is felt by FE college students, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Simply put, the investment in England for 16 to 18 year-olds equates to about 16 hours of lessons per week. This is about two-thirds of the time a young person in the average Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country spends in their respective system, and about half of the hours studied by young people in nations with so-called ‘high performing’ technical education systems. Many young people who study in FE colleges have to resit GCSE English and/or maths and, while this is important, it means fewer hours remain to train in the trades the country needs. 

In addition, and it is sad to report, FE colleges up and down the country are using scarce resources to support students with a myriad of other needs. Not a day seems to go by when the mental health of young people is not reported. I am not an expert on this matter, but something is clearly going on and colleges aim to support their students who disclose struggles. Furthermore, colleges have seen an increase with young people who have been sexually exploited, criminally exploited, drawn into gambling or who have witnessed/ been victims of domestic violence. Again, all colleges take their safeguarding responsibilities seriously, but they just don’t have the resources to ensure students can overcome adversity and realise their potential. 

Finally, the lack of fair, reasonable, and sustained investment over time has eroded the pay of the wonderful staff who work in FE colleges. Most, if not all, teaching staff are dual professionals, which means they are qualified teachers as well as experts in their field. Some of these staff have talents that mean they can earn way more money in their respective industry than in FE, and many of them have decided to take this route in recent years as the cost-of-living crisis has taken hold – and who can blame them? Once again, it’s the nation’s young people who feel the impact, with some subject areas now lacking qualified members of staff to teach them. 

So, there we have it, on the one hand, it should be a halcyon time for FE colleges as the nation demands the knowledge, skills, and qualifications they provide. However, a lack of fair, reasonable, and sustained investment over many years means that colleges do exceptional work on a shoestring. 

Is this sustainable? Absolutely not and, more importantly, policymakers need to have a long, hard look at themselves when it comes to the impact of this on the country’s young people, especially when they are ‘mission driven’ and one of the missions is to break down the barriers to opportunity. 

“Across all areas of education spending, further education and skills saw the largest spending cuts in the decade after 2010.”

Darren Hankey
Principal and Chief Executive of Hartlepool College of Further Education
@darrenhankey.bsky.social

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