The Policy Consortium’s 2017 FE National Survey

Currently, FE Doesn’t even warrant a whole minister, as Justine Greening, who has previously been tried in the departments of transport and then international development, is required to split her time between education and women and equalities. She’s an economist. Michael Gove was a journalist.

Are you happy with this situation? Swathes of subjects undermined by Gove. Assessment regimes changed at the drop of a hat. Policy decisions taken with no thought to the unintended consequences. Ofsted’s chief inspector wanting the dissolution of the FE sector. Oh, and what’s the latest hobby-horse? Grammar schools – producing elitism and sink schools, but not in equal measure.

What do you think should happen to FE?

In 1997, Gordon Brown gave the Bank of England independence from political control. The experts were allowed to get on with the job, while simply being accountable to government. Do you think this is what should happen to education?

The 2017 FE National Survey, run by the Policy Consortium in association with Tes, is where you can have your say. This is not a talking shop, it’s your chance to influence the whole context in which you work. We’ve had a great response so far, but would like to extend the survey deadline to 30 June to ensure that all parts of our varied sector have a chance to contribute.

Just 15 minutes of your time could change our world!