Welfare Reform on the Web (November 2009): Education - UK - training

Development through partnership: how learning representatives are helping to meet the challenge of upskilling Scottish FE lecturers

A. Alexandrou

Research in Post-Compulsory Education, vol. 14, 2009, p. 233-249

Both the present Scottish Government and previous Scottish Executive have put a great deal of emphasis on the continuing professional development of educators and the further education (FE) sector has not been exempt. Various initiatives have given the lifelong learning and professional development of FE personnel and the role of union learning representatives (ULRs) greater impetus within the Scottish lecturing profession. However, to date there has been no analysis or discussion of the activities of ULRs in the post-compulsory sector within the United Kingdom. This article deals specifically with the activities and experiences of the Educational Institute of Scotland's first cohort of FE LRs based on a study of their activities and experiences and of the impact they are having on the lifelong and professional development agendas in Scottish FE.

The long goodbye: how local authorities lost control of further education

R. Simmons

Research in Post-Compulsory Education, vol. 14, 2009, p. 287-297

Following the 1992 Further and Higher Education Act, local education authorities (LEAs) lost control of further education in England. However, from 2010, local authorities are set to become re-involved in the further education system. This paper takes the opportunity to look back at the end of LEA control and reflect upon why further education colleges were removed from local authorities in the first place and argues that it was as much a process as a single event.