Changing times, changing roles: FE colleges’ perceptions of their changing leadership role in contemporary UK politico-economic climate

The work reported in this paper is part of a study that explored some of the roles of Further Education Colleges in the United Kingdom. The paper is based largely on literature from books and on-line resources and short interviews from five British further education colleges, but also on the author’s views and experience. The major aim of the essay was to explore the notion and beliefs that the further education colleges are the champions of leadership in education within our society. The study also aimed at examining the institutional factors from the perspective of leaders, and how these may impact on their mission statements, and the engagement of people and community in learning where they are situated. The paper found that the colleges, in addition to fulfilling the primary role of developing talent and innovation capacity of the community by encouraging people to have a second chance at education and leisure, providing vocational qualifications and other great learning that are below level two, they also engage in the social challenges that face the community, for example, faith issues, extremism and drugs. They are the power base in which to build the creativity sector of the community, which will drive directly the country’s competitiveness. They are nonetheless, associated traditionally with transactional model of leadership which builds on order and accountability. However, there are still few institutional challenges faced by the colleges in general, which included the issues of raising the aspiration of young people and removal of racial tension which characterised the past. There is also the issue of working with young people in the community and, actually making sure they begin to trust and to view colleges in a positive light. Finally there is little evidence of institutional enthusiasm for working in partnership with other Agencies in order to promote well being, ensuring students’ work continues.