Robin Simmons

Creativity and performativity: The case of further education

This article examines the circumstances affecting creative teaching and learning within the specific context of English further education (FE)—a sector which has proved to be particularly fertile ground for performativity. Beginning with an analysis of notions of creativity in education and a description of the peculiar history and policy context of FE, the article problematises the relationship between representations of creativity and the current situation of teachers and learners. Drawing on a range of empirical studies and policy analyses, it is argued that FE is increasingly positioned at the ‘lower end’ of a largely class‐based division of post‐compulsory education in England. In such a division, the authors argue, meaningful creativity is difficult to achieve. Within the performative context of FE, attempts to interpret official discourse on creativity may only serve to reproduce and exacerbate existing inequalities in education.

Dual identities: the in‐service teacher trainee experience in the English further education sector

Since 2001 there has been a statutory requirement for teachers in English further education (FE) colleges to gain teaching qualifications. However, in marked distinction from other sectors of education, around 90% of FE teachers are employed untrained, and complete their initial teacher training on a part‐time in‐service basis. Traditionally, this route has been necessary to attract established vocational practitioners into FE and to enable them to continue earning whilst undertaking their teacher‐training. Consequently, staff sustain the dual role of teacher and trainee teacher. This paper explores the dual identities of trainees on in‐service FE teacher training courses. It argues that how their two roles interact may cause tensions in their development, shaping and reinforcing a conservative understanding of further education and the role of the FE teacher.

Entry to employment: discourses of inclusion and employability in work‐based learning for young people

Entry to Employment (E2E) is a work‐based learning programme aimed at 16–19 year‐olds in England deemed not yet ready for employment, an apprenticeship or further education and training. Taking into account educational, social and personal circumstances which are often severely disadvantaged, it aspires to provide these young people with training experiences aimed at improving their ‘employability’. This paper places E2E within its social and economic context and uses Bernsteins work on pedagogic discourses to problematise its curriculum. It is argued that, however laudable its aims, by concentrating largely on occupational socialisation and generic skills, E2E may serve to promote an impoverished form of employability and reinforce the class‐based divisions of labour that continue to characterise the English economy.

Aiming higher: how will universities respond to changes in initial teacher training for the post-compulsory sector in England?

Initial teacher training for post‐compulsory education in England is currently undergoing profound change in terms of central direction of curricula and the provision of financial support for trainees. Within a discourse of the ‘professionalisation’ of teaching in the sector, unprecedented control of the detailed structure and content of training courses has been established and is increasing in extent. At the same time, principles of free access to Cert. Ed. and PGCE courses are being set aside, so that those universities which provide training are simultaneously contending with imposed curriculum change and with a serious threat to student recruitment. This article examines the origins and nature of these developments, considers the political and economic background from which they stem, and discusses in detail some features of the characteristic discourse of the reforms instituted by central government. It goes on to consider the likely effects of the recent and on‐going changes in university‐led training and suggests that the outcome of the reforms might be to undermine the governments own aspirations for professionalisation of the teaching workforce in post‐compulsory education.

Space, place and social exclusion: an ethnographic study of young people outside education and employment

This paper reports on the first two years of a longitudinal ethnographic study of 20 young people in northern England who have been officially classified as not in education, employment or training (NEET). Drawing on Henri Lefebvres conceptualisation of space as perceived, conceived and lived, this paper analyses how young people comprehend, use and encounter places and spaces relating to residence, work and learning, and the role of spatialities in reproducing or interrupting aspects of social exclusion and marginality. A number of key themes emerging from the data are discussed, including the interaction of conceived, perceived and lived space in young peoples struggles for subjectivity, the importance of agency and biography in shaping how different lived spaces emerge from this interaction, and the possibility of critical incidents causing shifts in lived space that intensify the difficulties young people face in finding appropriate education or employment. A particularly significant finding is that participants often feel isolated and lack control over their lives, resulting in alienation from authority and community that tends to further marginalise these young people, distancing them from meaningful contexts of education, training and work.

Golden years? Further education colleges under local authority control

Fifteen years ago further education (FE) colleges in England were removed from local education authority (LEA) control and re‐formed as ‘FE corporations’. Now, it is proposed that, from 2010, local authorities will become re‐involved in the running of FE. Given such a prospect, this article takes the opportunity to look back at colleges under LEA control and to critically consider what many FE teachers regard as a golden era: a time which was certainly one of less pressured and more stable circumstances. Whilst this article does not attempt to justify any of excesses that have characterised FE since incorporation, it is recognised that there is a temptation to view FEs past through rose‐tinted glasses. It is argued that, despite the turbulent environment in which colleges now exist, the era of LEA control should not be romanticised and that, in the past, FE was highly variable and flawed in many ways. In exploring this argument this article reviews four inter‐linked themes related to LEA control: local authority governance; the role of college managers; the position of FE teachers; and the service provided to students. It highlights some of the shortcomings and problems of LEA control and argues that the future role of local authorities in FE should not be viewed as an opportunity to turn the clock back to a bygone era. It should be seen as a chance for a fresh start rather than as a step back in time.

RAISING THE AGE OF COMPULSORY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND: A NEET SOLUTION?

ABSTRACT: This paper problematises the official discourse of economic competitiveness and social inclusion used by the 2007 Education and Skills Bill to justify the proposal to extend compulsory participation in education and training in England to the age of 18. Comparisons are drawn between this attempt to raise the age of compulsion and previous attempts, which took place in a significantly different socio-economic context. It is argued that the needs of those most likely to be affected by the current proposal – young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) – are subordinated to the needs of an English economy that is increasingly based upon low-skill, low-pay work relations.

Globalisation, neo‐liberalism and vocational learning: the case of English further education colleges

Further education (FE) has traditionally been a rather unspectacular activity. Lacking the visibility of schools or the prestige of universities, for the vast majority of its existence FE has had a relatively low profile on the margins of English education. Over recent years this situation has altered significantly and further education has undergone profound change. This paper argues that a combination of related factors – neo‐liberalism, globalisation, and dominant discourses of the knowledge economy – has acted in synergy to transform FE into a highly performative and marketised sector. Against this backdrop, further education has been assigned a particular role based upon certain narrow and instrumental understandings of skill, employment and economic competitiveness. The paper argues that, although it has always been predominantly working class in nature, FE is now, more than ever, positioned firmly at the lower end of the institutional hierarchy in the highly class‐stratified terrain of English education.

Ordinary lives: an ethnographic study of young people attending Entry to Employment programmes

This paper discusses the findings from a one-year ethnographic study of young people attending Entry to Employment (E2E) programmes in two local authorities in the north of England. The paper locates E2E within the broader context of provision for low-achieving young people and of UK government policy on reducing the proportion of young people who are not in education, employment or training. Although discourses associated with these categories of young people often present them in negative terms, the paper shows that this type of conceptualisation is inadequate to understand the lives of young people on the margins of education and employment. The paper also finds that the success of E2E in improving employability is mixed. The programme helps young people to improve their confidence, basic skills and personal effectiveness, as well as provides opportunities to acquire qualifications. However, employability is also linked to broader social and economic factors. Although E2E can help young people gain employment, particularly in relatively low-skill areas of work, in adverse economic conditions, the programme is unlikely to offer participants a labour market advantage.

Reclaiming the disengaged: critical perspectives on young people not in education, employment or training

Unemployment amongst young people is now at levels without modern historical precedent. In the UK, the number of unemployed young people has risen significantly over recent years, and currently almost one in four 16to 24-year-olds are without work. The situation is more severe in many other nations: in Ireland, Spain and Greece, for example, youth unemployment rates now almost match those which have long characterised the Middle East and North Africa, where approximately half of all young people are outside education and the labour market (ILO 2012). However, whilst there has been a significant increase in the number of young people without work since the crisis of capitalism which began in 2007 (often referred to euphemistically as the banking crisis or ‘credit crunch’), this has merely exacerbated more long-term and deep-rooted patterns of social change. Although there have been significant changes in the way it is conceptualised, there have been ongoing concerns about youth unemployment in the UK and elsewhere, at least since the 1970s. The increasingly widespread use of the acronym ‘NEET’ (not in education, employment or training) is perhaps emblematic of the way youth unemployment is portrayed in much contemporary discourse. Although, admittedly, there are also technical differences between the two terms, being unemployed implies a shared responsibility for a collective social problem, whereas dominant discourses surrounding NEET young people attribute non-participation to deficits located within the individual. This represents a significant conceptual shift and is manifested in particular policy initiatives which focus on increasing the ‘employability’ of young people – both in terms of improving their technical and vocational skills and through inculcating them with the attitudes, values and dispositions deemed necessary for the workplace. Whereas under social democratic regimes the state assumes at least some responsibility to reduce the worst excesses of social inequality and to stimulate the demand for labour, under neo-liberalism, poverty, deprivation and unemployment are recast as individualised issues rooted in various personal and moral deficiencies. During the recessions of the 1990s, social exclusion entered political and popular discourse and subsequently achieved something approaching orthodoxy as an explanation for the conduct of young people outside education and employment. More recently, the somewhat more hard-edged notion of disengagement has become increasingly popular in the UK and elsewhere, and has come to replace social exclusion, at least in official discourse. Either way, whilst terminology is not universal, the label NEET is now commonly used in countries as geographically disparate as Australia, South Africa and Japan, as well as in various European nations. Despite the continued existence of deep material inequalities, Ulrich Beck’s (1992) work illustrates how far-reaching change in the nature of work and society Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 2013 Vol. 18, Nos. 1–2, 1–11, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13596748.2013.755799