The prospect of strikes at 26 further education colleges in England is not a happy one. Colleges educate 1.7 million students each year, around a third of whom are 16- to 18-year-old sixth formers. With industrial action due to start next week, some students will barely have started new courses before lessons are cancelled.
But college teachers, also known as lecturers, are rightly angry that they have not been awarded bigger pay rises following last year’s boost in funding for their sector. Pay in further education has lagged behind schools for a long time, and an opportunity to address this has been missed. Rising energy and food costs mean that the 2.5% rise recommended by the Association of Colleges is a pay cut in real terms. While colleges determine their own pay awards and some have offered more than this, several have offered less.
Many staff are experiencing hardship. A recent survey by the University and College Union (UCU) found that four in five felt financially insecure, compared with a year earlier. Two in five said their income did not cover living costs. Recruitment difficulties are affecting three-quarters of England’s 228 colleges (the total number, which also includes specialist adult education centres and sixth forms, fluctuates because of mergers). In some colleges, recent disputes have focused on conditions rather than pay, with managers using “fire and rehire” tactics to force through changes such as reductions in annual leave.
Research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies and others has shown clearly that colleges lost out more than other education sectors during the austerity decade from 2010. For years, ministers offered warm words about skills, training and levelling up – but little else. The Augar review of post-18 learning commissioned by Theresa May, which recommended that adult education rather than universities should be the priority for policymakers, unfortunately coincided with her resignation.
Last year’s announcement of a funding increase by the then chancellor, Rishi Sunak, was overdue but welcome. The budget for 16- to 18-year-olds at colleges in England has gone up by £242m this year – although adult education funding has not. But since then, inflationary pressures have clobbered colleges, which for accounting purposes are treated as belonging to the private sector (and so do not benefit from a VAT refund scheme that schools use), although this is currently being reviewed.
While the UCU insists higher pay is merited and affordable, college bosses say their hands are tied. Meanwhile the intentions of Liz Truss’s new team of ministers with regard to colleges remain unclear. She said very little during the leadership campaign about education. But if her government is serious about promoting economic growth they will need to address longstanding skills and productivity gaps.
Education ought to be a core value of a democratic society. In the UK, disproportionate attention is still given to the most academic few, while other equally important forms of learning are neglected. Last year, it took an intervention from the Tory education grandee Kenneth Baker to halt a poorly thought-through plan to axe popular BTecs. After a year of upheavals at the Department for Education, and with schools and universities facing possible strike action too, the Conservatives have yet to make the public anything approaching a convincing offer. Opposition parties as well as unions should go on the offensive. Further education colleges and their students deserve more from ministers.
