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Effective leaders in further education (FE) are key to driving improvements in both teaching standards and student outcomes. The Behavioural Insights Team, a UK-based global social purpose organisation known unofficially as the ‘Nudge Unit’, found strong evidence that effective public services leaders are linked to improved organisation performance, as well as central to creating a culture that encourages productivity and employee wellbeing.
The head of department role at FE level has many responsibilities. A report released by the Social Market Foundation explained that “in colleges, leaders must provide a strategic vision, manage college finances, ensure a reputation for quality teaching and learning remains high, run a large people-centred business and deliver clear accountability.” It added: “Beyond this, they must lead institutions that have important roles as community leaders and partners.”
Designed to “improve financial resilience and quality in colleges”, the UK government released updated guidance in 2021 to promote best practice across the FE sector. NLFEs are serving college leaders who have the experience of delivering improvements in their institutions. These individuals are on hand to provide mentoring and improvement support to other colleges and heads of department should undoubtedly seek to use their understanding of FE leadership to achieve best practice.
According to the government’s Education & Skills Funding Agency: “NLFEs have autonomy in determining how they deliver support and tailor their work to fit the needs of the college(s) they are supporting. This could include involving other members of the NLFE’s college staff to provide support.”
At present, there are 10 NLFEs based across the country, working in institutions ranging from London South East Colleges to Grimsby Institute of Further & Higher Education.
Sweeping reforms of the FE sector are currently afoot with a multi-million pound investment announced by the government in 2020. Education secretary Gavin Williamson laid out plans to strengthen leadership across the sector, with the college head of department role one that should benefit from the cash injection.
The investment comprises a £9m College Collaboration Fund aimed at supporting “colleges to work together to share their knowledge, expertise and best practice to boost the quality of education and training on offer”.
A further £4.5m is to be used for Continuous Professional Development (CPD) programmes that have been designed by the The Education and Training Foundation in partnership with
the Oxford Said Business School, The Chartered Institute of Accountants in England and Wales and The Association of Colleges (AoC). The key elements of the programmes are targeted towards strategic planning, finance and working alongside employers to address local and national skills needs.
Williamson said that “this multi-million-pound investment will empower even more FE leaders and governors to drive up standards so more students receive the high-quality education and training they deserve”.
A wide-ranging, government-funded review of the FE sector in 2018 found that on average, college teachers spend 15 hours on professional development each year, but more than 60% of teachers reported spending no time on CPD at all.
Although there may not be much research out there on the impact of CPD, the limited amounts that exist suggest that “collaborative forms of CPD are most valued by teachers, which can include peer observations, formal and informal networks, coaching and mentoring and action research”. This is certainly food for thought for heads of department in the FE sector.
As David Hughes, Chief Executive of The AoC, remarked: “Well-run and effective colleges rely on staff at all levels, which is why it is great to see targeted funds for continuous professional development opportunities.”
Collaboration may be the key to success in ensuring that CPD helps more colleges reach the gold standard in terms of leadership. It was acknowledged in the Teaching, Leadership and Governance in Further Education document that “CPD opportunities in FE are few and access is made difficult by lack of funding” so an increased emphasis on it can only be a good thing.
Indeed, the report states: “The research base also includes evidence that professional development centred on teachers’ subject specialism is important - including through coaching and mentoring.”
The government’s research concluded that there is a difference in the characteristics of effective leadership for middle leaders, including heads of departments, from those compared to senior leaders.
Successful approaches highlighted in professor David Greatbatch and Sue Tate’s report included: “Traditional top-down models - such as transactional leadership and transformational leadership - and models which emphasise a more collaborative and shared notion of power and authority - such as ‘distributed leadership’, ‘collective leadership’, ‘collaborative leadership’ and ‘shared leadership’.”
In order to support college improvement, the government has finally acknowledged that funding is needed. Middle management training should be prioritised and has been targeted to benefit FE heads of department.
The executive summary to “The Role of Leadership in Prioritising and Improving the Quality of Teaching and Learning in Further Education” report compiled by the Further Education Trust for Leadership places an emphasis on collaboration to get the best from FE leadership.
“Improving teaching and learning is about creating an environment in which collegial interaction can flourish. It is a process that is locally defined and invariably rooted in subject specific/course contexts. It is socially situated and is shaped by sustained human interactions,” it states.
“To flourish, it requires adequate time for teachers to share thoughts and reflection on their practice, not in single events scattered throughout the year, but in regular, ongoing informal interactions that have allocated time and space. The role that leaders have in creating and protecting this time and space is absolutely fundamental to ensuring meaningful and sustained improvements to teaching and learning in FE.”
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