Frank Coffield

Drawing on a lifetime’s experience and research in education, Frank Coffield brings together some of his previously published papers to assess the impact of a wide range of national educational policies and to examine the role of the state in public education. He concludes that damage has been done to education by political parties of both right and left and that damage will not be reversed until: further, vocational and adult education receive the same levels of commitment and resource as other sectors; serious steps are taken to tackle Britain’s unacceptable levels of poverty; and the powers of the state are reduced. Among the unresolved challenges highlighted are the plight of young people from deprived estates; their tactics in dealing with unemployment; the task of improving learning, schools, inspection, and system governance; the failure to increase productivity being blamed solely on education; and the dysfunctional and undemocratic political framework on which education reform is forced to depend. An essential read for anyone in education, this provocative criticism of our past and current educational 'system' provides an accessible as well as a humorous critique of educational policy and politics.

Drawing on a lifetime’s experience and research in education, Frank Coffield brings together some of his previously published papers to assess the impact of a wide range of national educational policies and to examine the role of the state in public education. He concludes that damage has been done to education by political parties of both right and left and that damage will not be reversed until: further, vocational and adult education receive the same levels of commitment and resource as other sectors; serious steps are taken to tackle Britain’s unacceptable levels of poverty; and the powers of the state are reduced. Among the unresolved challenges highlighted are the plight of young people from deprived estates; their tactics in dealing with unemployment; the task of improving learning, schools, inspection, and system governance; the failure to increase productivity being blamed solely on education; and the dysfunctional and undemocratic political framework on which education reform is forced to depend. An essential read for anyone in education, this provocative criticism of our past and current educational 'system' provides an accessible as well as a humorous critique of educational policy and politics.

How can opportunities for teaching and learning be improved to ensure that many more people participate, gain qualifications and obtain decent jobs? Will government policies enable us to achieve these goals? What new ideas do we need to ensure a more inclusive, equitable and efficient learning system? These are some of the main concerns which underlie this thought-provoking book coming from a major research project looking at how policies affect learners, tutors, managers and institutional leaders in Further Education Colleges, Adult and Community Learning centres and in Work Based Learning sites. Post compulsory education in the UK has been constantly restructured by the New Labour government and has been subject to considerable policy turbulence over the last few years. This book attempts to understand this important but poorly understood sector by both talking to students and front-line staff and by interviewing the officials responsible for managing post-compulsory education and lifelong learning. By examining the sector simultaneously from the ‘bottom up’ and from ‘top down’, the authors show how recent policy is affecting three disadvantaged groups - 16-19 year olds who have fared poorly in official tests at school; unemployed adults learning basic skills; and employees at work learning basic skills. The authors conclude that there are serious failings and suggest principles and features of a more equitable and effective learning system.

How can opportunities for teaching and learning be improved to ensure that many more people participate, gain qualifications and obtain decent jobs? Will government policies enable us to achieve these goals? What new ideas do we need to ensure a more inclusive, equitable and efficient learning system? These are some of the main concerns which underlie this thought-provoking book coming from a major research project looking at how policies affect learners, tutors, managers and institutional leaders in Further Education Colleges, Adult and Community Learning centres and in Work Based Learning sites. Post compulsory education in the UK has been constantly restructured by the New Labour government and has been subject to considerable policy turbulence over the last few years. This book attempts to understand this important but poorly understood sector by both talking to students and front-line staff and by interviewing the officials responsible for managing post-compulsory education and lifelong learning. By examining the sector simultaneously from the ‘bottom up’ and from ‘top down’, the authors show how recent policy is affecting three disadvantaged groups - 16-19 year olds who have fared poorly in official tests at school; unemployed adults learning basic skills; and employees at work learning basic skills. The authors conclude that there are serious failings and suggest principles and features of a more equitable and effective learning system.

First published in 1991. MacDonald and Coffield look at the implementation and outcome of enterprise initiatives introduced in Teeside in relation to 100 unemployed young adults in the age-range 16-25, within a political ideology which has sought to change a dependency culture to one of self-reliance. The young people studied are categorized with reference to their attitude to, and experience of, work, and a number of case studies are cited. An important aspect of the study is that it is specifically concerned with ordinary young people. The conclusions are worked out in terms of the changing culture of work, government policies, the internationalization of labour markets and the changing fortunes of young adults in Britain in the 1990s.