Despite all the turmoil in our education system since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been occasional glimpses of long-term policymaking at the Department for Education. 

One of the best examples of this is the White Paper in January 2021 that set out a large package of reforms to Further Education, or FE, in England.

Like schools, colleges are used to being buffeted around by seemingly endless announcements from politicians, but the FE White Paper tried to bring about change on a significant scale – with the then Education Secretary Gavin Williamson describing the White Paper as a “blueprint for the future”. 

So has the FE White Paper delivered much in the two years since its publication? Did it have the right ideas to start with? And have the challenges facing the FE sector changed since 2021? 

Our guests today are Jo Maher, the Principal & CEO of Loughborough College, and Darren Hankey, the Principal of Hartlepool College of Further Education,

CLICK HERE TO BROWSE OUR PODCAST BACK CATALOGUE

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER / X