Big State, Little State: The future of FE

by Mark Corney



Both the Coalition parties and Labour are committed to running a budget surplus by the end of the decade.

With expenditure on benefits planned to rise despite welfare cuts, spending on services which are not protected will be squeezed even more.

Festering underneath this 'fiscal consensus', however, is the hotly contested question over the size of the state and whether England at least should have a big or little state.

The end of 16-18

by Mark Corney



The combination of fiscal austerity and Raising the Participation Age (RPA) is bringing to an end 16-18 as a distinct system of further education and training.

2014 is the year when schools, colleges and independent providers will need to think in terms of 16-17 year olds on the one hand and 18 year olds on the other.

But it is the treatment of 18 year olds in full-time further education and on apprenticeships by the Coalition Government which will test its belief in fairness and its competence.