Managing Further Education
Learning Enterprise
- Jacky Lumby - University of Southampton, UK
The incorporation of the further education sector in 1993 was followed by a period of extreme turbulence. Colleges plunged into the complex task of managing huge organizations while under pressure from cuts in funding and a steady expansion in the number and range of students. While financial scandals may have attracted attention, the success of the further education sector in continuing to provide a vital educational service for millions of people has been less recognized.
Despite the significant contribution of the sector to education and training, practitioners struggle to find adequate research evidence on which to base reflection and practice. They need material relevant to the specific situation of managers working within this very hybrid sector, part public sector education and part commercial organization, catering for an age and ability range greater than that of any other educational sector.
Based on a national survey of college managers, this book investigates how managers are responding to the challenge to increase the numbers and range of students and to improve learning and teaching. The author shows what it means to lead in a college and how the culture has evolved. Each chapter focuses on an aspect of management. The book concludes that 'learning enterprise' is an apt description of further education, a sector which has retained learning at its core and has learned to adopt an entrepreneurial spirit to shape its future.
Managing Further Education will be essential reading for professionals working in further education and all those interested in the management of this complex and vital part of educational provision.
`This is a welcome addition to an impoverished field and will be referred to extensively by management developers, college managers undertaking postgraduate studies and by researchers' - Learning and Skills Research Journal
Detailed text to lend itself to higher level courses such as level 5/6.
Lumby provides a useful overview of the historical elements which has informed the way in which FE has developed over the years. I found it particularly useful for research in an area of education which is often missed out. Useful for anyone coming into an FE environment to understand some of nuances of how it operates.
This book gives a good perspective of how to manage in further education and gives a historical perspective. However, it could do with updating now. Although the challenges faced by managers are similar, regulations and reports affect the way colleges operate, particularly regarding funding. The book will be useful for staff to appreciate the role of the manager in FE.
Full of facts and historical information for thoses involved in the running of higher education institutions. However the layout doesnot invite the reader in making it a hard read.
Sage College Publishing
