Further education

Further education (often abbreviated FE) in the United Kingdom and Ireland is additional education to that received at secondary school that is distinct from the higher education (HE) offered in universities and other academic institutions. It may be at any level in compulsory secondary education, from entry to higher level qualifications such as awards, certificates, diplomas and other vocational, competency-based qualifications (including those previously known as NVQ/SVQs) through awarding organisations including City and Guilds, Edexcel (BTEC) and Cambridge OCR. FE colleges may also offer HE qualifications such as HNC, HND, foundation degree or PGCE. The colleges are also a large service provider for apprenticeships where most of the training takes place at the apprentices' workplace, supplemented with day release into college.

FE in the United Kingdom is usually a means to attain an intermediate, advanced or follow-up qualification necessary to progress into HE, or to begin a specific career path outside of university education. Further Education is offered to students aged over 16 at colleges of Further Education, through work-based learning, or adult and community learning institutions.

By country

United Kingdom

England

Provision for further education colleges was laid out in sections 41 to 47 of the Education Act 1944; their role was to offer "full-time and part-time education" and "leisure-time occupation" for persons over compulsory school age.[1] In the 1960s, A-level students predominantly studied at school rather than colleges (often referred to as "techs" at that time). More types of colleges were introduced over the next decades, and by 1990 colleges took in almost half of A-level students.[2]

Colleges in England are corporate bodies under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992, which removed further education colleges from local government control.[3] Types of college include:

Policies relating to colleges are primarily the responsibility of the Department for Education (DfE). Until July 2016, colleges were also covered by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS); on the abolition of BIS and formation of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), responsibility for FE colleges moved to DfE.[4] The regulatory body for sixth form colleges was already DfE prior to the 2016 changes.

Following the merger of the Education Funding Agency and the Skills Funding Agency in 2017,[5] funding for colleges is provided through the Education and Skills Funding Agency[6] for all further education students. In 2018/19, colleges' income totalled £6.5 billion, of which £5.1 billion (78%) was public funding. Most college funding follows the learner. Colleges must attract students, competing with each other and with other types of education and training provider. Colleges can borrow commercially, own assets, employ staff and enter into contracts, and they may make financial surpluses or deficits.[7]

The Technical and Further Education Act 2017 laid out a framework for an insolvency regime for further education colleges known as "Education Administration". This is a form of corporate administration adapted to the needs of further education, to be used "where a further education body is unable to pay its debts or is likely to become unable to pay its debts" and intended "to avoid or minimise disruption to the studies of the existing students of the further education body as a whole".[8] Education administrators were appointed to run Hadlow College and West Kent College in 2019.[9]

All colleges and FE providers are subject to inspection by Ofsted, which monitors the quality of provision in publicly funded institutions in England. Membership organisations for providers include the Association of Colleges and the Sixth Form Colleges' Association.

في عام 2020، خصصت الحكومة 200 مليون جنيه إسترليني لإصلاح وتحديث مباني كليات التعليم الإضافي، شريطة مساهمة الكليات بجزء من التمويل المُقابل، [ 10 ] وتقوم وزارة التعليم بتخصيص هذا المبلغ للكليات عبر صندوق تحويل رأس مال التعليم الإضافي (FECTF). [ 11 ] تم اختيار ست عشرة كلية ذات مواقع في حالة سيئة، ودُعيت لتقديم مقترحات تفصيلية قبل أكتوبر 2021، لمشاريع يُمكن إنجازها بحلول ديسمبر 2024. [ 11 ]

أيرلندا الشمالية

يُقدَّم التعليم الإضافي في أيرلندا الشمالية من خلال سبع كليات متعددة الفروع. [ 12 ] وتتولى وزارة التوظيف والتعليم في أيرلندا الشمالية مسؤولية توفير التعليم الإضافي في المقاطعة. [ 13 ]

كما توفر معظم المدارس الثانوية برنامجًا للصف السادس حيث يمكن للطالب اختيار الالتحاق لمدة عامين إضافيين لإكمال مستويات AS و A.

اسكتلندا

توفر كليات التعليم الإضافي في اسكتلندا التعليم للشباب الذين يختارون مسارًا مهنيًا بعد انتهاء التعليم الإلزامي في سن السادسة عشرة. وتقدم هذه الكليات مجموعة واسعة من المؤهلات المهنية للشباب وكبار السن، بما في ذلك المؤهلات المهنية القائمة على الكفاءة (المعروفة سابقًا باسم SVQsوالشهادات الوطنية العليا ، والدبلومات الوطنية العليا . غالبًا ما تُدرس السنتان الأوليان من التعليم العالي - عادةً في شكل دبلوم وطني عالي - في إحدى كليات التعليم الإضافي، ثم يُلتحق الطالب بالجامعة.

ويلز

يتم توفير التعليم الإضافي في ويلز من خلال:

يخضع التعليم الإضافي في ويلز لإشراف حكومة ويلز . وكان التمويل يأتي من هيئة التعليم والتعلم في ويلز من عام 2000 حتى عام 2006، عندما تم دمج هذه الهيئة مع الجمعية.

جمهورية أيرلندا

يُشابه التعليم الإضافي في جمهورية أيرلندا نظيره في المملكة المتحدة. وتشمل المجالات النموذجية التدريب المهني والمؤهلات المهنية الأخرى في العديد من التخصصات، مثل رعاية الأطفال والزراعة والتجارة والسياحة. وتُعرف أنواع شهادات التعليم الإضافي المتعددة باسم شهادات ما بعد التخرج .

Further education has expanded immensely in recent years, helped by the institutions and their relationships with their communities. Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI), which was established in November 2012,[14] is the regulator for FE qualifications. Further education and higher education have been linked through tertiary programmes, in which students begin in further education before progressing to higher education to complete an accredited degree. The National Tertiary Office, established within the Higher Education Authority and jointly managed with SOLAS, supports the development of these pathways.[15]

See also

United Kingdom

Elsewhere

Topics

References

  1. "Education Act 1944, Part 2, Chapter 4". Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  2. Smithers, Alan (October 1993). "Changing Colleges: Further Education in the Market Place"(PDF). alansmithers.com. Council for Industry and Higher Education. p. 19. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  3. "Further and Higher Education Act 1992". Oxford Reference. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  4. Robertson, Alix (14 July 2016). "Department for Education taking over FE, skills and higher education". FE Week. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  5. "New agency to provide joined-up education and skills funding". gov.uk. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  6. "Education and Skills Funding Agency". gov.uk. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  7. "Financial sustainability of colleges in England – National Audit Office (NAO) Report". National Audit Office. 16 September 2020. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  8. "Technical and Further Education Act 2017"(PDF). Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  9. "الاستحواذ يعني نهاية إدارة كليات كينت" . بي بي سي نيوز . 17 أغسطس 2020. تم الاطلاع عليه في 1 يناير 2022 .
  10. كامدن، بيلي (28 يونيو 2020). "الحكومة ستُسرّع صرف 200 مليون جنيه إسترليني من ميزانية رأس المال البالغة 1.5 مليار جنيه إسترليني لتجديد الكليات" . مجلة FE Week . تاريخ الاطلاع: 17 أغسطس 2021 .
  11. 1 2 وزارة التعليم، "صندوق تحويل رأس مال التعليم الإضافي: إرشادات للمتقدمين للمرحلة 2" (ملف PDF) . يوليو 2021. تم الاطلاع عليه في 17 أغسطس 2021 .
  12. ^ "كليات التعليم الإضافي" . نيديركت . 18 ديسمبر 2015 . تم الاسترجاع في 9 يناير 2021 .
  13. "التعليم الإضافي" . nidirect . 13 نوفمبر 2015. تم الاطلاع عليه في 9 يناير 2021 .
  14. "الوزير كوين يدمج الوكالات التعليمية لتأسيس هيئة ضمان الجودة والكفاءة في أيرلندا" . تم الاطلاع عليه بتاريخ 15 نوفمبر 2012 .
  15. "برامج التعليم العالي" . gov.ie. 7 يوليو 2023. تم الاطلاع عليه بتاريخ 10 مايو 2026 .