Review of further education governance in Scotland

G. The Strategic Management of the FE Sector in Scotland at a National Level

As is stated earlier in this report how the sector has been guided and managed from central Government or its agencies has been seen by us as part of the challenge that the sector has faced.

We also state that we believe that the Scottish Government since devolution has passed too much of its strategic control to the SFC which has made the SFC both poacher and gamekeeper in certain circumstances. We believe that this has created challenges for SFC.

Given the publication of the recent consultation paper 'Putting Learners at the Centre', and taken with other recommendations elsewhere in this review, we believe that the role of SFC has to change. So we recommend that

The Scottish Government establishes its own leadership and strategic guidance of the sector through the creation of a new FE Strategic Forum which would drive the sector forward and constantly review and evolve the sector in terms of fitness for purpose in a changing educational and economic world.

The Forum would be chaired by the appropriate senior Government Minister and its membership would be

• The Chairs of the individual FE regions
• A nominee(s) of the STUC to give a staff perspective (which is likely to be from the EIS or UNISON as the main unions representing College employees)
• A representative of the learner through NUS Scotland
• The Chair of Skills Development Scotland
• The Chair of the SFC.
• A representative from the university sector to provide a link to it.
• A representative from the schools sector to recognise the key part it plays in Colleges.
• Any other appropriate representation that was felt necessary, including from industry taking account of both large and small firms.

We discussed whether Principals should be represented on the Forum and concluded they should not. We want to keep this body at a strategic level and not let it fall down into operational issues as many similar Forums tend to do. However we do realise that even at that level there may be issues that the Forum deliberate on which could impact operationally on the individual Colleges. Therefore an initial task for the Forum is to decide how best to have that operational assistance available to it when required.

The role of the Forum would be to enact what we set out at the beginning of this report, namely that all we can put in place is something that is suitable for today and that the sector must evolve from that base to take account of further developments and opportunities that come from the reconfiguration we propose. Its role would also be to continually look at how College resource could be better and more effectively used for the benefit of the learner and the wider economy.

It would decide on the use of, and also perhaps the methodology of how best to distribute, the extra surpluses that could be available for use at the end of each year.

The Strategic Forum would also act as a focus for deciding on how best to deal with issues around key sectors for example where FE needs to provide help and how best to use the resource available to do that.

What the above says in essence is that SFC should give up some of its policy involvement in the sector and pass it back to Scottish Government or to the Forum itself.