These essays are deliberately optimistic and each responds to a ‘what if’ question, with authors being invited to respond with deliberate idealism about the future possibilities. The collection has not been designed with the intention of providing a single narrative, but rather to open up new trains of thought, to offer provocations and challenges, and it covers divergent themes and ideas. We have focused on what the sector can do for itself, mindful of the policy context, but occasionally identifying ways that policy might enable, rather than constrain, sectoral innovation and public value
About the authors 2
Acknowledgements 4
Foreword - Dame Ruth Silver 5
Introduction - What if the further education and skills sector got a little more optimistic? - Mark Londesborough 7
What if the further education and skills sector became a genuinely self-improving system with the trust and capacity to determine its own future? - Philippa Cordingley and Paul Crisp 14
2. What if the development of learners’ creative capacities were put at the heart of all apprenticeships? Pauline Tambling CBE 19
3. What if the further education and skills sector realised the full potential of vocational pedagogy? Bill Lucas 24
4. What if construction training got out of the college and popped up on site? - Rowan Conway and Oliver Broadbent 29
5. What if further education and skills led the way in integrating artificial intelligence into learning environments? Sir Michael Barber 35
6. What if further education colleges led a ‘Cities of Learning’ movement in the UK? - Anthony Painter 41
7. What if the decisions of both learners and leaders in further education and skills were based on hard data about what really works? - Charlotte Alldritt 44
8. What if further education colleges went for bold transformation instead of incremental change? -Paul Little 49
Afterword - Martin Doel 54
