The former principals of John Wheatley and Langside further education colleges express concern for a "significantly diminished" local provision as a consequence of the current draconian cuts being applied to Scottish further education colleges ("College reforms 'will hit the poor', The Herald, March 30).
This horrendous combination of cuts to funding and mergers implemented with no evidenced educational rationale will not only be a death sentence on the quality, range and local access provision that Scottish FE colleges were renowned for but also a death sentence on the livelihoods of lecturing and support staff. Such was the growth of this administration industry that some colleges developed a staffing ratio of 60:40 in terms of administration to teaching and most targeting 50:50.
It has taken 20 years of this incorporated decline in the sector with numerous charges of poor governance and indeed corruption before the Griggs review found the college sector "unfit for purpose" and made recommendations that were, to a fair extent, supported by the Educational Institute Scotland (EIS) and Further Education Lecturers Association. However, as befits the politicians of the day, they not only interfere with recommendations, they then compound this by allowing those who took the FE sector into being "unfit for purpose" to lead the merger process.
Suddenly college principals are looking for opportunities to create "beneficial" partnerships as it is pretty obvious if we have a two or three-college merger, we need to lose one or two principals and it would be more acceptable for this to be through "voluntary beneficial options" even if the college partnerships proposed are devoid of evidenced educational rationale.
Further education in Glasgow is to lose more than 200 staff posts; 123 under the merger between Langside, Cardonald and Anniesland colleges and 86 staff under the merger between Stow, John Wheatley and North Glasgow colleges. This does not include those already gone from the colleges and posts lost through the City of Glasgow merger and, apparently, with more to come. What staffing and delivery models are now envisaged and what student movement will be required between "campuses"?
Education Secretary Michael Russell looks to programmes that match employers' needs while FE and education look to match programmes with learners' needs. What happened to learner-centred education?
Irrespective, this cull of further education staffing in Glasgow alone must significantly diminish the further education provision and staffing support for all FE students and not just for the poor.
John Wheatley and Langside Colleges would make a very good starting point for an evaluation of the local access provision pre and post-merger.
Hugh Paton,
Cleland Place,
East Kilbride.
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