The further education sector in Wales is a crucial part of the post-16 landscape. It offers learning opportunities and pathways for people of all ages in both vocational and general education as well as employability, adult community learning, and work-based learning. Colleges themselves are large, complex organisations that serve and work with diverse communities and complex stakeholders.
Over the last two decades the sector has undergone a process of transformation. There are now fewer but larger institutions in the sector. In some cases, institutions have acquired work-based learning providers while others are part of a family of institutions under the umbrella of a university. Institutions are multi-campus and serve communities across a wide geographic area.
In all cases, further education institutions are large, complex organisations requiring senior leaders who have a range of skills and experiences. The importance of effective leadership to the success of the institution is hard to underestimate, and so it follows that the sector must have a focus on investing in their leaders, have clear plans in place to support progression, retention and succession planning, and have diverse leadership teams with a range of experiences.
The findings and recommendations should all be seen in the context of not just the current post-16 landscape but also as relevant for the period when the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research will be established and responsible for the planning and oversight of the post-compulsory sector.
To support this work, Learning and Work Institute were commissioned by ColegauCymru to undertake research to help develop an understanding of:
- Recruitment, retention, talent management and succession planning across the sector.
- The nature of the current professional learning offer to leaders and what is needed for the future.
- The key barriers (real and perceived) to entering leadership roles, progressing through to senior leadership, and staying in leadership roles.
- Leaders’ experience of their own and others’ wellbeing. This would necessarily touch on the impact of the pandemic but would not be restricted to only this time period.
We would like to thank the many individuals from across the sector and elsewhere who took the time to respond to the survey, to be interviewed, or to take part in focus groups. Every one of them is incredibly busy leading their own institutions and organisations, and we are incredibly grateful for their time in helping to inform the research on which this report is based.
