Developing a mission for further education: changing culture using non-financial and intangible value

In his keynote lecture at the Reimagining Further Education conference in Birmingham in June 2016, Sir Frank McLoughlin was clear that the sector ‘needed a mission’ to unite around, and to let people know where it is going’ (McLoughlin 2016). This was endorsed by the attendees, who felt that it would enable the sector to regain ownership of what it stands for nationally, regionally, and locally. Such a vision is needed to create a TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training) sector that is targeted to develop an effective shared culture in the further education sector, close skills shortages and skills gaps in education, enhance community cohesion and improve productivity. This vision needs to have a robust measure of impact that aligns with the vision. One possibility is to explore a non-financial and intangible value metric where social value is aligned to the sector mission. A robust measure will enable key stakeholders to agree on areas of focus in a specific geographical location or a specific time. Such a measure might challenge the need for the existence of regulatory bodies such as Ofsted in the way they operate now. With such a robust measure of social value/impact, Government will not need to issue a white paper every time a response to a localised issue is required. We suggest that the Social Earnings Ratio (S/E or SERatio) is such a robust measure. For example, if the need in a certain locality is to address skills gaps/shortages or to focus on community cohesion, all that is needed is a change in the weighting of the various components of such a measure. This will allow development of a Further Education mission which can be utilised nationally, regionally and locally. In this article we develop this idea and provide an illustration of how the SERatio could be applied to an FE college. The example we use is that of a small FE college with an annual budget of £12m. We demonstrate, using SERatio, that this college produces an intangible value of approximately £40m per annum. Such an approach will enable Further Education to become the strong owner of its mission and vision in the future, and allow it to develop its own culture and expertise to the maximum of its potential.