AoC responds to the Green party manifesto

David Hughes, Chief Executive, Association of Colleges, said:

"I'm pleased to see the Green party manifesto focusing on the significant investment needed in further education to ensure that young people get the best start in life and adults can access the training and skills they need to be active citizens and find good work. The £3bn increase in funding for sixth form education over the next parliamentary term, and a £12bn investment in skills and lifelong learning for further education, alongside the reintroduction of the Education Maintenance Allowance to financially support young people to extend their studies after the age of 16 are all very welcome proposals.

“That investment would need to help colleges close the £9,000 pay gap between school and college teachers, and extend opportunities to all young people and adults as we called for in our paper, 100% Opportunity: the case for a tertiary education system, in April.

“The proposal for councils to provide free transport for 16 to 18-year-olds with special educational needs and disabilities and the pledge to introduce universal basic income are both helpful steps towards a more inclusive lifelong learning society and we welcome the promise for a trained and paid counsellor in every school and sixth-form college but would want to see that extended to include further education colleges.”

A full A-Z of further education can be found here, and a cheat sheet of key policies and issues in FE can be found here.