This report showcases research across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland concerning national specificities and shared problems and challenges. It concludes that in the area of further education and skills there is greater opportunities for policy learning involving these countries than in general education in which there are deep divisions between the three smaller countries and England

Gallacher, Jim

Hodgson, Ann

Irwin, Tracy

James, David

Spours, Ken

Waring, Martin

English

FOREWORDInternational comparison is a hugely powerfultool in policy making when it is used in the rightway – learning from and contextualising effectiveelements rather than seeking to simply transplantprogrammes from one setting to another.When visitors from overseas come to look at the ‘UK education system’ oneof the first things we have to say is that there is no single system. Education,FE and skills are areas of devolved responsibility and have developedvery differently in each of the four nations. That can present challenges ofcoherence, for instance where an employer seeks to train apprentices in morethan one nation within the UK, or a training provider wants to operate acrossboundaries.It also presents a unique opportunity. As with federal nations such as the USand Australia, it provides us with a potential laboratory to test and improve oureducation policies. Four nations share many characteristics of labour market,organisation and culture and yet are pursuing sometimes very differentapproaches, with a variety of outcomes.With such a fascinating range of policies and lessons on our doorsteps, wefelt that it was essential that we took the time to understand the FE and skillssystems across the UK – to compare, contrast and draw out emerging practice.We are very grateful to the team at UCL’s Institute of Education and the countryexperts for organising a fascinating series of seminars culminating in thisreport.However, we don’t want this to be the end of the story. We want it to be astep towards closer ongoing collaboration and practice sharing between thenations so that we can continue to develop the most effective and suitablepolicies for each of our contexts. We look forward to working with colleaguesacross the UK to achieve this

Ulster University's Research Portal

FE and Skills across the four countries of the UK:New opportunities for policy learning

Hodgson, A

Gallacher, J

Irwin, T

James, D

Spours, K

UCL Discovery

FE and skills across the four countries of the UK: new opportunities for policy learning

https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10057604/1/FE%20and%20Skills%20Across%20the%20Four%20Countries%20of%20the%20UK%20%28Final%29.pdf

FE and Skills across the four countries of the UK:New opportunities for policy learning

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UCL Discovery