The long goodbye: How local authorities lost control of further education

Robin Simmons

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Following the 1992 Further and Higher Education Act, local education authorities (LEAs) lost control of further education in England. Now, after spending almost two decades out in the cold, from 2010, local authorities are set to become reinvolved in the further education system. Given this, this paper takes the opportunity to look back on the end of LEA control and reflect upon why further education colleges were removed from local authorities in the first place. It is acknowledged that the ideological stance of government was clearly an important factor in ending LEA control, and that the perceived need to make cost savings in the early 1990s also contributed to both the form and haste with which colleges were 'incorporated'. However, arguably the end of LEA control was as much a process as a single event. This paper traces the path that, it is argued, made up that long goodbye.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)287-297
Number of pages11
JournalResearch in Post-Compulsory Education
Volume14
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sep 2009

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