“Possibility thinking is the means by which questions are posed or puzzles surfaced, through multiple ways of generating the question ‘what if’?" – Anna Craft, 2011
The Further Education & Skills sector in England is on the verge of change; funding cuts, Area Reviews, the commitment to 3m apprenticeships and compulsory education to 19 have the potential to lead FE & Skills into a radically different future. For the sector to take advantage of this moment will require imaginative, assertive and creative leadership. Whilst the sector has a history of adaptability and responsiveness, there is now a unique opportunity for the sector to develop a greater sense of agency and self-determination.
In partnership with the Further Education Trust for Leadership (FETL), this project is engaging FE & Skills sector leaders, practitioners and policymakers to look towards possibilities for the sector’s future and contribute to a better understood, more resilient and more pro-active FE & Skills sector with the power to create its own destiny.
The project aims to:
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Change public and political perceptions of the FE & Skills sector as a sector which has been and can be innovation rich; leading thinking and determining its own future
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Give FE & Skills sector leaders the knowledge and confidence to be creative leaders and agents of change, supporting both their responses to current challenges and their longer term goals
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Develop a small number of actionable recommendations for policy and practice that could lay the foundations for radical longer changes to the sector
The Possibility Thinking essays and their implications will be considered in a series of three summits bringing together FE & Skills sector leaders, practitioners and policy-makers in Glasgow, Manchester and London and will be launched at a public event at the RSA in May.
FETL is an independent charity and think tank which is working to strengthen the leadership of thinking in further education.
