By Andrea Bradley, General Secretary

Scotland’s Further Education sector is in crisis. Our colleges have consistently been underfunded over a long period of time, and the situation has grown increasingly worrying over the past few years.

Despite the essential role that our colleges play in widening access to education to people of all backgrounds, particularly working class backgrounds, and at all stages of life, right across the country, the level of funding support for the FE sector continues to fall.

It shouldn’t be this way. Our colleges often offer a lifeline back into education for many people who have, for whatever reason, become disengaged with learning in other settings. Be it young people who faced challenges in a school environment, people looking to re-enter the workforce or upgrade their skills, or those later in life looking to keep mind and body active while learning new things, Scotland’s further education colleges offer a huge range of provision to an extremely diverse range of students.

Our colleges often offer a lifeline back into education for many people who have, for whatever reason, become disengaged with learning in other settings.

My own father was one such student. An intelligent young person who’d lost his own father before turning 10, and who struggled with a compassionless 1960s school culture, he left at 16 with only two O Levels.

After years working in a factory and encouraged by fellow trade unionists, he returned to further education twenty years after leaving Secondary school, achieving a collection of top-grade Highers that gave him a passport to higher education and a route towards higher earnings.

He graduated four years later with a Joint Honours Degree in English and Psychology and was soon employed as a college lecturer, giving back to the sector that had welcomed him in as an adult learner and provided him the educational opportunities that he needed to set his life in a happier, more prosperous direction for himself and our family.

There can be no doubt that my father’s education journey and the critical component of FE college influenced my education journey and that of my sisters. As a family, we know the value of further education.

Today massive cuts to funding are leading to deep cuts to college courses and the loss of opportunity for students and prospective students across Scotland – people like my dad whose early lives in education were not the most straightforward.

The process of regionalisation through merging smaller colleges into huge super-colleges has compounded the issue – with courses which used to be offered in various colleges now limited to just one campus of the merged college, limiting the ability of many learners to study for their chosen course at their local campus.

Reductions in both lecturing staff and support staff have been used to cut costs, also reducing what should be an expansive offering to students with a wide range of interests and aspirations.

This is the damaging result of years of under-investment from the Scottish Government, and ineffective leadership at college level from Principals – some of whom seem more interested in courting private enterprise and wielding the weapon of the UK Government’s antitrade union laws at EIS-FELA members who’ve been forced to take industrial action to fight for pay and jobs, than responsibly tackling the challenges facing further education – a vital part of the public sector – in Scotland.

It is in this context that workers in Scotland’s colleges – lecturers and support staff – are engaged in a seemingly never-ending battle to protect the sector, fend off job cuts, and ensure the delivery of a quality learning experience for students.

For most of the last decade, disputes in the sector over proposed job cuts and inferior pay have become the norm, creating a challenging environment for staff and students alike. The Scottish Government has been found wanting. The Minister for Further Education, Graeme Dey, has refused to step in to facilitate a fair settlement to end the current long-running dispute.

When college Principals chose to inflame the situation by “deeming” lecturers – withholding 100% of pay from staff for working to rule – the Minister shockingly defended this approach, despite it being contrary to the Scottish Government’s very own fair work principles.

Cabinet Secretary Jenny Gilruth has been missing in action too. Although holding the power to deliver the necessary funding to colleges to end the current dispute, she has been largely silent on the situation in colleges. Ms Gilruth did turn up at the recent conference of College Employers Scotland, where she spoke of the value of colleges to Scotland.

What she didn’t do was answer any questions from those in attendance, so we still do not know her views on how the current crisis in the college sector might be resolved. The Cabinet Secretary has been invited to speak at this year’s EIS Annual General Meeting in early June, including a Question & Answer session with delegates. In the event that the current dispute is not resolved by that point in time, there will surely be many questions for Ms Gilruth to answer on the future of Scottish further education.

It is abundantly clear that Scotland’s colleges need more investment to allow them to thrive, and that will require a significant cash injection from the Scottish Government

It is abundantly clear that Scotland’s colleges need more investment to allow them to thrive, and that will require a significant cash injection from the Scottish Government. The EIS has called upon College Employers Scotland to join us in a joint appeal for additional funding for colleges. So far, this approach has been rebuffed.

Still, the EIS remains open to working constructively with colleges to seek a better deal for Scottish further education, its students and its staff.

The recent investigation by The Herald newspaper has clearly demonstrated the depths of the challenges facing Scotland’s colleges. It is only by the Scottish Government, colleges and staff working together that these challenges can be overcome.

Our colleges are far too important to Scotland to be left to wither on the vine – it is time for our colleges, the staff who work in them and the students that they enable to take the next positive steps in their education journeys, to be properly valued and supported.