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Post-Compulsory and Lifelong Learning SIG Convenor 2025-2028

Closes 13 Jun 2025

There is a vacancy in the Post-Compulsory SIG for a new convenor. The sector of post-compulsory education and lifelong learning is a wide and diverse one, covering areas such as the study of 14-19...

Potential pathways towards an integrated tertiary education system in England

This ½¿É«µ¼º½ Blog special issue examines possible futures for tertiary education in England and the challenges that are faced by policymakers, institutional leaders, educators and researchers in...

Facing up to the dilemmas created for policymakers by a move to an integrated tertiary education system in England

As a former UK Secretary of State for Education, I have always found the concept of tertiary education somewhat slippery. Its voluntary nature means that different incentives are required to...

The political dimensions of building a tertiary education system in England

The latest government Skills England report highlights the fragmentation of post-compulsory education as a significant challenge. Deep divisions persist between higher education, further education...

Helping meet the skills challenge(s) through a tertiary system

This blog post explores how the development of a tertiary education system in England could help address the skills challenges now facing the government and the wider economy. These challenges are...

Competition to co-ordination: Developing a place-based tertiary education system

The idea of a unified ‘tertiary education’ is gaining increasing prominence in UK education and training (E&T) policy discourse. In the language of international development organisations...

Strengthening synergies: Research, innovation and the future of tertiary education

Education and training (E&T) and research and innovation (R&I) are core pillars of tertiary education. This blog post explores the intrinsic interconnection between E&T and R&I, the fragmentation...

Managing the transition to a tertiary future: Devolution and evolution, not revolution?

There are different views about what constitutes a tertiary education approach, but there is growing belief that bringing apprenticeships, further education (FE) and higher education (HE) closer...

How can institutions thrive in a tertiary education future?

Much has been said about the need for more coherence and collaboration across the various parts currently making up the tertiary sector in England – not least by the Labour government itself...

How a tertiary education system could transform access and progression: Learners need diverse routes, not just the high jump

The Labour Party is in government again and education underpins its opportunity mission. Policy appears to be focused on curriculum, assessment and inspection reform in schools (see DfE, 2024;...

Why a tertiary education system built on skills, without knowledge, will be an engine of inequality

England’s move towards an integrated tertiary education system presents an opportunity to radically redesign post-compulsory education. Rather than an elite system of education that is founded...

How can reforms towards a tertiary education system support adult lifelong learning across all dimensions of society?

A ‘seamless’ system (Bathmaker et al., 2008), that integrates further and higher education under one umbrella, and brings together vocational, professional and academic education and training,...