WRITING an article during the Christmas period is always difficult. The greater danger is that you have become so affected by the festivities that what you are writing is as bilious as the way you are feeling. The other danger is that you slip into the pattern of what you have been reading or watching over the holiday.
Anyway, I’m not doing that. Perhaps if I’d seen Lord of the Rings, or if I’d become a Harry Potter fan, I could have conjured up some allegory about the Middle Earth of Tolkien’s book. Look at the characters - dwarves, elves, hobbits, orcs, wizards, talking trees and Gollum and his magic ring: they are all there, and that’s only the Government. It’s actually too tempting - but perhaps I should wait until I see the film.
However, this being the pantomime season, an analogy does spring to mind - what else but Cinderella, because I fear that despite the money attributed to further education by this Government many in the sector still consider themselves to be the poor relation relative to the two (ugly?) sisters of schools and universities.
I’m sorry for this gloomy message - but I did warn you.
According to the Government - specifically Wendy Alexander, Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning, in a recent letter to Esther Roberton, the new chair of the Scottish Further Education Funding Council, the sector has received unprecedented increases in public funding - stated to be 40 per cent higher than only three years ago.
The minister is, of course, correct. More money has been given - significant amounts certainly. Since 1997, this Government has at least attempted to restore some of the money eroded away under the previous dispensation. But there is still some way to go .
Don’t take my word for it. The Scottish Parliament’s first audit committee report published in March 2000 reached the same conclusion as did the Auditor-General’s report for 1999-2000. The funding council required 15 colleges to prepare recovery plans to address deficits accumulated over a number of years, while external auditors reported that five colleges only remained going concerns on the understanding that financial support from the funding council or the colleges’ bankers would continue. This is serious stuff and it doesn’t look like improving quickly.
There is a similar tale to be told across the public sector with the most glaring example being the railways, where a senior Railtrack executive warned that large parts of the network are “life expired”. The problems are essentially the same - years of chronic underfunding leading to significant under-investment coupled with a requirement to increase provision whether it be passenger or student numbers.
Would anyone in Government dare to suggest that higher education institutions are in a similar financial predicament? And are they prepared fully to fund a McCrone type salary settlement for FE staff? Answers on a postcard, please. Despite the undoubted extra funding the analogy with Cinderella still stands compared to higher education and schools.
You can work out for yourselves who the wicked stepmother is and I’ve already suggested who the ugly sisters might be. As for Prince Charming and the Fairy Godmother, it could be a combined role for our new First Minister: look what he did for teachers’ salaries. Who else is going to rescue poor Cinders? As for me, I’m off to see Lord of the Rings.
Norman Williamson is principal of Coatbridge College and a member of the Educational Institute of Scotland.
