Potential realised or an opportunity missed? Twenty years since the Foster report

Lloyd, Catherine and Wolstencroft, Peter ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2867-8900 (2025) Potential realised or an opportunity missed? Twenty years since the Foster report. Research in Post-Compulsory Education. ISSN 1359-6748

Preview

Accepted Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (317kB) | Preview

Abstract

This paper considers the 2005 Foster Report on the future of Further Education in England and its modern-day legacy. Commissioned in 2004 by the then Labour Government, the report aimed to provide greater certainty for the sector regarding the future direction of travel and also to help it prepare for the challenges it may face in the subsequent decade. Its key points: the need for greater clarity, improved leadership and management and a relentless focus on the needs of learners and businesses, resulted in 80 recommendations. In a speech to the Association of Colleges conference in 2005 the then Chief Inspector of schools said, ‘it may be that in 15 or 20 years we shall look back and reflect that this was it: this was the moment that we got post-16 right’. On the 20th anniversary of the report’s release, we explore how the vocational landscape has changed in the intervening years. Rather than experiencing a period of continuity, the sector has been beset by ongoing policy churn and new initiatives. In light of this continued uncertainty, we reflect on Foster’s vision for the future of the sector, consider what progress has been made since 2005 and question whether the recommendations made in the report still have relevance today.