Abstract

In this paper, some stories of staff who became Further Education (FE) lecturers during the 1950s and 1960s are reported upon. What emerges is that this period when FE was being established was heavily reliant on the imagination of the actors in their community settings. Moreover, these pioneers in the sector, often from strong occupational backgrounds but with limited formal qualifications, were employed because it was considered that they would be able to use their creative wisdom to forge the necessary links with local industry and other relevant stakeholders, so as to give the FE brand a high profile in its respective local communities. It is contended that in the current, most likely prolonged, period of austerity there is much to be drawn from these experiences of yesteryear, in that what is revealed in the following is very much a perspective that funding was not necessarily the be-all and end-all when these practitioners were endeavouring to deliver excellence. In particular, it is argued that lessons can be learnt from former times and thus, by recalling these and other such narratives and including them in FE lecturers’ Initial Teacher Training(ITT) and ongoing Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programmes, we may stimulate our imaginations in relation to how FE can be further integrated into the local setting, despite the aforementioned contemporary financial constraints.

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