Further Education Middle Managers

Abstract

Since incorporation in the early 1990s, the Further Education (FE) sector has experienced a period of radical change and transformation in policy initiatives. As a consequence of the increased climate of accountability, the strategic planning process has become a focal point for the successful management of colleges. With the associated maximization of diversity and flexibility in FE and a correlating shift in roles and identity, there has been a tendency to blur the issues that have emerged over middle management teams and their contribution to the strategic agenda. This article aims to contribute to the discourse on strategic decision-making in colleges and the role of FE academic middle managers in participating in that process. Through reviewing sources of relevant literature and policy documents, the emphasis has been to draw on some of the key themes that contextualize strategic planning in colleges. In brief, the article attempts to define the function of middle managers as strategists within the FE sector.