From time to time at 360Education we carry guest blogs which we hope may be of some interest to readers.  Today's is by David Lowe, Principal of DLD, an independent sixth form college in Central London.

It’s that time of year again, when the release of results seems to give rise to hackneyed and sterile arguments about the validity of the examinations. However, the debate ought not to be about whether A-levels have got easier, or how imprecise a predictor they are for universities, but the importance of education itself. It is critically important to the individual young people who are getting their results, to their families and to our wider society and our economy. We should surely be debating how education can and should prepare students for the world of the future, which is the world that they will inhabit. We should be exploring ways of making education more relevant, focused and ever more effectively delivered. 

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It’s been difficult being a determined blogger this last month or so.  Every time inspiration strikes, yet another government announcement, or news of an impending cut, or some further reorganisation sends me back to the drawing board.  Despairing of being able to coherently address some of these issues, at least until the politicians have departed for their bread and water style holiday at a rainy English resort, I’m therefore forced to fall back on basic principles.

Now, I will be the first to acknowledge that my views were formed in those far off days when my alma mater, the London School of Economics, was regarded as a radical establishment.  However, I’m not sure that they really are that controversial.

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A couple of weeks ago I published a blog on “Cuts – the outlook for university staff levels”.  It seems to have attracted quite a lot of comment, so I thought I would follow up by talking to some of the media, national and specialist, which carry recruitment advertising for the sector.

Interestingly, given the general mood of pessimism around, I once again ended up feeling more positive than I had anticipated.  There was a consensus that, at least in the short term, there was something of an upturn – or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the bottom had been reached, and year on year figures had started to improve, if only by a little.  In spite of what has clearly been a terrible twelve months for the media, one at least claimed to be on budget so far this year.

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Well, I guess the electoral excitement is now over, and reality will have to take over.  Personally, I welcome in principle the notion of parties working together (it has produced, in Germany, one of the world’s most successful countries, after all), and if it leads to politicians insulting each other rather less (in case they need a coalition after some future election) and concentrating on policies rather more, well I don’t know too many people who will regret that!

As far as Education goes, I’ve been impressed with what I’ve seen of both Michael Gove and David Willetts when I’ve seen them in relatively intimate surroundings – I’m not convinced that television is a great friend to either.  Policy is another matter of course, and it’s pretty clear that, whilst there are interesting proposals for increased funding in certain areas, education as a whole, and especially tertiary education, will not escape the inevitable cuts in public funding which lie ahead.

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No doubt after the Election we will hear about the impact that the digital communications revolution has had on the fortunes of the various parties – and no doubt the reports will be as contradictory as their policies.  However, when normal service resumes, and we go back to attracting students and recruiting staff (assuming that there is any money of course), there will certainly be some lessons for education marketers.

Actually, one of the key lessons is that things are changing, and that experimentation beyond the tried and trusted is important, if only to learn what doesn’t work – a toe in the water is less costly than a full scale disaster.  And in our world, there are always new things to try….

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Well, it’s a dirty job, but someone had to do it – I’ve been reading the manifestos of the three national parties in order to see what they have to say about Education, especially FE and HE.When you strip out the bile and hyperbole, the answer was rather less than I expected.

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So the starting gun has been fired on what is being billed as the closest General Election for 36 years – and there seems little doubt that Education will at least get a mention, for the first time really since another young man with excellent presentational skills referred to it (in triplicate, no less) on the 1997 hustings.

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With HE making headlines about funding cuts, FE can easily be overlooked. Yet this sector drives the economy by providing skilled technicians and that's what most companies want.  Funding is also tight for FE, and leaders in the sector will have to learn the lessons others have learned before them.  Apart from the miserable business of cost cutting, there are a number of pro-active steps which can be taken and which can lighten the gloom. 

Is branding still important? Most certainly, yes. Stakeholders have to understand what a college is all about, what its core brand values are, what it stands for, what benefits it brings to stakeholders. New college structures will undoubtedly emerge, as a result not just of mergers, but of the formation of federations and other groupings and the need for powerful branding which presses the right buttons with employers and stimulates them to pay for training will be paramount.

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Even today, parts of the Education world regard Branding with great suspicion, a symbol of commercialism, a waste of resources, and an encouragement of competition, something which has no place alongside research, teaching and training.

Years ago, when I used to run a youth club, I was in no doubt that I wasn’t running a business – the outcomes sought were human, not financial, for a start.  Nonetheless, I used to make a critical distinction between a business and behaving in a businesslike manner – I never saw any virtue in having no members, or no money!  The analogy is not really far fetched – educational institutions need to behave in the same businesslike manner. 

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Wonderful to hear Steve Smith on the radio yesterday morning making absolutely clear (“The evidence shows however that whatever university you go to - your life chances will significantly improve.  One of the great vehicles for social mobility in the UK is going to university.") that universities confer on their students benefits well beyond vocational training and really can and do transform lives.

The reason for the interview on Radio 4 was the publication of the HEFCE report on trends in university participation in 18 and 19 year olds over the past decade and a half.  Perhaps counter intuitively, given the introduction in tuition fees in the last few years, the report found that youngsters in the poorest areas are 30% more likely to go to university than 5 years ago – and whilst it is certainly true that a much higher proportion of the wealthier enjoy a tertiary education, there is at last some real movement in… widening participation.

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