Post-compulsory Education: Further and Higher Education

Until the Kennedy Report the term 'further education' (FE) seldom seemed to cross politicians' lips, except in so far as when mentioned as part of the seamless boundary between further and higher education (Kennedy 1997). Higher education, on the other hand, has increasingly become a major policy issue (Dearing 1997; DfES 2004a; HEFCE 2005). This chapter gives a brief overview of post-school and further education before focusing mainly on issues related to higher education