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FE and skills sector organisations

157 Group

www.157group.co.uk

The 157 Group is a collective of the country's highest performing colleges. The group take their name from paragraph 157 of the infamous Foster Review.

Association of Colleges (AoC)

www.aoc.co.uk

The AoC aims to promote the interests of Further Education colleges in England and Wales. It provides a broad range of services to its subscribers. It represents their interests locally, regionally, nationally and internationally

Association of College Managers (ACM)

www.acm.uk.com/

AMiE is the trade union and professional association for leaders and managers in colleges and schools; and is a distinct section of ATL, the education union.

Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP)

www.learningproviders.org.uk/

The purpose of the AELP is to influence the education and training agenda to in order to: influence and secure a national skills strategy; secure the 14-19 learning curriculum opportunities for learning throughout life and demonstrate a government-supported learning market open to all providers offering high quality learning.

Association of National Specialist Colleges (NATSPEC)

www.natspec.org.uk

NATSPEC works in partnership with others to promote the provision of a wide choice of innovative, high quality, cost-effective education and training to meet the needs of people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities.

Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL)

www.atl.org.uk

ATL is the only education union to represent teachers and lecturers in schools, FE colleges and sixth form colleges. ATL uses its members' voice to influence policy, impacting positively on pay, conditions and career development.

Department for Education

http://www.education.gov.uk

The Department for Education is responsible for education and children’s services. Find out about the academies programme which provides schools with greater freedoms to innovate and raise standards.

Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) - (formerly DIUS)

www.bis.gov.uk

The Government has created a new Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) whose key role will be to build Britain’s capabilities to compete in the global economy. The Department will be created by merging BERR and DIUS.

The merger has created a single department committed to building Britain’s future economic strengths. To compete in a global economy and create the jobs of the future Britain requires a regulatory environment that encourages enterprise, skilled people, innovation, and world-class science and research. The merger of BERR and DIUS brings together the parts of the government with key expertise in these areas.

Skills Funding Agency

http://skillsfundingagency.bis.gov.uk/aboutus/

The Skills Funding Agency is an agency of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills whose role is to fund and regulate adult further education and skills training in England.

Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS)

www.lsis.org.uk

The Learning and Skills Improvement Service is the new sectorowned body, formed from CEL and QIA to develop excellent and sustainable FE provision across the sector. LSIS will work in partnership with all parts of the sector to provide vision, leadership, clarity and high quality support; practising and enabling continuous selfimprovement and capacity building.

National Union of Students (NUS)

www.nus.org.uk

NUS promotes, defends and extends the rights of students, and develops and champions strong students unions by fighting barriers to education, empowering students to shape both a quality learning experience and the world around them, and supporting influential, democratic and well-resourced students unions.

Network for Black Professionals (NBP)

www.nbp.org.uk

The nbp's purpose is to address the under-representation of Black staff in the FE sector, particularly the small numbers of managers, senior staff and principals.

Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED)

www.ofsted.gov.uk

OFSTED is the government department responsible for reviewing and monitoring the standards of education and training.

Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA)

www.qca.org.uk

The QCA is involved in the progress of standards in education and training. They work with others to maintain and develop the school curriculum and associated assessments and to accredit and monitor qualifications in schools, colleges and in the workplace.

Sixth Form Colleges Forum (SFCF)

www.sfcf.org.uk

All Sixth Form Colleges are members of the SFCF. It lobbies on behalf of Sixth Form College interests and provides them with advice and information.

UNISON

www.unison.org.uk

UNISON is Britain and Europe's biggest public sector union with more than 1.3 million members who work in the public services, for private contractors providing public services and in the essential utilities.

Universities Council for the Education of Teachers (UCET)

www.ucet.ac.uk

UCET acts as a national forum for the discussion of matters relating to the education of teachers and professional educators, and to the study of education in the university sector and contributes to the formulation of policy in these fields. Its members are UK universities involved in teacher education, and a number of colleges of higher education in the university sector.

Universities and Colleges Union (UCU)

www.ucu.org.uk

UCU is the largest trade union and professional association for academics, lecturers, trainers, researchers, and academic-related staff working in Further and Higher Education throughout the UK.