ABSTRACT
The pivotal position of teaching staff and the middle managers with responsibility for course leadership in the learning and skills sector makes their views particularly important. On the one hand, these practitioners are close to their learners, dealing with them on a daily basis and building up experience of what they find useful, motivating and supportive of their learning. As discussed in Chapter 3, in the eyes of the learners, the tutors are the people who respond to their needs and make the sector work. On the other hand, these tutors and their managers are responsible for carrying through the agenda of the policy-makers, as described in Chapter 4, with targets to meet, on which their future funding and the survival of their organisation may depend, and they must also fulfil the requirements of awarding bodies whose qualifications they offer.
