ABSTRACT
Earlier in this book we noted the sheer diversity of provision contained within Further Education colleges. Some of this variation is clearly visible, even to a casual observer. For example, there are different subjects or disciplines, and some courses have a clear vocational identity, while others do not. Or again, some courses are full-time, some parttime, and some in-between, and they may be organised to include faceto-face and/or virtual contact, and activities may be group-based and/or individual. There are however other important ways in which provision may differ but which are harder to appreciate, even if they are clearly labelled. These include the ‘level’ of the provision (‘entry level’, ‘level 3’ etc.), and the meaning of assessment tasks and criteria. Furthermore, there are features of learning sites that do not reveal themselves at all on a day-to-day basis, or are so much part of a taken-for-granted reality that they do not usually attract any notice or comment. Our research suggests that Further Education colleges not only contain a wide range of different learning sites, but also encompass a range of different cultures, and that inside each of these there is often a strong sense of ‘the way things are and have to be’.
