ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines some of the most significant drivers and levers. It deconstructs each of the drivers/levers into its constituent parts, to understand better how further education colleges do what they do and are what they are. The division of post-compulsory further education into segments is in historical terms a fairly recent event. As the system of post-compulsory education developed, two distinct market sectors evolved, each serving academically differentiated student populations. A hierarchy of professions now matched task to class; status was encapsulated by the distance of the profession from practical tasks. The intention of the reconstruction programme was that all young people would attend secondary education. In 1964 the Ministry of Education amalgamated with the Ministry of Science forming the Department of Education and Science. The Education Act 1902 ensured that secondary education became part of the political agenda, but even then responsibility fell to local education authorities.
