`This is a welcome addition to an impoverished field and will be referred to extensively by management developers, college managers undertaking postgraduate studies and by researchers' - Learning and Skills Research Journal

The incorporation of the further education sector in 1993 was followed by a period of extreme turbulence. Colleges plunged into the complex task of managing huge organizations while under pressure from cuts in funding and a steady expansion in the number and range of students. While financial scandals may have attracted attention, the success of the further education sector in continuing to provide a vital educational service for millions of people has been less recognized.

Despite the significant contribution of the sector to education and training, practitioners struggle to find adequate research evidence on which to base reflection and practice. They need material relevant to the specific situation of managers working within this very hybrid sector, part public sector education and part commercial organization, catering for an age and ability range greater than that of any other educational sector.

Based on a national survey of college managers, this book investigates how managers are responding to the challenge to increase the numbers and range of students and to improve learning and teaching. The author shows what it means to lead in a college and how the culture has evolved. Each chapter focuses on an aspect of management. The book concludes that 'learning enterprise' is an apt description of further education, a sector which has retained learning at its core and has learned to adopt an entrepreneurial spirit to shape its future.

Managing Further Education will be essential reading for professionals working in further education and all those interested in the management of this complex and vital part of educational provision.

The Diverse Sector
Leading Colleges
Managing People
Managing Finance
Managing Marketing
Understanding Quality
Changing Structures and Roles
Information and Communication
Teaching and Learning
Working with Students
Working with Employers
Evolving the Culture
Looking to the Future
Learning Enterprise

Jacky Lumby (Ph.D. University of Leicester) is Professor of Education and Head of the School of Education at the University of Southampton, UK. She has taught and led in a range of educational settings, including secondary/high schools, community and further/technical education. She has also worked for a Training and Enterprise Council, with a regional responsibility for developing leaders across the public and private sectors. She has researched and published widely on educational policy, leadership and management in schools and colleges, in the UK and internationally. Her work on leadership encompasses a range of perspectives, including diversity issues, comparative and international perspectives and leading upper secondary education. She has co-edited International handbook on the preparation and development of school leaders (2008). Her most recent book is, with Marianne Coleman, Leadership and Diversity: Challenging Theory and Practice in Education (2007). She is co- editor of the journal International Studies in Educational Administration and a member of the Council of the British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society.