Study title

The project aims to improve our understanding of the learning processes in colleges of further education and, in turn, to determine the ways in which both learner and professional identities are shaped. The research involves both students and teachers from three colleges across South Wales. The colleges were chosen to represent the wider social, cultural and economic conditions which might impact on learning and provide a range of learning settings, such as formal classrooms and workshops and academic and vocational courses. The overall intention is to produce a contemporary account of learning and working in further education with a particular interest in how students understand themselves as learners. The research will track the 'learning journeys' of students and teachers over a two-year period using periodic interviews, completion of personal diaries and first-hand classroom observation. We are particularly interested in why people stay on in or return to post compulsory education and training and to elicit accounts of their experiences and success stories. This evidence-based research will be used to work with the three colleges in a process of reflection and development, and will more widely engage teachers, college managers and policy makers in an informed dialogue.