Mapping the sector: Further Education research organisations

In the preface to the book, Kerry discusses following the breadcrumbs to understand what has happened before. She looks back to Hillier and Thompson’s(2005) book which has allowed us to map the problems we have faced and the genesis of some of the approaches we have taken to improve visibility of research in the Further Education (FE) sector. This chapter aims to replicate that sense of mapping for this point in time. The map we provide covers the initiatives that have been important to Kerry and I throughout our journey. The map isn’t exhaustive, and nor to did we intend it to be, there are a lot of spaces that are marked ‘here be dragons’ and as we feel these are for others who have lived in these spaces to map. One of the driving forces for the book and its forerunner ‘Great FE Teaching’ (Jones, 2022) has been to give individuals the space to express their story in their own words, no third parties narrating or interpreting. This is because we have experienced the empowerment and sense of autonomy that comes with that experience and because we feel the FE sector should speak for itself. As Kerry has said, it is those who practice in FE who are the experts on FE practice, and how could this be other wise. So within this chapter, you will find narratives from the recent past, starting with the grandaddy of all FE research movements, the Learning and Skills Research Network (LSRN), we’ll move on to a space created in the LSRN, the Bedford College Group Research Network. From here, we’ll look at two publication and sharing opportunities, the Association of Research in Post-Compulsory Education and FE Research meet, before moving on to the wealth of practitioner research work led by the Education and Training foundation. We will end with the trailblazing Research College Group, the first group of organisations from across the diversity of post-16 provision brought together to research and develop research capacity. Perhaps you will recognise activities you have engaged on and led, giving you a better understanding of not only what went before, but most importantly giving you different views on what could come next.