Selection and differentiation in further education: the Certificate of Further Education as a case in point

The main focus of this chapter will be upon a case study of the development and operation of the Certificate of Further Education (CFE) in a West Midlands college of further education. At its inception in 1974 the CFE (1) was to be a general one-year, full-time, pre-employment course catering for non-traditional sixth formers in the ability range CSE grades 2-4. (This target group will be referred to as 16+ provision.) It was to be located in colleges of further education and was to cater for those students who were not necessarily committed to a particular occupation. The course was to play a diagnostic role and was designed to enable students to experience a range of vocationally orientated options, thereby facilitating an informed occupational choice. There were to be core elements of numeracy and communications and the student would select at least two options from a vocationally orientated range. The importance of the CFE is that it illustrates the response of a college and Regional Examining Board initially to an assumption that there would be an increased demand for college places from those with low level qualifications, and more recently to increased rates of youth unemployment. Additionally, in some respects it anticipated the type of course envisaged by the recent government White Paper ‘A New Training Initiative’.