Further Education Colleges and Educationally Disadvantaged Adults

This article discusses the impact of incorporation on further education colleges which have described themselves as 'community colleges'.Based on research into a small number of such colleges it examines whether educationally disadvantaged adults are more, or less, able to participate in further education.It is argued that collaboration between further education colleges and community education, which previous research has shown leads to increased participation, has continued or increased since incorporation in situations where there are clear structures in place and the prevailing ethos is committed to collaborative practices.On the other hand evidence is presented of an increased tendency to market institution-led provision in ways which restrict, rather than increase, access by educationally disadvantaged groups.It is suggested that the deregulation and under-resourcing of colleges may, rather than giving power to consumers, reinforce already unequal relations of power and hence further exclude already marginalised communities.