Aspects of Public Sector Management

Abstract

This article examines management in further education a decade after thepassage of legislation removing colleges from local council control. The research analysed two areas of public sector management as applied to furthereducation. First, the dominance of business managerialism in colleges. Second, the relationship between policy and strategy development at the centreand college/service management at institutional level. The article demonstrates that the notion of business managerial dominance in college practice requires qualification. It also indicates that, while there is a degree of central control exerted through the funding process, there is no comprehensive central direction of further education strategy and policy, and, in the cases studied, no sharp distinction between policy development and college service management. The research is focused largely on Scotland and based on a detailed examination of an anonymous college, with additional information from the further education sector in Glasgow.