June 2002

A message from ACM’s President, Richard Atkins

I am very pleased to have this opportunity to communicate directly with all ACM’s members at the beginning of my year as the Association’s President. As someone who joined ACM at its inception in 1987, it really is both a privilege and a pleasure to hold this post at the time when we are enjoying our most successful period to date. I would like to say something about our current strengths as a professional association and trade union, and identify what I see as the key national issues facing the post-16 learning sector over the next year or so.

It is just twelve months ago that our new General Secretary/Chief Executive, Peter Pendle, joined ACM and it is clear that he has brought to our Association the clear, strong leadership that we were looking for. He has strengthened our team of staff, raised the national profile of ACM and worked hard behind the scenes to increase the Association’s influence with government. During the past 15 years, one of ACM’s key strengths has been its professional casework activity, and we now have an employment service team led by David Green which is providing the best possible information, advice and support to members in a cost-effective way.

ACM’s national profile in the world of education has risen considerably in recent years, particularly since the appointment of Nadine Cartner as our Education Officer. The most visible evidence of Peter and Nadine’s work can be seen regularly in the TES and, increasingly, in the Guardian and other specialist FE press. All of us involved in the development of ACM want to see us continue to build upon our reputation as an independent, professional association which provides the government with clear feedback on its FE related policies, whilst at the same time being a strong, active trade union.

One of the reasons that the Association is well placed to build on these strengths is that we enjoy a growing membership base and financial stability. We know we cannot take these advantages for granted, and I would encourage colleagues to recommend ACM membership to other managers in the post-16 sector so that our services can continue to be improved.

I would also like to write something about the major issues in post-16 education and training which are likely to require a response from ACM during my year as President. I would envisage that the next 12 months will continue to be dominated by the issues of pay and funding, with the growing disparities between schools and colleges being an ever more important issue. ACM is clear that additional funding must come to the sector to improve pay for all staff, including managers, so that our services are able to meet the government’s ambitious targets for post-16 learning. The second key issue is likely to be the government-led debate about the ‘breadth of mission’ of colleges. As Principal of a tertiary college, I am clearly not a supporter of separate types of institutions at 16+, and I do not believe that a broad mission inevitably leads to lower quality. Indeed, it seems to me that to bridge the academic and vocational divide in one institution is the ideal response to the 14-19 agenda. The other issues I see ACM needing to respond to this year include the 14-19 Green Paper, the anti-bureaucracy drive, resolving difficulties with the qualifications’ framework and providing clear, constructive feedback to the Learning + Skills Council about its performance to date!

As usual, the next 12 months look likely to be challenging and interesting ones for our sector. I believe ACM is well placed to be one of the sector’s key professional organisations in responding to these issues as well as continuing to provide our members with all the benefits of being a TUC affiliated trade union.

Richard Atkins, ACM President