Puppet on a shoe‐string

What is the role of the DES Further Education Curriculum Development Unit? Despite the leadership provided first by John Tomlinson — who has now gone to chair the Schools Council, and is one of the most imaginative and dynamic Chief Education Officers in the business — and latterly by the Revd. Dr. George Tolley — who has made such a success of the development of Sheffield Polytechnic — the Unit has yet to make any significant impact on the world of further education. This is doubtless in part because the Unit is understaffed and underfinanced; a budget of under £100,000 is peanuts when set against the mammoth task of reviewing what is taught in FE and how, or by comparison with the budgets of any of the institutions the Unit should be guiding.