Restraining the further education market: closing Pandora’s box

There has been growing concern that the market‐dominated practice of colleges of further education in England has led to a situation where colleges compete aggressively to the detriment of current and potential students. A recent report suggested that autonomous colleges could not achieve the widening of participation and equity required of vocational education and training, and recommended regional planning and partnership to balance the negative effects of a market‐driven approach. This article reports on interviews with college principals and on the analysis of a sample of college strategic plans, and concludes that although partnership may be welcomed by some, colleges are unlikely to co‐operate unless the system retains a sufficient degree of autonomy for individual institutions and does not damage the interests of individual colleges by a redistribution of resources. It also argues that the suggested planning framework of the National Training and Education Targets and labour market information may be insufficiently reliable and too short term.