Yes, but what happens next? Succession planning in English further education colleges

Abstract

In this article, we examine the role of the Principal within Further Education colleges in England and explore the often neglected issue of succession planning in the sector. To provide background and context to the current situation, key policies and developments over the past 30 years are reviewed and challenges identified. Interviews with serving Principals designed to explore the role, what leadership development was in place and whether succession planning was used have been carried out. The findings demonstrate that succession planning within colleges is underdeveloped, something particularly concerning when linked to the fact that the role is often a short term one with the turnover of people at the top of the organisation being a major concern. Whilst in some cases individual organisations took steps to identify and support those who wanted to progress this was limited and impacted by the sector environment. The participants’ responses reinforced findings from literature that the importance of succession planning was often paramount to the success of an organisation and included some suggestions as how to increase the pool of potential future leaders for the sector.