Good Afternoon. It's a pleasure to be invited to speak to you today, and as those of you who have read the Foster Review, and those of you who have heard me speak before I intend to focus as you would expect on Foster, his emphasis on the learner, and the challenges I believe it sets the sector on extending and embeddding the learner voice into the organisation and culture of FE.

Back when I first became an FE student representative at Sheffield College, a student union officer and governor, as someone who chose FE because of the unique community it provides to study within, because of the adult orientated environment, and the right to representation, it never crossed my mind that I’d end up standing up here today as the national voice of the learner. Over these last few days I’ve met many of you, lobbied some of you, been lobbied by some of you and have had countless conversations about ‘student representation, what it really means’.

And let me say how encouraging most of those conversations have been.

I've heard tales of students' unions given a new focus and more funding thanks to a real priority established at senior management level. I've heard of Student Councils and Course Rep systems being established and extended giving learners more of an influence than ever before. And I've heard of Student Governors making a hugely positive contribution to the work of their board - in fact, one of you even told me that it was only the student governor who was making a positive contribution to your board!

But I have to say, I've also been disappointed. Some people have told me that they've tried, but they've failed. Some people have told me that they used to have a Students' Union, but student apathy has meant that it has failed to form a meaningful student voice in recent years. And some people have told me that they have student forums and committees, but students just don't seem to want to turn up.

And it was these conundrums that I was reflecting on last night when I was thinking about what I would say today. You see, you're not the only ones that have conferences. This month, NUS has been running its FE Essentials events - training events for Students' Union Officers that focus on the development of the learner voice at a college level.

And, like the AOC organisers here, we have to think carefully about the programme to ensure that people get the most out of the experience.

I'll be honest - the afternoon slot of day three on any event is a tough one. Physically, it's almost psychologically designed to produce student apathy. But as some of you will know, we've been working with the LSDA on a research project to identify how learners can be best involved in representation, and so we decided to slot in a session on the project into that graveyard slot.

And let me be clear - something magical has been happening. Over the last few events, every time we actually ask learners what motivates them to learn - and how they can be better involved in the design and delivery of that learning - the event comes alive. They engage in ways that have surprised us, surprised the LSDA, and even surprised them.

And they tell us fascinating things. In the very best colleges, they tell us that these conversations go on every day, and they're shocked that this doesn't happen elsewhere.

But in the main, they tell us that the focus for feedback is on teaching, not learning. That their feedback is collected by questionnaire. And that nothing much ever seems to come of it. This has to change. And in the worst cases...well, in the worst case analysis, colleges don't send their students to NUS 'FE Essentials' events, presumably because their students are the 'apathetic' ones. And speaking of which in two weeks time, NUS with CEL and the AoC runs it’s student governor training. You have only registered 16 students between you, if this was an NUS event I’d be saying shame on you.

We've all heard the phrase "putting the learner at the centre". I doubt that there's many in this room who would disagree with the notion that the views, needs and perceptions of learners are crucial to getting the individual education process and the overall curriculum offer right.

But the reality is that the factors that affect a learning experience are so often not simply determined by individual tutor and learner; more often they are impacted on by collective, institutional decision making too.

Not only does NUS believe that student representation improves education, we also believe that this process is educational in itself. In part, this is because asking ‘why did you say that’ helps us understand students in 2005, and partly because being asked gives students a sense of ownership and builds commitment from students to the notion of ‘co-production’ of successful learning outcomes. For us, the most important element of what the government variably calls "Citizenship" is about having groups and institutions within which we can learn about others' needs and advocate for them collectively - it's what being a member of a community is all about.

For NUS, this all starts from the mission and ethos of the college - something that despite government and quango funding levers is and ought to be vested inside the Governing Body. There are of course some who see the Governance role in Education as merely finance and compliance. NUS would disagree. If a college is there to serve its stakeholders, its Governing Body must be in a position to identify their interests, set a mission and ethos in that vein, and set in place management and monitoring arrangements to meet that mission and ethos. Many of you would argue that the local LSC robs you of the chance to really influence your own mission and ethos. We would agree - but the sector will only get it's autonomy back if it can demonstrate that the learner really has been put at the heart of decision making at course and college level.

Well, we, like you, have read Foster. And we like what we see. As you know, he says: "In common with other public services, FE must put the 'user' at the centre of policy and practice. Turning 'learner Focus' into actions will involve the strengthening of learner advocacy at national and local LSC level, and at college level"

As you can imagine, we're delighted. We've been saying for some time that learner representation and advocacy are key to an effective and dynamic FE Sector - but sometimes it feels like we've been pushing at a closed door.

So on behalf of the millions of learners that I represent, let me say thank you to Sir Andrew. We look forward to working with the implementation groups to ensure that your recommendations get embedded into the sector's organisational culture and practice.

Too often I’ve heard this week that you can’t find learners who wish to be involved in the structures you set up. For us citizenship only works where we build the institutions within which people can live together, share together, debate together and decide together. Learners’ views don’t just appear out of thin air. They need time, space, encouragement and organisation to debate and produce. And that’s what students unions are all about.

Our experience suggests that real collective involvement of the learner - putting them at the centre of provision - only happens when there is senior management buy in. This cannot happen through development projects or best practice models alone.

To inform our views and underpin our campaigning work NUS recently completed the biggest research project into FE student unions ever undertaken.

88% of students’ unions are supported by a Staff Student Liaison Officer (SSLO), but 23% of those receive only 2 hours of that staff member’s time, or less, per week.

23% of colleges do not provide funding for the training of student governors

Whilst most of the colleges surveyed (92%) indicate that they have course representative systems in place, half of them say that course reps do not sit on course/faculty boards, and 73% of course reps do not receive any training to fulfil their role.

But most fundamentally we found a direct link between board, management and staff support and successful, vibrant, democratic, and representative students’ organisations. We found scores of ‘on paper’ students unions without even the basics of staffing support, email addresses or budget.

The good news is that our research demonstrates that with board and senior management buy in, some will from enthusiastic staff given time to do it, and a modest level of funding – as well as clear support for a development plan – student representation can survive and flourish.

Let me also say thank you to the thousands of learners that have been involved with the Foster Review, many of whom met Sir Andrew himself.

No doubt their vivid accounts of the culture of their colleges contributed positively to his Report.

I want to say thank you to the AoC. We've been working together for many years now on Student Governor and Governance work, but now its clear that we can work on getting beyond seeing "Student Satisfaction" as a proxy for student involvement and really start to take the voice of students seriously in the design and delivery of learning. Yesterday, Stella Thomas’ “Quality Governance Through Effective Self-Assessment” workshop showed precisely why and how that must work.

Maybe this is a bit cheeky, but I want to thank the LSC in advance. It was of course some time ago that the LSC declared that the learner must be 'at the heart of the system'. Indeed, it was the LSC's Young Person's Learning Committee – lowest aged member 41 - that published guidance on engaging with young people some 4 years ago. Maybe it's time to implement - or even improve on -some of that advice in light of Foster, and we look forward to working with you to make it happen.

And let me thank the LSDA and, in advance, its successor organisation the QIA, for the work it's doing on researching the learner voice in collaboration with NUS. I know we're already exploding the myths of student apathy and helping to find positive ways of empowering student representatives at a course and college level.

And it's that focus on Quality Improvement that I want to talk about today. Many of you may have seen in the TES the recent spat between Dennis Hayes and my colleague Ellie Russell, the Vice President Further Education at NUS. Dennis, if you don't know already, promoted the view that Student Evaluations are worthless - that we can learn nothing from their views and that we should all do our best to resist them. That students had nothing worthwhile to add to their educational environment.

Clearly, "debate with Dennis" is much more about generating snappy and controversial polemic than reflecting the views of the sector. But our fear is this - that when Dennis says that student views are worthless, that reflects the unspoken views of a minority of people still in power in the sector. I’d like to hope however not the views of the majority in this room.

I know that the cynics (and I don't blame people for being cynical who have worked in FE for the last 15 years) may see a relentless focus on learner advocacy as just another initiative, another box to tick, another meeting to hold and a passage in the self evaluation document.

But I'm here to tell you that it can, it will and it must mean more than this. A focus on learner voice means giving learners more power.

It means - in Bernard Crick's view, not ours - giving students a chance to initiate or resist change. It means that student representation must be supported and funded. It means students being encouraged to express interesting and controversial views. It means that complaints need to be something to learn from, not close down on. And it means that - occasionally - we need to get uncomfortable.

Now and again, given a voice students suggest things that we never thought of. Now and again, students resist things that we wish were easier to push through. And now and again, students ask questions that we'd rather were never asked.

And when this happens it must be the sign of healthy college culture.

Our view, is that if in the last year your learners haven't resisted or initiated change, you've failed.

The prize for the optimist is a real learning culture, where students are seen as co-producers of their learning and are involved individually and collectively in it. But I know you're not all optimists. So for the cynics in the room, I say this - If you really want self assessment and light touch regulation, you'll have to move beyond the tick box student satisfaction measure of learner voice. It would be nice, wouldn't it, if constant change in funding, curriculum and delivery wasn't driven by central dictat but by colleges themselves. But it can only happen if learners are actively involved.

Our recent development survey shows that in some colleges, the learner voice struggles to be heard. It is not supported with any meaningful intent, time or even modest amounts of large budgets, of which a considerable proportion is spent on 'quality improvement'. Well, clearly, that must change if an 'active learner focus' is to come about by "strengthening learner advocacy at national and local LSC level, and college level"

There are good students' unions doing this in and with their colleges, but they are few and far between. Foster requires the whole sector to make a considerable cultural change, and for that there needs to be organisational change in colleges. It is this challenge that we look forward to meeting and winning.

At NUS we're working hard to respond to and develop the agenda. Nationally we're proud of our Student Participation project 'sparqs' up in scotland, and we're working hard towards a similar projectin England. Locally, our 'Student Voice:Loud and Clear' campaign is developing materials and support for staff and students to amplify the student voice as much as possible. NUS can help, we train over 500 union officers annually, through residential and in house routes, we produce definitive guides to running students unions and other back up representative structures. We provide networks and supports for student Staff Liason Officers who are at the front line in your college to make this happen, and we have support for all colleges from a dedicated regional officer team who will provide support and guidance to any NUS member institution.

I am proud to have been an FE Student Officer now leading NUS’s radical reform into taking the sector seriously. I am proud that it seems were now being heard. Students unions, learner representation structures have always been at the mercy of the ethos of the institution and the whim of senior management. It shouldn’t be a lottery; a right to real representation should be a key element of a learners’ educational experience. Let us help you make it happen.

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