Courageous reform

There can be little doubt we are making progress when it comes to improving further education. More young people and adults than ever are gaining good qualifications every year. Our reforms for 14 to 19-year-olds mean we are in a better position to deliver excellent vocational learning to young people. And more than 1 million people have improved their basic literacy, numeracy or language skills since 1997.

But we are still falling short. We lag behind countries like France and Germany when we compare the number of young people who stay on in education and achieve good qualifications post-16. Many employers say that they are unable to fill jobs because they simply can't find the staff with the right skills. And there are too few second chances for those who haven't achieved at school to gain skills that can help them into long-term, skilled employment.

All this has to change. Because the question of reform in further education hinges on the two most fundamental aims of education: building a strong, highly skilled workforce to fuel the economy; and increasing social mobility. Our further education white paper is about how we are going to get this right, with a clear mission for the sector to respond to the demands of employers and the needs of learners who have the most to gain from improving their skills.

One of the key points in Sir Andrew Foster's report was the need for the further education sector to have a much clearer sense of purpose. We need the sector to be confident in its identity as a key agent in meeting the economic and social challenges we are currently facing. Our reforms will encourage more focus on specialism and more effective engagement with employers and learners. Learners and employers have to be seen as the key stakeholders of further education and the sector needs to respond to their needs. Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVEs) are a good example of how the sector is already responding. And the new skills academies are working with employers, leading vocational schools and CoVEs to become sector-based centres of excellence with a national remit to provide quality specialist training.

Our white paper sets out how we will extend the national skills academies programme and launch a new, more powerful phase for CoVEs, so employers play a direct role in designing and delivering new training programmes.

In addition, public funding available for basic employability will increasingly be placed in the hands of employers and learners, so they can choose the providers and the courses that most meet their needs. We will trial a new kind of learning account for learners, in the first instance to focus on the most significant skills gaps: level three technician level, skilled trade and associate professional qualifications. We will also use what learners think about provision in colleges as a key performance indicator for colleges.

But all this has to be supported by making it easier (both financially and practically) for those people who missed out at school to get new qualifications that can help them. Our white paper means that for the first time, 19 to 25-year-olds will have the same rights to free education as 16 to 19-year-olds - we will invest £25m in 2007/08 so more 19 to 25-year-olds can gain better qualifications. In addition, we will provide financial support for adults (over the age of 19) on low incomes studying for level two (GCSE level) or level three (two A-levels or equivalent) qualifications.

We will work to narrow the gender pay gap too, with more specialist training and better career advice for women with low skills. And there will be more money to help 5,000 women - particularly those who want to return to work after having children - into higher paying work sectors where they are often under-represented. We will do more to make sure excellent teaching is the experience of each and every learner. Good quality provision of training must come as standard in each and every college. Our white paper introduces four new programmes to recruit and retain top quality teaching professionals, both those with expertise in teaching and those with expertise in industry.

We will also be tougher on failure. There will be more vigorous inspection of colleges to improve standards. We will enable the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) to adopt a more robust approach to poor performance, ending funding for colleges that fail to improve and making it easier for good colleges and other providers to federate with weaker colleges to drive up standards. Along with enabling new providers to enter the market and challenge existing provision where it is poor, we are confident we can drive up poor or mediocre performance.

These reforms are vital because the health of further education is vital to the economy. Colleges and other providers are uniquely positioned not only to drive up skills and productivity, but also to improve people's prosperity and, therefore, social mobility. But this can only happen if we have the courage to reform: not only in responding to the needs of employers and learners, but also by being rigorous about quality and empowering the sector to provide much needed, specialist training. This is how we can help more people achieve their full potential. And this is how we will build the highly skilled workforce we need to remain globally competitive.

• Bill Rammell is minister for higher education and lifelong learning