| Abstract: | Abstract This article is the second of a two‐part article which reports research on the development of managers in further education (FE). It draws on a survey of all general FE colleges in England, and two case study colleges, Peterborough Regional College and Leicester South Fields College. The first part of the article reported on the number of managers in FE, the allocation of responsibility for their development and the extent of development activity. The second part of the article explores the process by which the development needs of managers are identified, showing that two parallel processes exist, a systematic approach based on appraisal and an ad hoc process based on individual initiative and serendipity. The choice of development activity is also analyzed, concluding that cost is the major factor driving the process, but that other attitudinal and resource issues are part of the overall picture. The links with strategic planing are also described, questioning the extent to which such links are happening in practice, and how far they may be viable, given the difficulty of prioritizing managers’ personal development needs against other more concrete college goals. Finally, the article returns to the Pedler et al. (1988) framework used as an analytical tool in the first part of the article, to conclude that colleges appear to have made some progress in introducing systems to the development of managers, but that there are still many barriers to the implementation of systems which embrace management development in the widest sense. |
