“FE: It’s a State of Mind” Tells Tale of FE

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If you”ve ever thought that you”ve had enough experiences in FE to write a book on the subject, you are not alone”¦in fact, someone has already done it!

F.E “It’s a State of Mind” follows the story of Tony, a college lecturer as he tries to find a sense of purpose in a job that seems to have lost sight of its core values, where education and professionalism seem to have been undermined by a world of corporate management speak. Oh, and to make things worse, the girl he loves thinks he’s a weirdo.

The story begs the age-old question “what does it all mean?” Tony searches for a suitable answer, and during his quest to find the mysterious “page 68” (which seems to have gone missing from the syllabus), he stumbles upon what the author describes as “possibly the 21st century’s greatest conspiracy.”

The novel satirises the inner workings of the Further Education system, and whilst it is an amusing tale, it also gives a brief but clear warning that a loss of core values in FE colleges has consequences for other areas of both higher and secondary education, which are now being pushed into the direction of incorporation.

A Relatively New Concept

The author, Toni Christianson, is a college lecturer who has used any available spare time to write the novel with three goals in mind. As the website www.fenovel.co.uk states: “One is to make a serious point about what it is like to work in F.E. Two is to entertain. Three is to get out of F.E. and write for a living.”

As if the concept of a story about FE wasn”t original enough, the way in which the book is presented is a relatively new concept in literary experiences. The novel is fully downloadable from the website, with the first twenty-eight page chapter being offered for free. The rest of the book has been split into four segments, each of which can be bought for a small fee, whilst of course the cheapest way is to buy the book in its entirety.

So an original fictional FE novel has arrived and could be turning up in staffrooms across the UK. With the author hinting that this is just the first in a series of downloadable books to hit the virtual shelf, will this be the catalyst for a new wave of budding Further Education authors? Now there’s a novel idea”¦

Joel Goldman

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