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Selection of academic & political publications. Ken Spours and colleagues
Here you will find a selection of academic and political publications (2016-present). Some are sole-authored, but most are the result of collaborations.
I am indebted to the contributions of Prof. Ann Hodgson, Prof. David Guile, Prof. Michael Young, Prof. Ewart Keep, Prof. David James, Dr Lynne Rogers, Dr Cathy Howieson, UCL Hon Research Fellow Paul Grainger and the late and much-missed Professors Jim Gallacher and David Raffe. ​More recently, new partnerships have been established with Chinese colleagues at Capital Normal University, Beijing including Prof.Liying Rong and doctoral students Zhen Zhong, Zeying Cheng and Shuhan Huang.
In political life, I owe much to the thinking and intellectual leadership of Neal Lawson, Director of Compass.
Zeying Cheng, Shuhan Huang & Ken Spours. 2026. China’s current VET reforms. Developments and challenges in a politically co-ordinated model (upcoming chapter in Routledge volume on the Principles and Purposes of VET)
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Paul Grainger and Ken Spours. 2026. The decline of England’s vocational/ lifelong learning system and Labour’s challenges (upcoming chapter in Routledge volume on the 'Principles and Purposes of VET')
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Liying Rong, Zhen Zhong & Ken Spours. 2025. Exploring evolving ‘problem spaces’ of large language models: mediation relationships between users and the new technology in teaching and research in Chinese higher education – forthcoming publication.
Ken Spours. 2025. Socialised systems of generative artificial Intelligence and the roles of technological organic intellectuals Systems. 13, 944, https://doi.org/10.3390/systems13110944.
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Ken Spours. 2025. National Populism and the Political Three-Body Problem – Compass publication.
Ken Spours. 2024. From Learning Ecologies to a Social Ecosystem Model for Learning and Skills Systems 12, no. 9: 324. ​
Liying Rong, Deng Feng, Zhen Zhong, & Ken Spours. 2024. Impact Analysis of Chinese Government Leadership in the Construction of a Public Service System of Preschool Education. Education and Urban Society, 56(7), 881-905
Ken Spours. 2024. Reflections on the Learning Premodifier and the Learning Turn, in Anders Örtenblad (ed) Making Sense of the Learning Turn. Why and In What Sense Toys, Organizations, Economies, and Cities are "Learning” Oxford University Press, ISBN: 9780192865977​
Ken Spours. 2023. The Evolution of Social Ecosystem Thinking. Stimulus Paper for the Workshop on 'Skills Ecosystems and the Just Transition'. Witwatersrand University, Johannesburg, 20-24 November 2023.
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Ken Spours & Neal Lawson. 2023. The Ship and The Sea: The Framework for a New Settlement, Compass Publications https://www.compassonline.org.uk/publications/the-ship-and-the-sea-the-framework-for-a-new-settlement/
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Ken Spours. 2023. Transitioning vocational education and training in Africa: a social skills ecosystem perspective, VET Africa 4.0 Collective: Bristol University Press, ISBN: 978-1-5292-2463-4. Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 76(3), 747–755.https://doi.org/10.1080/13636820.2023.2230037.​​
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Ken Spours & Paul Grainger. 2023. The mediating role of further and higher education in a Just Transition social ecosystem Journal of Vocational Education and Training. https://doi.org/10.1080/13636820.2023.2258521​
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Ken Spours, Paul Grainger & Carol Vigurs. 2022. ‘We are all in the same storm but not in the same boat’: the COVID pandemic and the Further Education Sector Journal of Education & Work https://doi.org/10.1080/13639080.2022.2149715.
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Ken Spours. 2022. Hegemony Lost: The decline of the Conservative Historical Project – Compass publications
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Ken Spours. 2021. Accelerate the Just Transition - the contribution of further and higher education to net zero and climate justice, Stimulus Paper, COP26 Event.
Ken Spours, Paul Grainger, Carol Vigurs & Rachel France. 2021.​ Mitigating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the further education sector - research report for DfE and SAGE.
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David Guile & Ken Spours. 2020. The challenge of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Artificial Intelligence: towards a framework of understanding - Discussion Paper 1.
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Ann Hodgson & Ken Spours. 2020. Young people and transitions in upper secondary education in England: the influence of policy on the ‘local opportunity landscape’ (with A. Hodgson) Youth on the Move volume. University of Helsinki Press.
Ken Spours. 2020. Organic Thinking for the 4IR/AI Era: Specialisation, the General Intellect and 45-Degree Knowledge Production - Discussion Paper 2.
Ken Spours. 2020. Shapeshifters: the evolution of Modern Conservatism – Compass Think Piece
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Lynne Rogers & Ken Spours. 2020. The great stagnation of upper secondary education in England: A historical and system perspective British Journal of Education Research
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Ann Hodgson & Ken Spours. 2019. Further education and skills across the UK: new opportunities for policy learning? An Introduction to the Special Issue - Journal of Education and Work,
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Ken Spours, Ann Hodgson, Paul Grainger & David Smith. 2019. Area-based reviews and their aftermath: moving to a Post-Incorporation Model for further education in England? Journal of Vocational Education and Training
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Ann Hodgson & Ken Spours. 2019. Further education in England: at the crossroads between a national, competitive sector and a local collaborative system? Journal of Education and Work,
Ann Hodgson, Ken Spours, David Smith & Julia Jeanes. 2018. Beyond employer engagement and skills supply: building conditions for partnership working and skills co-production in the English context Journal of Education and Work
Ken Spours, Nick Mahony & Frances Foley. 2018. Common Platforms: a new stage of collaborative-based politics (Compass publication
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Ken Spours & Paul Grainger, 2018. A Social Ecosystem Model: A New Paradigm for Skills Development? G20 Briefing Paper
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Ken Spours. 2017. From the ‘General’ to the ‘Organic’ Intellect: reflections on the concepts of specialisation and the curriculum of the future
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Ken Spours. 2016. The Very Modern Prince: the 21st Century political party and the progressive political formation Compass Think Piece.
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Ann Hodgson, David Smith & Ken Spours. 2016. Future apprenticeships in England: mediating forces and factors in the new model Journal of Education and Work
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Ken Spours, Cathy Howieson & Michael Young. 2016. Bridging divides - social science, educational policy and the improvement of education and training systems: An appreciation of the contribution of David Raffe (1950-2015) Introduction to the Special Issue of the Journal of Education and Work in memory of David Raffe.
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Ann Hodgson & Ken Spours. 2016. Restrictive and expansive policy learning - challenges and strategies for knowledge exchange in upper secondary education across the four countries of the UK Journal of Education Policy DOI:10.1080/02680939.2015.1132012.
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Ken Spours & Patrick Diamond. 2016. The Osborne Supremacy: The Unfolding Conservative Hegemonic Project and the Left's Response Renewal: A Journal of Social Democracy, January.
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FE and skills – is the ‘UK laboratory’ open for expansive policy learning? Ann Hodgson, Ken Spours, Jim Gallacher, Tracy Irwin & David James - Journal of Education and Work, 2019
The final article in the special issue argues that the potential for a UK 'policy laboratory' in the area of vocational education and skills will be based on a new balance between the forces of convergence and divergence across the four countries of the UK. In this ‘goldilocks zone’ lie opportunities for policy learning. The four-country Inquiry identified ‘interesting practice’ that may form the basis of an initial ‘common project’ across the different systems. However, its pursuit will require shifts towards the more collaborative approach to FE and skills in the English system that characterises the three smaller countries of the UK. In this variegated political environment, the article concludes by speculating on the wider conditions for the permanent development of a UK policy laboratory (or laboratories) and expansive forms of policy learning.
Restrictive and expansive policy learning – challenges and strategies for knowledge exchange in upper secondary education across the four countries of the UK - Ann Hodgson & Ken Spours, Journal of Education Policy, 2016
This article examines the challenges and possibilities for UK policy learning in relation to upper secondary education (USE) across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (NI) within current national and global policy contexts. Drawing on a range of international literature, the article explores the concepts of ‘restrictive’ and ‘expansive’ policy learning and develops a framework of dimensions for examining what is taking place across the UK at a time of change for all four national USE systems to suggest that the conditions for expansive policy learning had markedly deteriorated due to ‘accelerating divergence’ between the three smaller countries and a dominant England that has been pursuing an ‘extreme Anglo Saxon education model’.
Area-based reviews and their aftermath: moving to a post-incorporation model for further education in England? Ken Spours, Ann Hodgson, Paul Grainger & David Smith - Vocational Education and Training, 2020
This article draws on research into the further education (FE) Area-Based Review (ABR) process in London, England over the period 2016–2018 to suggest that the significance of ABRs can be judged as to the extent they reinforce or challenge the historical marketised model of FE. The research, involving repeated interviews with a range of FE social partners over a three-year period, developed the concept of two inter-related logics – a dominant ‘Logic A’ focused on FE college viability and merger and a subordinate ‘Logic B’ focused on regional skills strategies and greater collaboration between social partners. The article concludes with a discussion around the evolving relationship between the two Logics and argues that, albeit hesitantly, FE colleges in England may be moving towards a ‘Post-Incorporation’ phase.
Bridging divides - social science, educational policy and the improvement of education and training systems: An appreciation of the contribution of Professor David Raffe (1950-2015)
- Cathy Howieson, Ken Spours & Michael Young, 2017
This introduction to a special issue of the Journal of Education and Work to celebrate the intellectual contribution of the late Prof. David Raffe highlighted his immense contribution to the understanding of post-compulsory education not only in Scotland but internationally. David's acute intellect was applied in many related fields, but perhaps his most impactful work concerned the development of 'home international' comparative analysis of the processes of convergence and divergence of education systems of the four countries of the UK.