The 157 Group is a group of larger colleges who have achieved at least a grade 2 on their last Ofsted inspection on leadership and management.

157 Group college principals are committed to furthering the aims and objectives of the Group which are to:

• develop and practice a leadership paradigm for further education colleges;
• enhance the reputation of further education colleges;
• play a leading role in shaping and delivering a quality improvement agenda for the further education system;
• work towards, and once achieved, if appropriate, to administer, self-accrediting and self-regulating status for members; and
• develop projects or enterprises on behalf of the members

The Association of Colleges (AoC) aims to promote the interests of further education colleges in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It provides a broad range of services to its subscribers and represents their interests locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.

Association of Learning Providers (ALP) represents independent learning providers throughout England. It influences the education and training agenda in order to influence and secure a national skills strategy, secure the 14-19 learning curriculum opportunities for learning throughout life and demonstrate a government-supported learning market open to all providers offering high quality learning.

Association of Managers in Education (AMiE) is the trade union and professional association for leaders and managers in colleges and schools. AMiE is a partnership between the Association for College Management (ACM) and Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL). AMiE is a student focused, values led organisation whose primary aim is to offer excellent trade union and professional support to its members.

Association of National Specialist Colleges (Natspec) is a membership association for independent specialist colleges that provide further education or skills training for learners with complex learning difficulties and/or disabilities. Natspec supports its members through regular briefings, lobbying on strategic and policy issues, offering training events and promoting partnership working with a wide range of organisations and agencies.

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) is the professional organisation and trade union for teachers, lecturers and other education professionals in further education and schools across the UK. It promotes and protects the interests of its members and champions good practice across the sectors via social partnership. It has the unique position of serving members in all sectors and levels of staff.

British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) is the government agency leading the national drive to ensure the effective and innovative use of technology throughout learning. Its ambition is to utilise the benefits of technology to create a more exciting, rewarding and successful experience for learners of all ages and abilities, enabling them to achieve their potential.

The Department for Education replaced the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) in May 2010. It is responsible for education and children's services. Previous names include DES, DFE, DfEE, DfES & DCSF.

The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) is one of three government departments set up by the Prime Minister in June 2007. Some of its responsibilities include raising participation and attainment by young people and adults in post-16 education and tackling the skills gap amongst adults, in particular by equipping people with basic literacy and numeracy.

The Institute for Learning (IfL) is distinctive as the independent professional body for teachers, trainers, tutors and student teachers in the learning and skills sector. IfL’s three strategic priorities are: providing valuable benefits to members; raising the status of practitioners; and facilitating the contribution of practitioners to policy issues. IfL’s focus is on individual practitioners and their professionalism and status.

The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) is a non-departmental public body which aims to improve the skills of England’s young people and adults to ensure we have a workforce of world-class standard. They are responsible for planning and funding high-quality education and training for everyone in England other than those in universities.

The Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) is the new LSIS sector owned body, formed from the Centre for Excellence in Leadership (CEL) and the Quality Improvement Agency (QIA) to develop excellent and sustainable further education provision across the sector. LSIS will work in partnership with all parts of the sector to provide vision, leadership, clarity and high-quality support; practising and enabling continuous self-improvement and capacity-building. LSIS will take a comprehensive approach to whole organisation improvement, offering a range of programmes and services which are based on leading-edge practice from within the sector and further afield, and building and sustaining capacity for self-improvement across the sector. These programmes include:

• tailored organisational consultancy;
• commissioning and disseminating relevant research and policy updates;
• CPD for staff leaders, managers and governors;
• a programme to help providers improve their self-assessment processes by working in peer review and development groups;
• programmes to improve teaching and learning and develop sector coaches and mentors through the development of networks and resources; and
• programmes that recognise and reward excellence and innovation in the sector.

LSIS aims to be a national and international centre of expertise and innovation for excellence; and to become the focal point for enabling innovation by the sector, supporting it to be ever more effective in responding to the needs of learners, employers and the community.

The Local Education Authority Forum for the Education of Adults (LEAFEA) is the national network of local authority adult learning officers and represents the local authority voice in national forums. It plays a key role in identifying the workforce issues of local authority adult learning provision.

National Network of Local Adult Learning providers (HOLEX) exists to facilitate network and information sharing between member organisations; to offer briefings and information updates to members; and to represent the views of members to national and regional bodies involved in overseeing learning and skills provision in England.

The Network for Black Professionals' (NBP) purpose is to address the under-representation of Black staff in the further education sector, particularly the small numbers of managers, senior staff and principals.

The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) is a non-governmental organisation aiming to increase the number of adults in formal and informal learning and to improve opportunities and widen access to learning for those communities under- represented in current provision.

The Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) is the government department responsible for reviewing and monitoring the standards of education and training.

Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) works closely with government and other agencies. QCA lead the reform of education and training programmes that equip learners, teaching professionals and employers with the skills and support they need to meet the demands of the 21st century. Core responsibilities include:

• developing and reviewing the national curriculum so that pupils in every school have access to the same high-quality curriculum content;
• working with stakeholders and national partners to develop innovative education initiatives, such as the 14-19 Diploma and the Qualifications and Credit Framework; and
• providing guidance and support, helping to build an education and training system that benefits all learners throughout their lives.

The Sixth Form Colleges' Forum (SFCF) lobbies on behalf of sixth form colleges’ interests and provides them with advice and information. All sixth form colleges are members of this organisation.

The Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) was established to raise standards in schools by attracting able and committed people to teaching and improving the effectiveness of the school workforce.

UNISON Public Service Union is the largest public service trade union representing support staff working in further education and sixth form colleges throughout the UK.

The Universities' Council for Education of Teachers (UCET) acts as a national forum for the discussion of matters relating to the education of teachers and professional educators, and to the study of education in the university sector and contributes to the formulation of policy in these fields. Its members are UK universities involved in teacher education, and a number of colleges of higher education in the university sector.

The University and College Union (UCU) is the largest trade union and professional association for academics, lecturers, trainers, researchers, and academic-related staff working in further and higher education throughout the UK.