Institute for Learning
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IfL pledges support for adult vocational teaching and learning report

The Institute for Learning (IfL) has pledged its support for the report published on 25 March 2013 by the Commission on Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning (CAVTL), It’s about work … Excellent adult vocational teaching and learning.

IfL’s chief executive, Toni Fazaeli, said, “If the ambitions set out in the report, built on existing brilliant vocational teaching, are fully realised, there is no doubt that England’s vocational education and training (VET) system will be rivalling the very best in the world.
 
“Putting teachers, teaching and learning at the heart of the country’s VET system is right. The relationship between vocational teacher and vocational learner, connected to the context of work, is the mainstay for success. IfL has long described and promoted further education and skills teachers and trainers as ‘dual professionals’ – experts in their vocational area and expert in teaching and learning methods – and we welcome the report’s emphasis on this twin professional concept. Teaching is a profession, and teaching qualifications should be at levels commensurate with those in other recognised professions.

“IfL was privileged to carry out extensive research and development work to support the Commission, and is very pleased to see our evidence and findings, which drew on more than 20,000 responses from members, teachers and trainers, informing the report and its recommendations. We thank all those practitioners who have generously contributed.

“IfL will commend the report to every vocational teacher and trainer and our large membership. Today is a red letter day for the FE teaching profession, and we would like to see this becoming an annual celebration of vocational teachers and the difference they make to millions of young and adult learners.

“It will be excellent if the commitment from industry that henceforth vocational teachers will be able to work closely with employers and benefit from work placements with employer partners is realised, and will need to be matched by colleges and providers freeing up enough time for vocational teachers to have significant professional updating in their vocational field, as well as in teaching methods and using new technologies in their practice. A world-class VET system is wholly reliant on vocational teachers being given time and investment to be world-class practitioners, and to have the freedom and trust to develop innovative curricula to meet the needs of learners and the economy. We recognise that changes to working practices in colleges and providers take time and are not always easy. However, the new culture outlined in the report requires leaders to rethink the way that teachers’ work is organised so that the very first calls on time are for teaching; significant professional development; and teachers leading partnership working with employers.

“IfL offers to help promote industrial placements with teachers and trainers, as well as the helpful characteristics of outstanding vocational pedagogy that have been carefully distilled from substantial evidence shared with CAVTL to support members be the best teachers they can be.
 
“In addition, IfL will continue to take forward a number of our existing developments, which will contribute to the recommendations in the CAVTL report. These include a pilot summer school for vocational teachers with a large technology firm and IfL’s ongoing research, development and professional development opportunities for individual teachers and trainers.

“IfL is honoured to be part of the Commission and to help implement its recommendations, in our distinctive way as the professional body for individual teachers and trainers, complementing and collaborating with other partner organisations in the FE and skills sector. The report looks to professional bodies, as well as the government and its agencies; teacher educators in higher education; and the new guild to pay our respective roles in enabling adult vocational teaching and learning to flourish, by addressing the report’s recommendations.”

NotesClick here to download IfL preparatory research to inform the work of the Commission on Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning in PDF format.  

Click here to download IfL research to inform the work of the Commission on Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning in PDF format.

Click here to download Reaching Excellence in English Vocational Education and Training. A response to the Commission on Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning's Call for Evidence in PDF format.

 

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