Institute for Learning
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IfL gives evidence to select committee teacher training inquiry
The Institute for Learning (IfL), which is the professional body for teachers and trainers in the further education and skills sector, has given evidence to a select committee inquiry into training and development arrangements for FE teachers. IfL's chief executive, Toni Fazaeli, attended the House of Commons on 8 June 2009 to provide oral evidence to the Children, Schools and Families Committee.
The purpose of the evidence session was to examine the arrangements for those wanting to teach in the sector, including:
* teacher training qualifications for FE teachers
* registration requirements for FE teachers
* the staffing of vocational programmes in schools and colleges
* co-ordination across the agencies concerned with teacher training for schools and for colleges.
The committee heard that while schoolteachers with Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) may teach in FE and skills settings, the converse was not true. Ms Fazaeli said, "According to research undertaken by Lifelong Learning UK, schoolteachers moving into FE say that although there are some differences of context – curriculum, age group, range of qualifications, and to some extent a different vocabulary – with good induction, a good orientation programme and good support the transition can work well.
"The standards of being a professional teacher in a school setting and in an FE and skills setting are very closely aligned, even though the contexts are different. Following the latest Ofsted report on initial teacher training, which highlighted the significant improvements in quality and evidence of effective practice, we now have a golden opportunity to facilitate the movement of teachers and trainers between FE and skills and the school environment. LLUK has developed a useful orientation programme for schoolteachers moving to teach in FE, which could form the basis of a programme for those moving the other way, from FE into schools. "Lack of recognition for Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS) status as qualifying FE teachers to teach in schools is a barrier. We believe that 14-19 provision would benefit greatly if FE teachers, with their distinctive and up to date vocational expertise, were able to contribute fully to the 14-19 curriculum where some of the provision is delivered in a school. There is an opportunity to review and achieve mutual recognition of QTS and QTLS for the benefit of learners, teachers and colleges, providers and schools; we are working with the GTC(E) and other partners to explore the options, and urge the government to enable this development by reviewing the relevant regulations if necessary." Ms Fazaeli also told the committee that teachers and trainers were, in many cases, being hampered by time pressures. "We hear from our members that the amount of timetabled contact time, arrangements for covering colleagues who are sick, and the need to complete reports for awarding bodies and the like, places a lot of pressure on them," she said. "Even though they are very committed to their own training, to mentoring others, and to their own continuing professional development, this is what gets squeezed, in practice. Commitment to their learners takes priority, and with the wider financial pressures on the sector, I am concerned about time not being set aside for supporting trainee teachers, teachers and trainers, and for continuing professional development. "This is a too high a price for the nation to pay. We cannot afford aeronautical engineers, for example, to be four years out of date. If teachers and trainers are to help the next generation of students become the world-class workforce we need, they must be at the leading edge in their field." NOTES TO EDITORS 1. Witnesses at the session on 8 June 2009 were Toni Fazaeli, chief executive, Institute for Learning; David Hunter, chief executive, Lifelong Learning UK; Stella Mbubaegbu CBE, Association of Colleges; and Dr Michael Thrower, general secretary, Principals’ Professional Council. 2. IfL's written response to the Inquiry into initial teacher training and continuing professional development of teachers was submitted to the Children, Schools and Families Committee on 27 May 2009 and will be available to download from the IfL website. 3. A video of the 8 June 2009 session is available to view on the Parliament TV website at http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=4231
4. Ofsted's report, "The initial training of further education teachers" was published in February 2009 and is available to download at http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/content/download/9107/100629/file/The%20initial
%20training%20of%20further%20education%20teachers.pdf
About IfL
The Institute for Learning (IfL) was formed in 2002 and is the professional body for teachers, tutors, trainers and student teachers in the further education and skills sector, including adult and community learning, emergency and public services, FE colleges, the armed services, the voluntary sector and work-based learning.
All FE college teachers and trainers working in LSC-funded provision are required to register as members of IfL, undertake continuing professional development (CPD) each year and abide by the IfL Code of Professional Practice. As a key partner in delivering workforce reform, IfL is responsible for managing the registration process and for conferring licensed practitioner status.
An independent professional body, IfL is governed by an elected council and works closely with several sector organisations, unions and employer bodies.
CONTACT
Press office:
Lindsay Baugh 07736 246 697 or 01707 392 552
Email lindsay.baugh@howardsgate.co.uk
Membership and other enquiries:
The Institute for Learning
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Telephone: 0844 815 3202
Website: http://www.ifl.ac.uk/
Email: enquiries@ifl.ac.uk
