WIREDGOV

Following the 2 April 2012 broadcast of a BBC Panorama documentary about apprenticeships, the Institute for Learning (IfL) has said that professional teachers, trainers and assessors are essential for the delivery and assessment of high-quality apprenticeship programmes.

IfL’s chief executive, Toni Fazaeli, said, “IfL is the professional body for teachers and trainers in further education and skills, and this year we have over 15,000 members working as teachers or trainer assessors in work-based learning. The work they do is central to apprentices’ effective learning of new skills. Trainers and assessors need to be experts in their vocational and occupational area and experts in teaching and learning too. Teaching and training is a professional role, not an amateur one.

“To ensure that young people and adult apprentices do not waste time, drop out or fail because they are not learning enough or fast enough, it is essential that they are taught by highly skilled, professional trainers. IfL’s professional body membership grades are linked to the members’ teaching and training qualifications, with the most senior grade of fellow being the most highly qualified. IfL also expects each member to carry out at least 30 hours of professional development a year, to stay up to date, and monitors this.

“IfL is very disturbed by the recommendation in Lord Lingfield’s recent interim report on professionalism in further education and skills that initial teacher training should be optional. We fundamentally disagree. This is not right for adult learners or young people – they and their parents need to feel confident that their teachers and trainers are qualified to do the job. They should certainly ask the college or training provider whether all their trainers and assessors (including subcontractors) are qualified, and perhaps whether they are IfL members too. Good employers support their trainers to become qualified and ensure that they have the time needed to deliver high-quality on and off-the-job learning to each apprentice, based on their strong commitment to excellence, not cutting corners.

“IfL’s code of professional practice for members offers protection to the public. Any concerns about individuals who are thought to be fraudulent, for example, in their assessments, should be reported to their employer and to IfL. If the person is an IfL member – and it is in employers’ interests that their trainers and assessors are members – IfL will investigate and can issue sanctions. IfL also publishes a list of those who are found to be in serious breach of the professional code, which prospective employers and others can check.

“High-quality apprenticeships help young people and adults develop the skills that employers and entrepreneurs need, and are crucial for our economic revival and growth. IfL is working to support trainers and assessors in membership to be qualified and the very best they can be, for their apprentices’ success.”

NOTES TO EDITORS

About IfL

The Institute for Learning (IfL) was formed in 2002 by further education teachers, trade unions, employers and others, 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, sixth-form colleges, the voluntary sector and work-based learning. IfL supports excellence in professional teachers’ and trainers’ practice for learners.

All teachers and trainers working in Skills Funding Agency funded further education and skills 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 ensuring an expert further education workforce, IfL is responsible for registering teachers and trainers, for keeping an overview of teachers’ CPD, and for conferring the professional licensed practitioner status of Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS) or Associate Teacher Learning and Skills (ATLS).

An independent professional body, IfL is governed by an elected advisory council and non-executive board with the large majority from its membership, and works closely with several sector organisations, unions and employer bodies.