Begin the Professional Formation process

You can now express your intent to apply for the next round of Professional Formation to achieve Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS) or Associate Teacher Learning and Skills (ATLS) status, the new awards of professional status for teachers and trainers.

Completion of the online expression of intent form, available in the members’ area of the website, is the first stage of the Professional Formation process. It indicates to IfL that you wish to apply and allows us to prepare in advance the appropriate resources to review and moderate your application.

When we have received all expressions of intent (deadline 30 June 2009), applicants will be able to apply for QTLS or ATLS by using REfLECT to complete and send their Professional Formation portfolio to IfL. The completed applications will then be reviewed and moderated, and successful applicants will receive their certificate for QTLS or ATLS in the post.

Click here to find out more about the Professional Formation process

Research and development phase

Teacher educators and IfL Fellows participated in the research and development phase for Professional Formation. During this phase, each application for QTLS or ATLS enhanced our understanding based on first-hand experience and their application of the review criteria of sufficiency, authenticity and relevance.

The first conferrals of QTLS and ATLS status were made in April and will be celebrated at a formal ceremony in July this year. Some of the successful applicants have been trained as reviewers to allow ongoing enhancements and refinements of the Professional Formation process.

How did we get here?

For school sector teachers, Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) is the final outcome of the Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) award, but in the further education (FE) and skills sector, no such equivalent existed, and before 2001, initial teaching qualifications were not even required.

The 2004 Ofsted report into initial teacher training in our sector, Equipping our Teachers, contributed to the 2007 regulations that entrusted IfL with the responsibility for the registration and regulation of licensed practitioners through Professional Formation and the creation of QTLS and ATLS status.

QTLS and ATLS are post-qualification designations through which teachers and trainers demonstrate their ability to apply the skills and knowledge acquired during their initial teacher training and their capacity to meet the required occupational standards in their professional practice.

Those new to the sector, who gained their initial teaching qualifications after September 2007, need to achieve QTLS or ATLS status within five years of employment in the sector. Those who already have QTS and started teaching in FE and skills after September 2007, have two years to gain QTLS from the date of their first appointment.

Those who qualified before September 2007 can choose to go through the process of Professional Formation and gain ATLS or QTLS. IfL encourages all teachers and trainers in the different areas of the FE and skills sector to go through the process and gain QTLS or ATLS status. This could form part, or all, of their annual CPD requirement.

More on gaining QTLS or ATLS available here