IfL members receive awards at the University of Huddersfield

Thursday 17 March 2011

The Institute for Learning (IfL) held the first in a series of regional awards ceremonies at the University of Huddersfield on Wednesday 16 March 2011 for members in Humberside, Yorkshire, the north-east and north-west who had recently attained Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS) or Associate Teacher Learning and Skills (ATLS) status through the process of professional formation.

John Chorley, who works in the post-compulsory education teacher training team at the University of Wolverhampton and is the elected president of IfL’s Advisory Council, said, “It is an honour to be here today, to meet IfL members from across the diverse further education and skills sector and formally recognise your professionalism and professional status. IfL’s central role is to raise the profile of teachers and enable your contribution to society to be more widely valued and appreciated.”

Peter McCann, deputy principal at Leeds City College and principal designate of Kirklees College, joined John Chorley in presenting the awards. He said, “In a world of unrelenting change, it is essential that we as teaching professionals are beacons of lifelong learning, constantly updating and renewing our skills for the benefit of our students, our local employers and our community at large.”

Gail Lydon of Great Learning, who started out teaching in schools, moved into further education and now trains teachers across all sectors, said, “I am constantly amazed at the level of care and professionalism in post-16 education and wanted to be part of it. I am very proud to be an IfL member and to have attained professional status.”

David Walker, a lecturer at Hull College who had worked at Rolls-Royce and in industry for 40 years before becoming a teacher, said, “While having passion helps you get your messages across, staying up-to-date with your subject or vocational specialism through continuing professional development is an essential aspect of the high-quality, professional teaching that every learner deserves. Having professional status through IfL provides that reassurance.”

Offering his congratulations in a message that was read out at the ceremony, the member of parliament for Huddersfield, Barry Sheerman, said, “It is fantastic that you have achieved the full professional status with your professional body, the Institute for Learning, of QTLS or ATLS.

“The education select committee, which I chaired, held an inquiry into teacher education, and this was very much an eye-opener for all members of the committee. We heard persuasive evidence from IfL and others, and thought there was a crazy and artificial divide whereby a schoolteacher could teach in FE, but that people teaching in FE could not teach in schools.

“I care passionately about the matter. If we are to have a system with increasingly diverse post-14 routes – apprenticeships, people staying on in FE, people doing diplomas and more conventional vocational routes and being able to switch across from those – we need a profession that can teach across the piece post-14.

“Professor Wolf listened to reason and so has government. Those FE teachers with QTLS will get the opportunity to teach in schools settings – and this is right. Thousands of young people who are 14 to 19 years old are learning vocational subjects in schools, including in studio schools, the first of which has opened in Huddersfield. The case has been made and won that 14 to 19-year-olds being taught by highly qualified staff from the FE sector in schools is a universally good development.”