IfL welcomes a renewed focus on high-quality teaching in universities

Friday 1 July 2011

The Institute for Learning (IfL) has welcomed the focus on teaching and on positive student experience and success in the government’s higher education white paper, Students at the Heart of the System.

Over 3,000 IfL members teach on higher education courses in further education, and IfL welcomes confirmation that the role of FE colleges in delivering HE is highly valued, and the indication that this provision in colleges is set to grow. Learners moving from further to higher education should expect a seamless entitlement to high-quality teaching.

IfL believes that initial teacher training for FE should be delivered by HE institutions, FE colleges and other settings. Strengthening the research base for the early stages of a career in teaching in FE and skills, already less well developed than for schools, is essential.

Toni Fazaeli, chief executive of IfL, said, “I am very pleased to see the prominent support given to initial teacher training, and to healthcare courses, alternative routes to the professions and fairer access. The detail in the white paper refers only to initial teacher training for schools, however, not for further education. IfL will be discussing with officials at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills the vital role of HE in initial teacher training for those working in FE and skills, and working to make sure that this is strongly supported. We will also consult IfL members about our response to the initial teacher training consultation.

“The white paper states that from 2012 the usual policy of fees and student loans will apply to those thinking of taking up initial teacher training in HE. Teaching in FE is typically a second or dual career, because real-life, successful experience in vocational areas and professions, such as accountancy and construction, is essential for teaching the subject effectively. The average age of entry to teaching in FE is 38, and we are concerned that fees and loans are likely to be a greater deterrent than for more mature entrants to HE. The government’s proposed reforms to initial teacher training, published on 27 June, confirm that public funding will continue to be available for school PGCE students. Given the importance of the FE sector in both educational and economic terms, suitable funding arrangements should also be made for FE trainee teachers on Diploma in Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector (DTLLS) programmes.

“Just as the white paper refers to HE institutions’ contribution to much of the best teacher training for schools, and recommends that its own HE teachers should have postgraduate teaching qualifications as a measure of quality, so too must the importance to the nation of qualified and expert FE teachers be recognised.”


Note

The government’s higher education white paper, Students at the Heart of the System, is available to download in PDF format at http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm81/8122/8122.pdf