IfL welcomes new NUS president and vice-president for FE

Thursday 14 April 2011

The Institute for Learning (IfL) has welcomed the election of Liam Burns as the 55th national president of the National Union of Students (NUS) and Toni Pearce, president of the Cornwall College Students’ Union, as vice-president (further education).

Offering congratulations to Liam Burns and Toni Pearce, IfL’s chief executive, Toni Fazaeli, said, “IfL is the professional body for teachers and trainers throughout the further education and skills sector, and excellence for learners is the driving force for professional practice. Nothing is more fantastic and worthy of wide recognition than making a difference to young people’s and adults’ skills and knowledge, and helping literally to transform lives and life chances for learners. Teachers and trainers do this week in, week out for millions of learners every year.

“NUS members’ views are of enormous importance to teachers and trainers and help inform priorities for professional development. Learners need and rightly expect their teachers and trainers to be up to date in their specialist area and in their teaching and training methods, and IfL supports teachers as dual professionals to do this.

“NUS has two representatives – the vice-president (FE) and the FE policy officer – on IfL’s Advisory Council, reflecting the value that IfL places on the learner voice. IfL’s close partnership with NUS is crucial to the furtherance of brilliant teaching and learning in our sector, and we look forward to continuing our joint campaigns with NUS and to Toni Pearce’s participation in IfL’s governance .

“We would like to thank Shane Chowen for his creative and thoughtful support during his tenure as vice-president (further education), and pay very warm tribute to Shane for all the work he has done to raise the profile of further education and learners in our sector. We wish him well.”