Benefits of membership

IfL membership provides access to a range of benefits which can help improve your efficiency and effectiveness as individuals and participants in the wider further education and skills community.

Recognition through enhanced professional status

IfL provides a highly regarded system of professional formation, including both Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS) and Associate Teacher Learning and Skills (ATLS).

This recognition underscores your capabilities with a concrete demonstration of your good standing as a professional teacher/trainer.

QTLS has given me credibility…I feel strongly about our professionalism

Jodi Roffey-Barentsen FIfL

Help with organising and managing your CPD Through its online personal learning space and portfolio, REfLECT, IfL helps you plan, record, reflect upon, evidence and declare your CPD record. You can also store your documents in one place, amend them to your various needs and share them as you wish.

As the name suggests, at the heart of REfLECT is a reflective approach to improvement, for you personally, to develop skills and save time, and to enhance your learners’ experiences.

Staff throughout our college have been using REfLECT for their CPD. Reflecting on their own development, and being able to share that with colleagues, has had a positive impact upon their learners, themselves and the college

Frank Gill, Principal, Knowsley Community College

Access to the latest information

IfL recognises that up to date information is a vital support to professional educators. As such, IfL provides regular updates in a number of different ways:

  • Electronic news, policy updates, case studies and trend analysis
  • IfL’s professional journals, InTuition and CPD Matters
  • The annual review of CPD, sharing experiences and learning from across the IfL membership
  • Impact studies, and other reviews, showcasing excellent teaching
    and training

 

Support when you need it

IfL prioritises listening to members and providing support as and when it is needed. As a result, we have enabled the following:

  • An IfL Regional Adviser network, to host events, provide information and personal guidance in a regional/local context. This has been particularly well received by members engaged in professional formation.
  • Online communities, covering a wide range of education and training environments, offering opportunities to interact and share locally and/or nationally
  • The protection afforded to the profession (collectively and individually), to learners, employers and the public interest by IfL’s Code of Professional Practice and the systems for resolving efficiently and equitably any disciplinary procedures

 

An influential voice in your sector

The voice of the IfL member community is gaining momentum as an influential force on the political stage. Specific opportunities for IfL members to contribute include:

  • Taking part in consultations and surveys, with views being fed back to appropriate government departments and partner organisations and therefore making a difference at a national level
  • Joining the IfL Volunteer Connections programme, a growing network of some 700 members who support the CPD of teachers and trainers at a local level
  • Seeking election to the IfL Advisory Council, helping ensure that the member voice is central to IfL’s work and genuinely shaping the future direction of your professional body

    I have always considered teaching to be a vocation and a profession…having an organisation which supports that view and indeed strands up for you is vital and empowering

    Hilary Moore MIfL

 

Discounts and special offers

IfL offers a range of relevant products and services, at rates advantageous to members, to help support teaching and training practice for the benefit of learners. Typical examples relate to insurance, computer software and professional memberships. Gain from discounts and special offers.

Download your member handbook here (PDF, 1.32 MB)

More information on exclusive member offers