Commission on Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning

IfL, in partnership with the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), is supporting the Commission on Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning.

The Commission is chaired by Frank McLoughlin CBE, City and Islington College principal, supported by vice-chairs Fiona McMillan OBE, president of the Association of Colleges, formerly principal of Bridgwater College and Graham Schuhmacher MBE, head of Development Services at Rolls-Royce. With 17 others, they form a team of 20 vocational education experts acting as commissioners.

IfL is uniquely placed as the professional body for teachers and trainers in further education and skills to gain critical insight into vocational pedagogy from the perspective of teachers and trainers. IfL called for the establishment of such a commission in its response to the Wolf review, with over 5,000 members helping to shape this strong message to the government. As part of our contribution to the work of the commission, IfL provided a number of opportunities for members to be involved in the preparatory phase.

IfL will continue to inform the work of the commission as it develops to ensure the outcomes make a real impact on teaching, training and learning.

Preparatory phase to support the commission 

The Institute for Learning was asked by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to work alongside the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) on preparatory work to support and inform the Commission on Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning as set out in New Challenges, New Chances (BIS, December 2011).

‘A week in the life of’: action research

Over 100 members who are expert in teaching and training vocational subjects to adults and young people volunteered to take part in an exciting action research project to inform the work of the commission. ‘A week in the life of’ was an action research project seeking to gain perspectives on the experiences and challenges faced by vocational teachers and trainers in their day-to-day teaching and training work. Not necessarily covering a calendar week, these reflective or descriptive accounts captured the planning that goes into vocational teaching and training, the challenges a teacher or trainer faces in terms of addressing the curriculum or meeting the needs of learners, the pedagogy or approach to teaching and learning adopted by teachers and trainers and general observations on teaching and training practice.

Volunteers were recruited from the following areas to participate in the project:

  • engineering/motor vehicle engineering,
  • hospitality and catering and
  • business administration

Dr Joe Harkin, a leading researcher and author in the field of vocational education and training, is supporting IfL with its contribution to the independent commission and has provided his thoughts on some of the key themes he thought likely to be raised during this research. Participants are asked to focus on these themes in their reflectionby reading Guidance on your diary: 'A week in the life of', an expert testimony.

Regional seminars

All those participating in the reflective diary research project were required to attend one in a series of regional seminars held in February and March 2012, to discuss the issues raised in the research.

The regional seminars culminated in an online Policy TV broadcast on Thursday 19 April 2012. The purpose of this Policy Review TV event was to share findings collected by IfL from over 120 practitioner expert testimonies - with teachers and trainers from three vocational areas, in addition to three vocational learner groups.

A number of volunteers participated the seminar in person while others contributed by posting questions online or through Twitter using the hashtag #vocped

Further queries

Please contact Annette West, initial teacher training officer at vp@ifl.ac.uk or telephone 020 7250 8113 with any further queries.