ITT qualifications
The General Professional Recognition Scheme
The General Professional Recognition - Learning and Skills scheme (GPRLS) enables competent and experienced teachers to be recognised as a qualified member of the workforce. It is a process designed for those where undertaking an initial teacher training qualification would be inappropriate.
Download the Standards Verification UK leaflet for more information.
Link to SVUK website.
September 2007 onwards
Workforce Reforms across the FE/Learning and Skills sector in England:
The new FE Regulations on Initial Teacher Training (ITT), Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and Principals’ qualifications follow on from FE reform commitments to create a fully professionalised workforce in the Further Education sector. These reforms were set out in Equipping our Teachers for the Future (DfES 2004), and in the White Paper Further Education: Raising Skills, Improving Life Chances (DfES 2006). The reforms cover the whole sector, i.e. all those delivering FE provision through a contract or funding agreement with LSC. Although the regulations will only be statutory for colleges, the requirements of the regulations will be replicated as contract requirements by the LSC for all other FE providers, including those operating in work based, offender, voluntary and community settings.
The term ‘Further Education sector’ is used to include the wide range of organisations that make up the learning and skills sector in England. It includes the staff and governing bodies working in these organisations. The word ‘teacher’ is used as a generic term for teachers, tutors, trainers, lecturers and instructors across the Further Education sector. ‘Teacher’ refers to all types of role with a teaching element, including those working on a full or part time basis in full and associate teaching roles, other than a person whose primary occupation is not teaching and who is employed by the institution on an occasional basis to provide updating on current commercial, industrial or professional practice.
The major reforms that came into force in September 2007 include:
1 Initial Teacher Training. New entrants to the sector will be required to gain a qualification appropriate to their role:
- a ‘Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector’ (PTLLS) award, which is a minimum threshold licence to teach for all in a teaching role irrespective of job title;
- a Diploma in Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector (or HEI equivalent) at minimum Level 5 leading to Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS) status for those in a full teaching role, including specialist Skills for Life routes;
- a Certificate in Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector (or HEI equivalent), leading to Associate Teacher Learning and Skills status (ATLS) for those in teaching roles that carry significantly less than the full range of teaching responsibilities ordinarily carried out in a full teaching role; and
- a period of professional formation, (the post-qualification process by which a teacher demonstrates through professional practice that they meet the standards, and can use effectively the skills and knowledge acquired in their teacher training).
Guidance on the role descriptions for full and associate teachers can be found on the LLUK website at
http://www.lluk.org/documents/ai_guidance_aug07_version3.pdf
. For teachers who entered the sector before 1 September 2007, it is intended that the same exemptions as in current regulations will apply. For those who entered the sector between 1 Sept 2001 and 31 Aug 2007, if already qualified they remain qualified, and if not, they will be expected to gain suitable qualification under the new regulations, through a range of flexible routes including APL and professional recognition. Details of recognition and equivalence for legacy qualifications, QTS qualifications and qualifications from other UK nations and EU countries will be made available in phases over the next few months via IfL and SVUK.
New professional standards and a Teacher Qualifications Framework, with both generic and Skills for Life teaching qualifications, are aligned to the new Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF). For more information see the LLUK website at
http://www.lluk.org/documents/professional_standards_for_itts_020107.pdf
, along with the new qualification specifications.
2 Continuing Professional Development: The Continuing Professional Development and Registration requirements support the policy aim of completing the professionalisation of the FE workforce. Registration will ensure that teachers are appropriately qualified and that they maintain their professional standing, and therefore their licence to practice, through continuing professional development. The regulations will require all teachers to:
- complete at least 30 hours CPD per academic year, with reduced amounts for part time teachers, subject to a minimum of 6 hours;
- maintain an Institute for Learning (IfL) record of their CPD activities and make it available to the IfL and their employer or, where they have more than one, each of their employers, for inspection; and
- be professionally registered with the IfL. Registration for CPD with IfL has been available from 1 September 2007 and required existing college teachers to have registered by 31 March 2008.
- Existing teachers working for other LSC-funded providers will also be required to register, although this will be managed on a slightly longer timescale. New teachers in all settings appointed after 1 September 2007 must register within 6 months of the date of appointment. Further details on membership arrangements are available on the IfL website.
It will be the responsibility of teachers to maintain their own registration and undertake CPD. The draft regulations define CPD as ‘any activity undertaken by the teacher for the purposes of updating his knowledge of the subjects he teaches or developing his teaching skills’. LLUK has stated that CPD must work within the context of the employer’s business objectives and must reflect key national priorities in post compulsory learning. For those teachers who are still completing their initial teacher training programmes, their teacher training will count towards their CPD requirement.
The reforms affect all types of providers delivering LSC-funded provision in England, with new statutory regulations for FE colleges and LSC contracting requirements for other providers. The changes affect all managers in funded organisations.
The Government is committed to having a fully qualified FE workforce and expects each college and provider to ensure that all their teaching and training staff achieve, or are working towards, qualification by no later than 2009/10.
There are a range of organisations that can offer information, advice and support:
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