LSIS welcomes final Lingfield report and proposed FE Guild

The Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) has welcomed the release of the final report of the independent review panel into professionalism in further education (FE), led by Lord Lingfield.
The report sets out to define how in the absence of registration, professionalism in FE might be characterised and supported.

LSIS also welcomes the announcement that the government will be taking forward the development of an FE Guild, which will be built on the bid made by the Association of Colleges (AoC) and the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP); LSIS was involved in the development of this bid. Skills Minister, Matthew Hancock, made the announcement about the FE Guild at the launch of the final report of the Lingfield review, at the Building Crafts College in East London.

Within the final report, there are several recommendations for LSIS to take forward. The recommendations incorporate two of LSIS’s key priorities, which are to equip the sector to achieve outstanding teaching and learning, and to ensure the sector has excellent leadership, management and governance.

Currently, LSIS is conducting a review of further education teacher training qualifications, and is in the process of requesting feedback about our proposed changes. In the Lingfield report, there are recommendations for LSIS to consider with the sector, whilst it conducts this review.

The report also addresses the issue of governance and states that as greater freedom is given to the sector, there will be a need for governance to be further improved. It suggests that LSIS, working with the proposed FE Guild, drives this agenda forward within the sector.

In attendance at the launch of the report, which took place on Tuesday 22 October was LSIS’s Chief Executive, Rob Wye, who said: “The Lingfield review places considerable emphasis on LSIS’s capabilities to provide support for the FE and Skills sector. As the organisation committed to driving improvement within the sector, we welcome these recommendations.
“The Lingfield report states that ‘The panel finds it difficult to envisage that the sector’s only government-funded workforce development body, LSIS, would not play a prominent role in the development of the Guild.’ I’d like to take this opportunity to state that LSIS looks forward to working with colleagues across the sector and in BIS, moving forward to build on what LSIS has already delivered in support of professionalism.”