Sector gets chance to shape FE qualifications

Further Education (FE) teachers, trainers and their employers now have the opportunity to help shape the workforce of the future.

A proposal document is being launched on Monday 15 October to inform the future design of the teacher training qualifications for the Further Education and Skills sector.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) asked the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) to conduct the review of qualifications. The review provides the sector with the opportunity to make sure that the qualifications will meet their needs, and help ensure that future qualifications will equip the diverse workforce of the sector to meet the needs of employers, learners and their communities.

The aim of the review is to create a simpler system of qualifications. The review isn’t focused on just generic teaching qualifications, but examines qualifications for teachers of English, literacy and English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), and mathematics, as well as qualifications for those teaching disabled learners.

From Monday 15 October an on-line survey will go live on the LSIS website  allowing anyone in the sector to put forward their comments, views and suggestions in response to our proposals. In addition packs are being made available, enabling anyone interested to run their own feedback event, and there will be the opportunity to contribute via sector membership bodies, which will carry out their own activities on LSIS’s behalf.

The proposals will be discussed with the sector at a series of open events that will be taking place from mid-October to the end of November:

• 18 October – Birmingham
• 8 November – London
• 13 November – Taunton
• 15 November – Leeds
• 20 November – London

Prior to the proposal, LSIS set up a project steering group, which includes representatives from across the sector. The group receives expert support from advisory groups made up of representatives from higher education institutions and awarding bodies that offer the qualifications and practitioners who deliver the qualifications. During all stages of the review LSIS will be working closely with sector membership bodies.

Chief Executive of LSIS, Rob Wye, said: “The importance of this review goes beyond the FE and Skills sector. The teachers and trainers of tomorrow will help shape the workforce of tomorrow, so it is vital that we hear from everyone who is involved with these qualifications. We want to hear from teachers, trainers and their employers, as well as those delivering initial teacher training, and because of this, we are offering a variety of methods of communication to make contributing to the consultation as convenient as possible.

“LSIS is committed to equipping the sector to achieve outstanding teaching and learning, and conducting this consultation is an example of how we are prioritising this.”

The opportunity to feedback on our proposals runs from Monday 15 October to Friday 26 November. LSIS will then be providing guidance to awarding organisations and Higher Education Institutions in March to enable them to develop the new qualifications, which will be introduced from September 2013 onwards.