IfL welcomes announcement of teacher training bursaries
The Institute for Learning (IfL) has welcomed the government’s announcement that maths graduates will be offered up to £20,000 to teach in colleges and that bursaries of £9,000 will available to those wishing to teach English and to those who want to specialise in teaching students with special educational needs.
Dr Jean Kelly, IfL’s director of professional development, said, “Teaching and training in further education is a high-level profession, and IfL has been calling for the bursary system in our sector to be similar to that available for schoolteachers, especially in light of tuition fee increases in recent years. The increased funding for initial teacher training will help attract graduates to the profession, increasing the number of trained and motivated teachers who can improve young people’s and adults’ numeracy and literacy skills. The extra funding to support excellence in special needs teaching is also very welcome.
“Teachers and trainers in further education and skills have a crucial role to play in ensuring the success of more than four million young people and adults who undertake learning in the sector each year, for the benefit of our economy and society. It is vital that they undertake robust initial teacher training to become qualified, and that they stay up to date in their subject or vocational area, as well as in teaching methods, through continuing professional development (CPD). IfL believes that all FE learners should have a statutory right to be taught by professionally qualified teachers.
“Initiatives like functional skills and the introduction of 16–19 study programmes mean that most teachers and trainers in FE now have some level of responsibility for delivering English and maths provision for young people and adults, so this extra funding is essential for new teachers in our sector. IfL is keen to see a parallel scheme that provides the necessary training and development opportunities for existing teaching and training practitioners, including apprenticeship assessors.
“Successfully embedding English and maths, literacy and numeracy into a vocational curriculum is a priority for many existing teachers and trainers. Research undertaken by IfL to inform the work of the Commission on Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning (CAVTL) found that adequate initial training and in-service professional development are essential for the effective provision of functional skills in English and maths in apprenticeships and other vocational programmes.”
“As the professional body for individual teachers and trainers, IfL has worked closely with the Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Training (CETTs) to support high-quality CPD for teachers, and it is good that the network will have extra government funding. We welcome the involvement of the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) to ensure provision for maths CPD.”
