A new award of ‘Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills’ for teacher training in the learning and skills sector is set to be introduced.
The plan is part of a number of reforms for the post-16 education sector announced by Kim Howells, Minister for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education, at Showcase 2004, the Department of Education and Skills' annual Teaching and Learning Conference.
Dr Howells said that the new qualification would give those in post-16 education "a new professional status".
The reforms will be developed over the next two years and introduced in full from September 2007. They will include:
• Initial teacher training leading to ‘Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills’
• The development of Centres of Excellence in Teacher Training (CETTs)
• New standards, quality assurance and planning arrangements for initial teacher training.
The proposals have been welcomed by a number of professional bodies including Lifelong Learning UK, the lifelong learning sector skills council in development, the Learning and Skills Council, NAFTHE and the Association of Colleges.
Monica Deasy, Chair of the Institute for Learning, said: “It is encouraging to see a strategy that will both raise standards within the profession and the esteem in which it is held. It is particularly gratifying that representatives of those who actually provide learning in the sector will exercise a high level of influence in the roll-out of the strategy.”
