IfL backs FE accessibility review

The Institute for Learning (IfL) has backed the government’s latest review on a Fair Access to Professional Careers, focusing on the FE teaching profession as a model and driver of social mobility.

The new independent review attacked professional firms for failing to attract deprived students from disadvantaged backgrounds, according to the government’s social mobility expert.

Alan Milburn, former Labour Cabinet minister and author of the report, argued more needs to be done to employ young people from working class backgrounds as opposed to private educated- rivals to improve social mobility in the UK.

The report suggested a strong demand to create a fairer and more equal opportunity for young people having left state schools with good grades to be on top of the list for employment opportunities.

IfL is the professional body for all teachers and trainers in the FE and skills sector, supporting the excellence in professional teachers’ and trainers’ practice for learners.

The chief executive of IfL, Toni Fazaeli, said: “We are pleased to see Alan Milburn’s explicit recognition of further education’s contribution as a driver of social mobility, offering diverse training routes into the professions.

“Having a professional career will continue to be a vital route to economic security and social progress and IfL believes that every individual, regardless of background, should have an equal chance of progressing in terms of income or occupation, and a fair access to a professional career.

“IfL’s members come from a range of very different backgrounds and take a variety of routes into teaching. For the majority of people, entering the further education sector to teach is a second or third career and IfL supports a flexible and adaptive system by which new teachers train on the job, gain teaching qualifications and then progress to Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS) professional status.”

As a key partner in ensuring an expert FE workforce, IfL is responsible for registering teachers and trainers, keeping an overview of teachers’ Continuous Professional Development (CPD, and for conferring the professional licensed practitioner status of Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS) or Associate Teacher Learning and Skills (ATLS).

Furthermore, Milburn suggested companies should publish personal information regarding their staff’s education and parental background, to shame professional firms into employing working class people.

Syema Majeed