Education and Training Foundation launches Advanced Teacher Status
The Education and Training Foundation (ETF) has today launched Advanced Teacher Status (ATS) for teachers and trainers. This is a further step cementing the role of the ETF in improving and championing the quality of the sector’s teaching and training profession, critical to achieving the vision for a world-class technical and vocational education system set out by the Department for Education (DfE).
The new status recognises experienced professionals who can demonstrate:
- · mastery in teaching and/or training
- · an exemplary degree of subject knowledge in their area of professional expertise
- · effectiveness in working collaboratively to improve teaching standards amongst their peers or within their organisation.
The launch of Advanced Teacher Status follows extensive research with members of the Society for Education and Training (SET), as well as stakeholders across the FE and Training sector and the DfE. Members expressed how, following the achievement of their Qualified Teaching Learning and Skills (QTLS), they wanted to be able to aspire and develop towards a nationally-recognised badge of enhanced professional expertise.
The ETF will be responsible for the accreditation and management of the status through SET. The first, select cohort of up to 50 ATS candidates will be recruited during the summer to start in October 2017. Further cohorts will start during 2018, with the aim of growing the number of applicants in subsequent years as the status becomes increasingly well established in the sector.
The ETF is working in close partnership with the Chartered College of Teaching to ensure holders of ATS will be conferred Chartered Teacher Status, once the College has launched this within the schools sector. This will further cement parity of professional status between those teaching and training across all educational contexts.
David Russell, Chief Executive of the Education and Training Foundation, said: “This is a landmark moment for the further education and training profession.
“Excellence is found all around the world in very diverse education systems. But one thing that they have in common is a respect and recognition for the Master Teacher, who has developed deep expertise in both the theory and practice of teaching. In our context of FE that expertise must encompass dual professionalism – mastery both of subject or occupational field and of teaching.
“Gaining Advanced Teacher Status will be a deserved and highly sought after badge of recognition for experienced teachers and trainers who continually demonstrate a high level of expertise and effectiveness, and are willing to spread their positive influence within or beyond their organisation through collaboration and practice-based research.
“Parity of status for those teaching and training across the whole education sector is also important. We are very pleased that FE will be the first sector in education to develop a route to Chartered Teacher Status.”
To be awarded ATS, a teacher or trainer must be a SET member, have held QTLS for at least one year and must have been qualified as a teacher for at least four years. It is designed for professionals teaching post-14 learners in all possible settings, including FE colleges, adult and community learning, work-based learning, employers, schools, offender learning settings and more.
To achieve ATS, teacher and trainers will build supporting evidence over a minimum of nine months or one academic year, proving how they have reached mastery level in:
- · reflecting on their practice to improve their teaching and learning
- · building collaborative relationships with colleagues and learners
- · maintaining and updating subject knowledge and educational research
- · applying understanding of effective practice in teaching and learning
- · evaluating practice and assessing its impact
- · collaborating with employers, where applicable
- · contributing to organisational development.
The fee will be £750, however, for the first cohort, this will be significantly reduced to £250. This reflects the level of engagement and feedback we are seeking from these initial candidates to help us finesse the ATS process for future intakes.
About the Education and Training Foundation: The Education and Training Foundation (ETF) was established in October 2013 and is the Government-backed, sector-owned national support body for the Further Education and Training sector. The charity works with teachers, trainers, leaders and employers to help them deliver excellent further and vocational education and training. This includes through setting professional standards, workforce development, supporting sector change and providing data and research. The ETF’s membership body is the Society for Education and Training
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