Contact the Lifelong Learning UK Information and Advice Service, which is staffed by experienced practitioners and teacher trainers.

Speak to an advisor about
• The qualifications you’ll need and what it is like to be a teacher.
• Professional development in the areas of Adult Literacy, Numeracy and ESOL.
• The General Professional Recognition Learning and Skills (GPRLS) scheme.
• Financial support available for teacher training.

Contact the NRP between 9am and 5.30pm from Monday to Friday.
Tel: 020 7936 5798 or Email: advice@lluk.org

Visit http://www.direct.gov.uk and enter Intial Teacher Training into the search area OR Follow this route: Education and Learning/ Student Finance / What you could get-Part time students / Finance for Initial Teacher Training.

They provide a one-off payment of up to £4000 to new teachers in designated shortage subject areas, which includes SfL Literacy, Numeracy, ESOL and Other Essential Skills - Communication and Application of Number.
To read the full list of shortage subjects and find out how to apply, click on the link below.

I started teaching in the sector before Sept 2001
If you first taught in the sector before 1 September 2001 you were not required to hold any teaching qualification, although you may already do so. You are not required by the Sept 2007 Regulations to gain any additional qualifications or to become a Licensed Practitioner. However you may wish to have your experience recognised through the GPRLS Scheme.

I started teaching in the sector between Sept 2001 and Aug 2007
If you first taught in the sector during this period and you were full time you would have been required to gain a level 4 teaching qualification (with level 4 here referring to the old National Qualifications Framework). Examples of a level 4 teaching qualification include the Cert Ed and completion of all 3 stages of the C&G 7407. However you may hold a different legacy qualification. (See Tariff of Legacy Qualifications.)
If you first taught in the sector during this period and you were part time you would have been required to complete the first stage of the level 4 qualification.

Skills for Life teachers would also have been required to gain the level 4 subject specialist certificate in Literacy, Numeracy or ESOL. As a SfL teacher, if you completed both certificates, you will have achieved qualified status. You are therefore not required by the Sept 2007 Regulations to gain any additional qualifications or to become a Licensed Practitioner. However you may wish to gain licensed practitioner status as recognition of your qualifications and experience.

If you were only partially qualified when the Sept 2007 Regulations came in. You are required to complete your qualifications in line with the new regulations. (GPRLS may be one route by which you can achieve this.) For partially qualified teachers it may be useful to refer to the ‘Tariff of Legacy Qualifications’ to determine what remains to be achieved for your situation. Also read the LLUK factsheet available on this page under 'I am part qualified - What do I do?'

I started/will start teaching in the sector from Sept 2007 onwards
You will be required to become a Qualified Teacher by first completing the Preparing to Teach in the Learning and Skills Sector (PTLLS) award and then by completing either the Certificate or Diploma (depending on your ‘Teaching Role’). You then need to undergo professional formation in order to become a Licensed Practitioner.

More detailed information about 'Qualified Status' can be found on both the LLUK and IfL websites. Find them under 'Useful Websites' listed under Information in the menu bar above.

This LLUK information sheet explains what LLUK view as part qualified and the options available to you.

Associate Teacher
This is a teaching role that carries significantly less than the full range of teaching responsibilities ordinarily carried out in a full teaching role (whether on a full-time, part-time, fractional, fixed term, temporary or agency basis) and does not require the teacher to demonstrate an extensive range of knowledge, understanding and application of curriculum development, curriculum innovation or curriculum delivery strategies.

Your teaching role will determine which teacher training qualification you should study towards and will determine the licence status you will eventually be awarded.

There are two catagories of Licensed Practitioner, which correspond to teaching role.
QTLS - Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills (Full Teaching Role)
ATLS - Associate Teacher Learning and Skills (Associate Teaching Role)

The IfL is encouraging all those in the Learning & Skills Sector to achieve this as a demonstration of professionalism. The license will be annually renewable, including a CPD obligation, and can be withdrawn or suspended by the IfL subject to the outcome of an investigation of alleged misconduct.

Why go for Licensed Status?
It is the intention of the DIUS - Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills that Licensed Status should become the benchmark for the Learning and Skills sector. It is possible that some employers will expect and encourage their staff to go for Licensed Practitioner Status as it becomes a recognised benchmark.

Licensed Practitioner Status is not mandatory for all. Existing staff - depending on their 'Qualified Status' - will not be required by the September 2007 Regulations to gain any additional qualifications or become licensed. However it is hoped that existing teachers will opt to become licensed as the status becomes a recognised benchmark.

Professional Formation will be a process of workplace assessment. It is likely that it will be based on employer evaluation.

It offers one route to Licensed Status for existing teachers for whom embarking on the new Initial Teacher Training (ITT) qualifications would be inappropriate. It recognises professionalism and could be an alternative to taking further qualifications for those whose skills, knowledge and experience already meet the standards.

Applicants provide evidence and testimonies demonstrating that they have the same professional standing as colleagues taking the qualification route. There is no deadline for receipt of applications, and the scheme will operate on a rolling basis.

The scheme if open to:
• new entrants to the learning and skills sector as one route to gaining licensed status.
• those part way to achieving the qualification for their role when the 2007 regulations were implemented.
• existing members of the workforce who voluntarily wish to seek licensed status.

The TLQ is a tool that enables existing members of the workforce to determine how they match to the requirements of their role of either full or associate teacher. A key benefit of the Tariff is to ensure that those people who wish to work towards professional standing and ultimately gain licensed status can start their journey at the appropriate stage of the new qualification (PTLLS, CTLLS, DTLLS).

It is an important part of the reforms to teaching and training that teachers meet the regulatory CPD requirements. All teachers need to undertake and record 30 hours of CPD per year (pro-rata for part time teachers) and they will be required to present their record to the IfL and their employer annually in order to maintain their IfL Registration and 'Licensed Status', therefore demonstrating that they Remain in Good Standing.

Visit the IfL website to read more about CPD and watch a webcast from their Professional Development Manager.

The IfL suggest that their model can be a starting point for reflection on priorities for your CPD. (See figure 1 in the associated document, below).

Six Stage Professional Development Cycle
The professional development cycle sets out six stages illustrating how to effectivly plan and record your CPD. (See figure 2 in the associated document, below).
Stage 1 is about putting your teaching role into context and using the model of dual professionalism to identify priorty areas of development for you.
Stage 2 is about carrying out a critical self assessment using evaluation from appraisals, learner feedback, etc and drawing up some needs and goals, which also fit in with your outcomes from stage 1.
Stage 3 is about creating your plan, listing CPD activity that will meet your needs and goals.
Stage 4 is about carrying out your CPD and keeping a log of your activity.
Stage 5 is about formally recording your CPD activity so that it can be presented at the end of the year.
Stage 6 is about reflecting on your CPD activity, considering the impact it has had on your professional practice and on your learners. Make a habit of returning to your recorded log of CPD activity to record your reflections - don't leave it until the end of the year!

Think about building on your strengths as well as addressing perceived weaknesses and remember to 'reflect' on your activities.
Make a habit of returning to your recorded log of CPD activity and make notes of how, what you have learnt has made a difference and impacted on your teaching and your learners.

The reforms include:
* Revised teaching qualifications for new teachers and a professional status for all teachers in community learning and development, further education, offender learning and work based learning.
* Continuing Professional Development requirements for all teachers.
* Principals' Qualifications for all newly appointed principals of further education institutions.

In this supplement we examine the new regulations in detail and explain what they will mean for existing teachers or anyone thinking of teaching in the post-compulsory sector. We explain the history behind them and why it has taken so long for compulsory teacher training to come to further education.

Will the new professional requirements deter skilled people with valuable industrial experience from becoming further education teachers, as some people fear? Or will the prospect of entering an occupation where the staff enjoy a new professional status make them even keener?"
(October 2007)

Within the information pack you will find separate leaflets providing information on how the reforms will impact in different settings and for different roles. Including Skills for Life Specialist Teachers. (October 2007)

This reform is aimed at all learners over the age of 14 working below Level 2, including for example: 14- to 19-year-olds; adults with skills gaps; adults or young people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities.

The objective of the FLT programme is to raise participation and achievement and ensure that appropriate progression opportunities are available, which will propel learners towards Level 2 or other positive outcomes.

LSC on the FLT
http://qfr.lsc.gov.uk/flt/
QCA on the FLT
http://www.qca.org.uk/qca_8153.aspx
Niace work on Pre-Entry and the FLT
http://www.niace.org.uk/Research/keyfindings/PDF/FL-Tier.pdf