The professional standards for lecturers in Scottish colleges are to be renewed, the College Development Network (CDN) has revealed.
The new standards will address advances made in technology and take into account the rapid changes across the learning and teaching landscape in recent years, CDN said.
Work on the revised standards will begin this month, the further education body exclusively told Tes Scotland. The new standards are likely to be available from next summer.
The Scottish government, which tasked CDN with the revamp said that the professional standards “underpinned” the national bargaining process in FE. This has been re-introduced to the sector after decades of pay and conditions being agreed at a local level.
The Professional Standards for Lecturers in Scotland’s Colleges set out the competencies required for lecturers to deliver an outstanding service. They consist of initial standards underpinning the Teaching Qualification in Further Education (TQFE), along with CPD standards.
While it is around five years since the initial teaching standards were last revised, the standards for CPD have not changed since they were introduced in 2006. This revision will consider both the initial and CPD standards.
Jim Metcalfe, CDN chief executive, said the organisation was “delighted to be leading on this critical work for the college sector”.
“CDN is proud to be the formal guardian and developer of the standards,” he said. “Our ambition is to ensure that the standards are fit for the needs of college lecturers and students today, and into the future.”
‘An excellent opportunity’
The work will be overseen by a steering group chaired by Mhairi Harrington, principal of West Lothian College and former Tes FE leader of the year. She said the sector placed a great deal of value in developing highly professional staff and saw this refresh as “an excellent opportunity to match our new standards with the future needs of learners and stakeholders”.
Ellen Doherty, director of education, registration and professional learning at the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS), explained it had been invited to contribute to the process by CDN.
“We are very keen to be involved in these standards,” Ms Doherty said. There were more opportunities for cooperation between colleges and schools in the senior phase, she added, which meant that the GTCS were looking for more cohesion between school and college professional standards.
Ms Doherty explained lecturers were currently registering with the GTCS register on a voluntary basis, although compulsory registration was something that could be considered. “But that is the government’s call,” she said.
The GTCS was also promoting Professional Update - which is compulsory for Scottish school teachers - for the college sector, she added. The scheme places a responsibility on teachers to consider their development needs and assist them to identify constructive ways to update their skills.
Dundee and Angus, Forth Valley and West Lothian colleges had been validated as part of a Professional Update pilot scheme, said Ms Doherty. Glasgow Kelvin had recently been validated as the first college beyond the pilot. “They have seen the merit of Professional Update,” she said.
A spokeswoman for the EIS teaching union, which represents college lecturers, said the union was comfortable with the professional standards for FE lecturers being refreshed and was keen that the process should include FE lecturers’ views.
“The EIS supports the holding of TQFE status and compulsory GTCS registration for FE lecturers. We believe both to be an important means of enhancing the professional esteem of FE lecturing and maintaining high standards,” the spokeswoman added.
A Scottish government spokesperson said: “Our ambition is to provide Scotland’s colleges with an adaptive, engaged and professionalised workforce, with a focus on developing good practice, co-ordination and partnership- working across the whole education system.
“National Bargaining aims to secure a flexible, modern workforce underpinned by professional standards and teaching qualifications for the college sector, a sector which rewards staff appropriately, improves outcomes for learners and supports economic growth and prosperity for Scotland.”
