Guidance

Further education: initial teacher education

Information for providers of initial teacher education (ITE) for the further education (FE) sector.

Applies to England

Documents

Details

This guidance is for:

  • providers of publicly funded further education (FE) initial teacher education (ITE)
  • organisations developing qualifications or curricula for FE ITE programmes

Prospective FE teachers may also find this information helpful alongside information on how to teach in further education.

If you have any questions regarding the content of this page, you can contact the team at FE.ITE@education.gov.uk.

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Updates to this page

Published 30 May 2023
Last updated 16 January 2025 + show all updates
  1. Updated with information for the 2025 to 2026 academic year.

  2. Updated 'Overview: the initial teacher education system for FE' and 'Expectations for the delivery of initial teacher education for FE' for the academic year 2024 to 2025.

  3. Added 'Diploma in Teaching (Further Education and Skills) qualification framework'. Updated information about entry requirements and selection processes in ‘Expectations for the delivery of initial teacher education for FE’.

  4. Added 'Recognised further education teacher training courses eligible for student support: 2024 to 2025' document. Updated 'Overview: the initial teacher education system for FE' to reflect this change.

  5. Information has been added to 'Expectations for the delivery of initial teacher education for FE' on the teacher mentoring programme developed by Cognition Learning Group.

  6. First published.

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